A series of 15 free on-farm sheep workshops will strongly emphasise practical hands-on activities to help participants capitalise on current high prices for meat and wool.

"It is an important distinction that the workshops will focus on practical skills," the NSW coordinator of the new Making More From Sheep program, Alex Russell, said.

Mr Russell, also NSW Department of Primary Industries’ wool industry leader, said the three topics to be covered related to recovering more quickly from the impacts of drought.

"For example, producers will be learning to fat score ewes, assess pasture for quality and quantity, and select rams to suit their breeding goals, among other things," he said.

"They will also be hearing about how these skills can be used to improve weaning percentages, pasture use and the productivity of their sheep, the ultimate goal being to improve their return per hectare of land managed."

Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) and Meat and Live stock Australia (MLA) have jointly developed Making More From Sheep as a national program.

The NSW workshops will focus on three modules from Making More From Sheep - A sheep producer’s manual: Wean More Lambs, Turn Pastures into Product and Gain from Genetics.

Mr Russell said the short-term future for the sheep industry would be very positive if the drought broke this year.

"The turnaround time for sheep breeding or trading is pretty quick and there are very good prospects for sheep and wool," Mr Russell said.

"Wool prices have remained strong in the face of a high Australian dollar."

Mr Russell said the gross margins of a well-run wool enterprise could match or even out-perform other agricultural enterprises under present conditions.

"Demand in sheep and lamb markets is strong and supplies are short, because the national flock has contracted due to the drought."

He said if this year did see the end of the drought, demand for restockers would be very high, which would mean opportunity for some and require careful planning from others.

Making More From Sheep - A sheep producer’s manual presents 11 modules covering all aspects of sheep management and production.

One of the manuals’ major features is a series of selfassessment and benchmarking tools.

These will help producers decide what to focus on first to maximise production and profitability.

The modules cover: planning for success, market-focused wool production, market-focused lamb and mutton production, being a capable and confident producer, natural resource management, healthy soils, growing more pasture, turning pasture into product, gaining from genetics, weaning more lambs and contented sheep.

The manual’s Quick Quiz aims to help producers assess the areas of their business with the most potential and to give some idea of the scale of improvement the business can achieve from each of the modules.

Making More From Sheep events will be held around NSW, starting in late February.

The first dates to be confirmed are for events to be held in the Cowra region.

The half-day (afternoon) events will discuss the topic Turn Pasture into Product, and the dates and sites include:

• March 17, Warraderry;
• March 18, Grenfell; and
• March 19, Morongla.

More events will be announced in coming weeks.

Making More from Sheep - A sheep producer’s manual costs $65+GST for AWI levy-payers and MLA members.

Contact the AWI Helpline, (1800) 070 099, the MLA membership line, (1800) 675 717 or the program website http://www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au