Making More from Sheep Australian Wool Innovation Limited Meat & Livestock Australia
Making More from Sheep

Register for It's ewe time - 1800 675 717

02-Jun-2010

This series of events has now finished. To see copies of the speakers notes and slides click here.

The must-attend sheep event of 2010.           FOR 2011 events   Click here

Weaning 10% more lambs per hectare, achieving 10% more carcase weight and making sheep easier to manage are the focus of a new series of 'must-attend' sheep industry events for 2010. The forum series is designed to build awareness of the significant opportunities to help producers bolster the performance of their sheep enterprise. Specialist speakers will focus on practical 'take home and do tomorrow' information:

For details on time and location see the events page. To register call 1800 675 717.

For 2011 events click here

The New Ewe

The Australian ewe flock is transforming to better meet the specialist markets of prime lamb or wool, or the tri-purpose; meat, wool and reproduction. Make the most of your ewe flock with plainer animals, higher growth rates, incresaed fertility, and resistance to worms and flies. Find out how the New Ewe can wean her weight in lamb while maintaining her ability to annually re-build body condition for high reproductive performance.

Wean More Lambs

You can wean up to 10% more lamb per hectare through closer attention to the body condition score of the ewe throughout critical periods of the production year - it all starts at weaning which is just around the corner. Having adequate quality pasture and fencing infrastructure to:

  • enable 'weaning on time' at 14 weeks from the start of lambing is critical
  • manage ewes according to condition score not age class
  • prepare rams well and in advance
  • pregnancy scan to manage according to lambing potential

all combine to deliver the higher lambing potential that already exists in most flocks.

Healthy and Contented Sheep

Worms ($369m pa), flies ($280m pa) and lice ($123m pa) are significant costs to the Australian sheep industry. Worms can reduce carcase weight at sale by 2 kilograms via reduced growth rate and lowered dressing percentage; and flies can cost up to $4 per ewe per year. To reduce these costs, producers need to reduce their reliance on chemical intervention and take a more integrated approach by focusing on genetics, grazing management, chemical family rotation and timeliness of operations.

Making Sheep Easier to Manage

Ease of management – it’s an issue that challenges most, if not all sheep producers. However, it doesn’t have to be labour intensive. Leading sheep and farm management consultants share their observations on how innovative, efficient and highly profitable sheep producers make sheep easier to manage through infrastructure and decision support tools that deliver a 15-20% return on their investment.

Turning Pasture into Product

Lamb growth to weaning of 350 grams per day is an achievable target, but many producers fall well short of this. Hear how to get the right balance of pasture growth, stocking rate, feed utilisation and genetics to deliver this and more.

Best practice includes:

  • growing the right plant in the right place with the right animal to utilise it
  • addressing soil fertility and condition
  • grazing management to optimise pasture growth and utilisation

Managing high performance pastures to get good animal outcomes is more than just opening the gate and letting the sheep in. Matching and monitoring pasture production to animal demand and class is the key.

Profitable Lamb Finishing Systems

How profitable is your lamb finishing enterprise? No matter where your business sits – from the traditional breeder-finisher through to specialist large scale finishing – there is a suite of profit drivers that you need to understand to make more from your prime lambs.

Industry specialists will discuss pasture, fodder and grain finishing of cross-bred and Merino lambs.

Aussie Lamb – the world’s best

The Sheep CRC meat science program is laying the foundation for Australian lamb to take the next quantum leap. We’ve reached a carcase size that is acceptable for most processors and retailers. It’s now time to add more lean meat via more muscle and dressing percentage, while ensuring production functionality and eating quality is not only maintained but enhanced, including new human health attributes like zinc, iron and omega 3.

Increasing lean meat yield by 2% by 2015 will assist in improving enterprise productivity; it will contribute to increased national output and value.

Plan for Success

With a sound market outlook, lamb supply has grown steadily, even under decreasing ewe numbers. There are opportunities in sheep production, but competition for land from cropping, beef, trees, dairy, vines etc, as well as water and labour will continue to challenge the industry.

Learn how to overcome these challenges through good business planning by developing a low cost yet productive and profitable sheep enterprise, and making every ewe count.

The 2010 forums:

  • Tuesday 13 July: Dubbo, NSW at the RSL Club
  • Thursday 15 July: Goondiwindi, QLD at the RSL Memorial Club
  • Tuesday 27 July: Wagga Wagga, NSW at the Country Comfort Motel
  • Thursday 29 July: Carrick, TAS at the Ag Fest Function Centre
  • Wednesday 18 August: Clare, SA at the Golf Club
  • Tuesday 24 August: Hamilton, VIC at the Showground Function Centre
  • Thursday 26 August: Naracoorte, SA at the Town Hall

To book a seat at your closest forum call MLA on 1800 675 717.

Time: 9:10 – 4:00

Cost: $20 per person (for venue & catering)

Event Partners – The Sheep CRC, Elders, Landmark, and Roberts (in Tasmania) and Event Supporters – the Sheepmeat Council of Australia, the Australian Meat Processor Corporation and State Primary Industries Agencies, are collaborating to deliver the forums.