INVERELL locals are calling this the worst drought in 120 years but new landholders Kym Thomas and her son Tony Reid still have something to smile about.
The duo recently purchased the 1530 hectares (3800 acre) property, Rockleigh, to support their plans of supplying Australian White lambs into high-end markets. Their move to NSW corresponded with minimal rainfall but it's hardly comparable to the conditions they were facing in western Queensland.
The fourth and fifth generation of Cunnamulla sheep producers own 33,580 hectares (83,000 acres) across the properties, Kahmoo and Curragh, but received just three millimetres of rain this year. It's left 1600 ewes fending for themselves on the open Mitchell grass plains with joining halted until rain returns.
"We are dealing with times out there I have never seen in my lifetime," Ms Thomas said.
"We have got trees dying, the country is a dust bowl and these sheep are hanging on, it's amazing."
Rockleigh was intended as a fattening block to support their Cunnamulla breeders.
Instead, it's now home to 1500 commercial ewes, 500 stud ewes and about 300 stud rams with their 1100 weaned lambs from Cunnamulla sent straight to a Swan Hill feedlot in February.
"Inverell was a less variable climate," Ms Thomas said.
"We felt it was more sustainable with rain, we felt we had more of a chance to do something in the dry time, we felt it would help Cunnamulla maintain its stability out there.
"The whole thing was to have a breeding block and get them off quicker, get them fattened here and then get them to a market. That was the plan but it ended up being more a drought proofing bring breeders down here to keep the operation going."
Despite the challenges they have faced with their move, including distance, converting old cattle fences and learning how to grow crops, the pair are grateful to have ground cover and their genetics.
Both are valuable parts of their bold plans to produce lamb for domestic high-end butchers and restaurants.
Through the MLA Donor Company Producer Innovation Fast-Track project the pair recently supplied their product to a sample target group of consumers and butchers who analysed the quality.
Much to their surprise, the lamb, which had been prepared during drought, received an average satisfaction result of 80 per cent.
"That was straight off the property here at Inverell, not through a feedlot," Ms Thomas said.
"It was looking at tenderness, juiciness and flavour.
"The Australian White has a quality that we are working on which is like the Wagyu for the omegas and the low melting points."
In a good season, the business would look to turn off 2000 fat lambs from Inverell, once or twice a year.
Having been wool growers for 50 years, in 2000 they crossbred into Dorpers before moving to Australian Whites about five or six years ago.
"We were going for better yield, better structure and better meat quality," Ms Thomas said.
Their genetics were based off the founding stud, Tattykeel, who through Townsville's James Cook University have examined the intramuscular fat content and melting point of lamb loins and labelled them the sheep equivalent of Wagyu. They are focused on identifying the DNA responsible for such traits.
Ms Thomas' high-end marketing strategy came from a similar idea contemplated in their Queensland district. Producers hoped to establish a co-op to reinvigorate breeding flocks in the west through a domestic and export lamb brand.
Now Ms Thomas hopes their NSW country will make their marketing plans a reality.
"We have done the first phase of, is this product okay?" she said.
"We then have to go through the phase of what size we need for the customer? What they are prepared to have on their plate and what they are prepared to take home to their family?
"If it is a high end product you are looking at a specific client and that's where we probably have to go back to MLA and do further studies but we cant do it until we get to a point where we are not in drought."