This month, we’re featuring Will Luff of Cotway Pastoral Company, a seventh-generation family farming business, just a stone’s throw from Gundagai in Coolac.
A Generational Expertise
The Luffs have a long history of farming in the Riverina district, stretching right back to 1836. In fact, the lambs today are still finished in the same country at Gobbaralong that was originally settled on. Now up to the 7th generation living on the land, it remains a family operation with parents, kids and grandkids all contributing to the running of the 2700 hectare property. Their sheep operation features 7000 ewes from the Bundilla bloodline, along with 700 Angus cows.
Why Gundagai Lamb?
For Will, it is about continuing to support the local community “we like to support Gundagai Lamb as a local business that support locals” with a model that supports producer and processor alike “we see the ability to value add our product through Gundagai Lamb – getting a premium for merino lambs through the GLQ Grading” adding that the transparency of consistent yield results benefits and is fair for both parties, “we can supply with confidence “ he explains.
It seems that it also doesn’t hurt that our ever-talkative Jake and Claire are always up for a chat, “they are very easy to communicate with and always answer the phone”.
Diversified farming enterprises
For the Luffs, the ability to diversify their business into one that can continue to produce high quality wool, as well as a high quality meat product has been most rewarding “the self-satisfaction that you can shear a lamb with a cracking fleece, and great return, turn it out to graze in the paddocks and result in a product that you get paid a premium for is incredibly satisfying”. Not to mention how it works to buffer against the highs and lows that come with the agricultural industry.
Change driven by the Consumer
For Will, the biggest change he has seen is the shift in product size requirements, ultimately demanded by the end consumer “weight is the biggest change in our enterprise” says Will “we are needing an extra 4 kgs average carcase weight to meet the required product specification”.
With the end consumer in mind, the Luffs have taken onboard this feedback, tweaking their operation to maximise demand, and overall return, for their product “we have increased our selling weight to meet the spec for each carcase to hit the grid at a premium” explains Will.
Challenge resulting from Change
The shift in weight has not only been the biggest change, but often presents the biggest challenge, with Will explaining, “this extra weight is so much harder to get in tough seasons” and generally leading to greater expense for producers. Will goes on to explain, “but with reliable export markets, this gives producers the confidence that we will get paid for the extra inputs and ultimately makes it worth the extra challenge”.
The importance of Quality Control
Raising high-quality lambs, the Luffs are partial to eating a bit of lamb themselves – quality control to ensure they taste as good as they grade “Crumbed cutlets are always top of the list, but I also cannot go past slow-cooked merino lamb roast pulled apart in a curry” Yum! Hungry yet? Us too.