Joining ewe lamb tool

Overview

Joining ewe lambs can increase profitability by up to $57 per ewe lamb joined – this tool will help producers make informed decisions to maximise gains from joining ewe lambs.

Developed by Murdoch University, Farming Systems Analysis Service and neXtgen Agri with funding from MLA, the tool provides guidance on the cost effectiveness of joining ewe lambs as well as management strategies to maximise profitability from ewe lambs joined.

The tool has two separate functions to support decision making around joining ewe lambs at each step of the journey – all  starting with whether a producer should  join ewe lambs in the first place. The second aspect of the tool is for producers who have been joining ewe lambs for a while. They can enter information and current targets around seven key factors identified to influence the performance of ewe lambs, such as the liveweight and age of the animal when mated. The tool then provides the producer with a dollar figure estimate of how much extra they could make by shifting their management of specific factors towards what the tool has modelled as the optimum for their specific operating environment.

Videos

Below are a series of videos that step through how you can use the tool. These cover a general introduction to the tool and its functions, a how-to guide for using the management section of the tool in order to assess the viability of joining ewe lambs in your enterprise, and a how-to guide for the strategic management section of the tool which informs how the practice of joining ewe lambs may be optimised in your enterprise.