Feeding fundamentals
By setting ewe nutrition and pasture targets, the Lifetime Wool program aims to increase the productivity and profitability of sheep enterprises across southern Australia
The dry conditions of 2006 brought back memories of another tough year a decade earlier for West Australian wool producer Lynley Anderson. Last year, the amount of pasture produced on her family’s fine-wool sheep property at Kojonup was halved by a lack of rainfall.
But this time, using practices and guidelines from Lifetime Wool – a national project to improve wool enterprise profitability, supported by AWI and five state government departments – Ms Anderson set about treating her 10,000-strong flock differently.
"In 1996, not a lot of pasture grew and we stopped feeding our ewes when our feed supply ran out," she says. "Our lambing percentage dropped quite markedly, and was even more pronounced the next year because the ewes failed to regain condition by mating."
Last year when feed supplies ran out, Ms Anderson continued to feed her flock, buying in more grain to do so. She says the extra grain costs were comparable to the cost of lambing reduction in 1996.
"And that doesn’t take into account the run-on effect we’d face this year," she says. "It’s not just the lower lambing percentage. As we saw from 1996, if the ewes don’t have optimum nutrition during pregnancy, their lambs will produce broader wool and cut less wool over their lifetime. Lifetime Wool proved really beneficial in providing skills to manage a drought year."
Lifetime Wool aims to increase the productivity and profitability of sheep enterprises across southern Australia through a series of ewe and pasture targets. To meet them, Lifetime Wool has published guidelines for wool production areas, developed ewe-management information (such as progeny performance, increased lambing, lamb survival, reduced ewe mortality, care of twinning ewes, improving ewe wool production) and tools for management, including condition scoring and feed budgeting.
The program hinges on the concept that better nutrition management throughout pregnancy and lambing improves future wool production, ensuring optimum economic production. Research has shown that poor nutrition throughout pregnancy affects lamb growth and development and will have run-on effects for wool production and quality (see related information - nutritional needs).
Ms Anderson, who has a 1300-hectare farm and crops 200ha of canola, barley, oats and fodder with her father, says Lifetime Wool has given her a better understanding of ewe nutrition and led to changes in some feeding patterns. For example, if a pregnancy scan shows that a ewe is having twins, it is put into a different mob.
"This allows us to tailor its nutrition during pregnancy and also ensures it has more shelter and feed at lambing time. We also feed ewes barley to increase their production of colostrum – the first milk a ewe produces after birth, which is high in antibodies and energy."
However, she says the biggest benefit has come in the past year. "I’ve managed hand-feeding a lot better - I now adjust feeding according to their condition score."
Knowing what condition the sheep needed to be in at critical times took out a number of variables, and a lot of the stress. "I knew what weight they could safely afford to lose and what level of hand-feeding was necessary to avoid unwanted consequences. I also knew I wasn’t feeding out expensive grain unnecessarily."
Maintaining stocking rates
Keeping a high stocking rate through a challenging season was made possible last year for WA’s Roger and Caroline Telfer through principles learnt in the Lifetime Wool program. The Telfers, who run a 1000-ha livestock and cropping operation at Darkan in southern WA, say learning to condition-score their flock was one of the most important aspects of the Lifetime Wool program.
"When the sheep are in the yards I condition-score them, something I’ve become well trained at," Mr Telfer says. "Condition-scoring allows us to at least achieve the minimum weight needed for a good economic return. It is very useful in years like 2006; we know what level we can get down to without risking wool production, and it also means we don’t overfeed when feed is expensive.
"Last year was a bad year for us – we had a very late break – and Lifetime Wool helped us keep on top of feeding. It meant we got good lambing results."
Mr Telfer says learning about feed budgeting was also important. "Feed budgeting has had some benefits: we know when to feed, what supplements are needed and also not to overfeed.
"I’m also more aware of feed quality, the amount feed can degrade, and I now calculate feed and energy requirements. Our supplementary feeding is now a bit more scientific."
The Telfers, who shear about 9000 sheep a year, have been involved in various agriculture department programs over the years, including ‘Pastures from Space’, a program that uses satellite images to determine feed on offer. "In our own area, there were about 10 to 12 of us involved in Pastures from Space. Most of us then became involved in Lifetime Wool."
Mr Telfer encourages other wool producers to consider the program. "Lifetime Wool is one of the few very practical programs out there. It’s easy to implement and not costly."
Meeting wool production goals
For western Victoria’s Michael Craig, Lifetime Wool has helped tailor a nutritional package to suit his wool production goals, while reaffirming practices already in place. Mr Craig runs 22,500 sheep and 980 cattle and crops 400ha of a 3760-ha property at Harrow with his wife Jane.
In the first couple of years, he says, Lifetime Wool helps boost fertility rates, lower mortality rates and improve overall production. "We’ve learnt to condition-score our animals properly and evaluate what their requirements are, what’s available in the paddock and what the gap is."
However, his focus has now shifted. "With the micron bracket we’re in – 15 to 17 micron – we need to be focused on our tensile strength," Mr Craig says.
"We believe that, long term, premiums will develop for ultra-fine wool with low vegetable matter, high tensile strength and low mid-breaks, so that’s what we’re focusing our production on. Because our country responds very easily to autumn and summer rainfall, it’s often difficult to manage tensile strength. We get flushes of green and the sheep eat it. So what we’re doing this year is putting our one-year-old ewes in containment zones to manage their dietary intake. We’re also running a trial: putting coats on a third of them, about 1200 sheep."
Mr Craig says the coats – worn from October to May as part of a three-year trial – may help to control vegetable matter, yield and, potentially, tensile strength. "Some woolgrowers have been using coats for a few years. They will decrease vegetable matter and dust penetration and at the same time we can improve the staple strength, because it could potentially prove a better environment in which to grow wool. We don’t really know, so that’s why we’re trialling it." The Craigs have set t