Summer survival skills for sheep

Location: Edenhope, Victoria  View Map

Enterprise: Merino wool, first cross lambs, cropping

Producer: Mark and Sheree Cooper

The Coopers have entered summer on their Victorian property with confidence in the clear parameters they set for managing weaners to reduce mortalities and maximise productivity.

Mark and Sheree are currently participating in the Sheep CRC’s High Performance Weaner (HPW) training course and have been members of a Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) group.

They have adopted these program strategies with the aim of cutting weaner mortalities to 1% from a long-term average of about 5%. They also hope to boost lamb growth rates and lift ewe weaner weights for joining to improve whole-flock reproductive performance.

Mark said using HPW’s ‘measure-to-manage’ approach has highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the family’s sheep enterprise and the environment in which it is run.

“We are using our HPW and LTEM skills to fine-tune our business and achieve better outcomes by reducing costs and increasing production,” he said.

Changing enterprise mix

The Coopers run a 5,000- head self-replacing Merino flock, producing 17–18 micron wool, and up to 30% of ewes are mated annually to Border Leicester sires.

During the past two years, high lamb prices and use of HPW and LTEM guidelines have prompted the family to retain these first-cross ewes for lamb production.

“Our major limitation in the past was carrying smaller Merino lambs through their first summer, and in some years, mortalities could be as high as 5%,” Mark said.

“We are starting to see better summer survival by concentrating on lifting weaner growth rates - especially for the lightest 20% of the mob."

Mark said the short- to mediumterm conception rate target for weaners (number of foetuses conceived per 100 ewes joined) was 100–110%. Their target sale weight for second-cross lambs is about 44kg.

The Coopers wean lambs at 21kg in early November, splitting them into mobs based on liveweight for preferential feeding.

Using HPW targets and tools

They adhere to HPW summer growth rate targets of 2kg/month for lambs weighing less than 20kg and 1kg/month for those weighing more than 20kg.

“The HPW targets are set with the economics of sheep feeding in mind. We’ve found they are achievable and workable on our property,” he said.

They regularly weigh weaners during summer, monitor growth rates and assess pasture feed on offer to ensure nutrition is meeting animal growth requirements.

Mark said he had confidence in the HPW pasture quality charts, after noticing in recent summers that the charts provided highly accurate predictions of how sheep would perform as feed quality dropped off.

Worms are the biggest animal health issue on the property at this time of year. The Coopers monitor weaner worm egg counts and have started breeding for improved flock worm resistance using the MERINOSELECT genetic evaluation system.

Mark said he now realised the value of measuring, monitoring and benchmarking key performance indicators of lamb growth rates, conception rates and reproductive performance, and identifying where lamb losses were occurring.

"Our flock is becoming more productive, with preliminary trends indicating higher outputs of wool and meat per hectare with fewer weaner mortalities, depending on the season."

Print this page

Email page

Go back to top