Optimising animal health to improve pasture utilisation and productivity.
| Project start date: | 22 February 2010 |
| Project end date: | 16 June 2011 |
| Project status: | Completed |
| Livestock species: | Grass-fed Cattle |
| Relevant regions: | Victoria |
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Summary
The beef producers involved in the Mackinnon Project Beef Group Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) are clients of the Mackinnon Project and other beef producers that have adopted high production management systems to increase beef production and maximise profitability. These producers are motivated, knowledge-seeking farmers who are focused on sustainable production, improving farm profits and enhancing farm management skills. They seek practical, scientific advice and regularly consult the Mackinnon Project and other advisors about to increase farm productivity and profitability.
This project brought together the resources of about 16 producers that collectively manage over 13,000 beef cattle on 13,000 hectares to investigate evidence of emerging anthelmintic resistance and the impact of gastrointestinal parasites on production in addition to trace element deficiencies on high production properties determining the impact on production of trace element deficiencies with trace element response trials.
This project identified a number of important issues associated with running beef cattle in high rainfall regions including a number of new findings and identified a number of gaps in current knowledge that if resolved would improve the efficiency and productivity of beef cattle.
Objectives
The objective of this PDS was to help producers manage production risk on high input farms – optimising key animal health issues to increase effective pasture utilisation and meat production per hectare.
Progress
This study highlighted that the main tool used for monitoring worm burdens (worm egg counts) in cattle has very limited value and in some situations can be very misleading as this study found that even when worm egg counts (WEC’s) were as low as 50 eggs per gram substantial growth rate responses were achieved with drenching. In essence better tools need to be developed to assist beef producers to decide when to time strategic and non strategic drenching. The trials also highlighted the gaps in knowledge for producers to make rational decisions of when to drench beef cattle apart from strategic times such as at weaning.
The difference in production as measured by liveweight gain (Based on a typical farm producing about 332 kg beef/ha) was up to 26 kg/head between good worm control and poor worm control for steers sold at the end of spring and up to an extra 14 kg of extra beef/head for cull heifers sold in late summer. For a typical 600 ha property in the high rainfall regions of Victoria running 16 dse/ha, this would be equivalent of producing an extra 13 kg liveweight/ha (4% increase) and a property with good worm control which would reduce the cost of production about $0.05/kg liveweight (as calculated on the MLA cost of production calculator.
