Optimising maiden ewe fertility
Producer case study: David Counsell
Producer: David Counsell, ‘Dunblane’, Barcaldine QLD
Enterprise type: sheep (meat and wool); rangeland goats
Flock/herd size: 10,000 merino sheep; 5,000 rangeland goats
Property size: 15,000ha
Land type(s): mostly Mitchell grasslands with some buffel, open woodlands and pockets of gidyea
Project overview
The ‘Making Maidens Weight’ Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) explored ways to improve lamb marking rates from maiden ewes in central west Queensland. Conception rates of maidens in the region were generally good, however, converting these fetuses to lambs presents a challenge in a tough climate. Demonstration properties focused on pre-mating liveweight and body condition scoring (BCS), supplementation, pregnancy scanning and udder assessment of ewes as practices to help improve their lamb marking percentage. As part of this initiative, individual animal data was collected using electronic identification (eID) in large-scale commercial operations to highlight how this data can contribute to improved decision making.
Background
David Counsell of Dunblane Pastoral is a fourth-generation woolgrower operating a 15,000ha mixed grazing enterprise near Barcaldine, Queensland. David was one of two producers who helped develop and drive the PDS, having identified that maiden ewe fertility can be a bottleneck for western Queensland Merino producers.
David’s primary business objectives were to generate a 6% return on assets, diversify the income basis of the business, and develop a profitable and sustainable agritourism business alongside the grazing business.
About the PDS
Alongside Peter Thomas, David has championed this project, aiming to promote the adoption of science and best practice management in western Queensland sheep enterprises. David hoped access to small ruminant reproduction scientist Dr Gordon Refshauge (NSW DPIRD) would build the collective wisdom of local sheep producers and provide the opportunity to trial practices locally that are commonplace in southern sheep regions.
The PDS promoted key management practices such as pregnancy testing, wet and dry assessments (checking a ewe's udder at lamb marking to determine if she is currently rearing a lamb (wet) or has either lost her lamb or did not lamb (dry)), and Body Condition Score (BCS) as indicators of reproductive performance. These activities demonstrated best practice for managing ewe hoggets. The PDS highlighted the importance of hitting target joining weights for maiden ewes pre-joining. By adopting these practices, David expected regional lamb marking rates to increase, generating more profit that could be spent in the community.
David also saw the need for strengthening and broadening western QLD sheep producer networks, particularly between woolgrowers. The PDS was seen as a platform for sheep producers to discuss production, improve scientific understanding factors influencing production and to share ideas and innovations for best sheep management in western QLD.
Image 1 David Counsell (left) was instrumental in the development of this PDS, engaging Ilfracombe producer Peter Thomas and Dr Gordon Refshauge (NSW DPIRD). The PDS supported by local DPI staff Millie Sheales (right) and Rhonda Toms-Morgan from ConnectAg (not pictured).
Management changes to improve maiden ewe fertility
Prior to this PDS, eID tags were already used at Dunblane and scanning results for pregnant/not pregnant recorded. Following the guidance of Dr Refshauge on recommended best management practices to improve maiden ewe fertility, several new practices have been adopted across the whole breeding flock at Dunblane:
- Body condition scoring mixed age ewes to identify lighter condition ewes requiring supplementary feeding to improve condition prior to joining. Condition scoring will remain critical in guiding the dry season feeding program. Prior to joining in October, David nowdrafts off and preferentially feeds low BCS ewes (maiden and mixed age ewes) to ensure higher scanning results.
- Identifying the target liveweight for maiden joining and options for supplementary feeding to reach this target. Supplementary feeding to increase or maintain BCS of mixed age adults prior to joining was also implemented.
- Scanning for singles/multiple pregnancies and then preferentially managing twin bearing ewes through a separate paddock allocation and targeted supplementation was implemented.
- Udder assessment at lamb marking (wet/dry and udder integrity) to select for ewes that successfully rear a lamb and early detect problems and remove them from the breeding flock.
- Whilst sheep were tagged with eID tags prior to the project (Figure 1), the scope of data collected in this PDS enabled a comprehensive record of individual ewe productivity to be developed. This improved the quality of selection decisions by identifying and culling poor performers and supported targeted management of individual sheep rather than mob-based management.
