Early in a drought there is usually plenty of poor quality dry feed, which animals cannot use efficiently. Supplementary feeding at this stage aims to make better use of this feed by supplying those nutrients that the pasture is deficient in, so that animals can be cheaply maintained while decisions are being made.

Supplementary feeding is an option only when there is paddock feed available. When availability of paddock feed becomes limited, survival feeding or production feeding must be implemented.

This Primefact looks at:

• supplementary feeding principles;
• outcomes of feeding supplements to stock;
• supplementary feeding management.