Wean more lambs - PROfarm testimonial

Alison Tancred

In identifying the best management system to achieve flock reproduction potential, sheep producer Alison Tancred remains open to the exchange of ideas and the trialling of new techniques, and keeps up with the latest industry research and development.

Based in the heart of north-western New South Wales, at ‘The Maze’, Gulargambone, Alison said the family business runs more than 8000 sheep, with breeding generally at around 3500, across 5234 hectares.

‘We generally join in January for about a six week period, and lamb in June/July,’ she explained.

‘As our cropping rotation includes lucerne (which we grow a lot of), we scan for twins or dry ewes after we join. We’ve been doing that for the last three to four years.

‘Then we separate our twin ewes from our singles, sell all our dry sheep, put the twin ewes on our best pastures and supplement feed them.’

Alison said that while ideally it was preferable not to supplement feed the single-bearing ewes, the seriously dry seasons in the last few years had made it necessary.

‘When we are spending money on grains we’d rather be spending it on the sheep that are carrying multiple lambs, rather than none,’ she added.

‘When lambing out in June/July, all the twin-bearing mobs are kept separate in a smaller mob of no more than 250, and weaning occurs at an average age of 14 weeks. All of our weaners are run on lucerne.’

Hands-on demonstration

To refresh her knowledge and skills and to stay abreast with the latest research and development, Alison attended the NSW Department of Primary Industries PROfarm workshop ‘Wean more lambs’.

‘The workshop was actually held here on ‘The Maze’ and, while many attending were experienced farmers, those I spoke to afterwards agreed it was extremely worthwhile, particularly as it was in the yards,’ she said.

‘Seeing a hands-on demonstration, rather that just hearing or reading about a new technique, makes a big difference. The course also encourages you to collect more data, which in turn makes it easier to benchmark.’

Improving ewe survival

‘For us, the focus was on fat scoring. It’s something we’re not doing at the moment, and we really need to be. Generally we have been running our ewes too heavy, and that has led to problems of toxaemia in pregnant stock.’

Alison said while scan results had shown that 57% of the flock (an extremely high percentage) were twin-bearing ewes, about six per cent of the lambing ewes were lost to toxaemia due to under-feeding supplements.

‘Participating in the PROfarm course helps you to realise that there is always room for improvement and that it’s wise to try to implement what they are recommending if it suits your operation.

‘We’re now making some changes and very much trying to work towards fat scoring and to improve our supplement feeding to prevent pregnancy toxaemia.’

With large-framed ewes and high-fertility sheep, Alison said the number of twin-bearing ewes was high.

‘This is why we need to manage them a lot better than we have in the past.’

The Meat and Livestock Australia EdgeNetwork workshop ‘Wean more lambs’, delivered under PROfarm, is designed to help producers reach their flock reproduction potential by planning and management, at low or no cost.

The workshop covers whole farm practice, benchmarking reproductive performance and establishing targets, fat scoring, ram health, wet and drying ewes and reproductive wastage. It also provides an opportunity to develop an annual calendar of activities to optimise flock reproductive capacity by integrating nutrition and flock reproduction targets.