- Increased pressure on selection for high fertility Merinos, both from ram sources and in-flock selection of young ewes.
Figure 1 Liveweight distributions for each age group (drop; year of birth)
Impact of management changes
Connections with local growers and industry representatives strengthened the support available to western Queensland growers, boosting their confidence to trial new practices. David cites the establishment of a project mobile phone app
‘WhatsApp’ chat group and grower newsletters as playing a key role in fostering a peer-to-peer group of sheep producers throughout the PDS. These tools provided the opportunity for producers to discuss approaches to management, technology and infrastructure readily.
For David, this included trialing confinement (lot) feeding of the black tag (2024-born) weaners in spring 2024 to improve weaner growth rates and ultimately set them up to perform as maidens in 2025.
Ease of access to advice from Dr Refshauge and a southern nutritionist, and experiences from other growers in the WhatsApp chat gave David the confidence to trial and review his weaner management system.
To improve the efficiency of husbandry tasks in the absence of reliable labour, this project has catalysed a myriad of on-farm productivity investments that have been made at Dunblane. Since the project’s inception, David has invested in panel eID readers, an auto drafter, an Optiweigh (sheep) unit to improve delivery of animals at saleable weight and new software to support data analysis. Through this PDS, David has gained valuable insights into how adopting new technologies can reduce the cost of production in western Queensland sheep enterprises. These tools not only reduce labour requirements but also provide timely information to guide decision-making and to enable responsive management practices, ultimately improving flock fertility outcomes.
Challenges encountered during the project
Predation and seasonal conditions were a challenge at Dunblane over the course of the PDS which ran from March 2023 to June 2025. These factors were large contributors impacting mortality and joining success, particularly in 2024 (Figure 2).
Despite substantial effort to control predator numbers and the existence of exclusion fencing, wild dogs impacted lamb survival to marking in 2024 and 2025. Additionally, high eagle pressure was observed in 2025 contributing to further lamb losses.
Season-wise, flooding in November 2023 created management challenges with loss of fencing directly impacting the planned joining period. Rams remained joined to the ewes whilst fences were repaired. 2024 was a different story with well below average rainfall across the year into 2025. Analysis using the ClimateApp website indicated Barcaldine had experienced a 12-month period within the driest 13th percentile of years. This created a challenge of putting enough condition on ewes to reach target joining weight.
Figure 2 Weaning body condition score of the 2021 yellow tag and 2022 red tag ewes and their subsequent fertility rate (the number of pregnant ewes per ewe scanned). The light shading around the line of best fit is the confidence interval.
Where to now with your learnings from the PDS?
Despite these challenges, David felt more in control of the levers that impact flock fertility resulting in more sheep to sell and select from than he did prior to the PDS. Record keeping and using individual animal data will improve David’s business and drought resilience by enabling culling decisions to be made more readily, based on objective individual
animal performance data. Ultimately, over time, this will see Dunblane focus on retaining the most productive animals in the flock, contributing more cash flow to the business during drought and enabling numbers to rebuild quicker post drought.
Individual animal data collection and analysis will remain part of Dunblane’s management to continue to improve selection decisions that optimise ewe fertility. In the future, David is interested to see how artificial intelligence could speed up analysis of individual animal data to further improve efficiency of time spent in the office to then be able to get out in the paddock and refine the flock sooner.
Gaps in individual animal data highlighted the losses from predation throughout the project so increased efforts to control predators will remain an important component of sheep management at Dunblane.
David sees the value in continuing to feed ewes to hit a BCS target of 3 at the point of lambing and maiden ewes to reach a targeted joining weight of 42kg to improve joining outcomes in his maiden Merino hogget ewes. To support this, David sees value in a second PDS in the region, centred on how to effectively and confidently feed sheep to achieve production targets, particularly when seasonal conditions are suboptimal.
This PDS was funded by Meat & Livestock Australia and supported by the Farm Business Resilience Program, ConnectAg, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Leading Sheep.
