WAMMCO's newest board member, Craig Heggaton, presented his thoughts on ewe and lamb management to attending members and shareholders at last week's State Carcase Competition presentations at Katanning.
Mr Heggaton, who also runs Genstock Animal Breeding Services, said despite a declining lamb supply and the current competition from live export he remained very positive about the future of lambing in WA.
While he didn't claim to have all the answers he did have some ideas on how to safeguard against a poor lambing season.
"It's about making the best of what we have at the time," Mr Heggaton said.
"It's about being proactive not reactive."
Mr Heggaton said that pregnancy scanning was a great strategy because it allowed producers to manage their pregnant ewes more accurately.
"It's a great management tool to know that you're ewes are pregnant and then you can change your whole mangement to accommodate your lambing percentage," he said.
"As we all know it was an horrific summer for sheep last year, we had rain through harvest, the feed quality went off and stubbles lost a lot of value.
"Sheep were just going off the boil and not only did we have a bad start to the season where we lost a lot of lambs, but obviously we had a lot of ewes that just didn't conceive."
Mr Heggaton said now that ewe conception rates in WA were on the rise producers should be looking at multiple birth scanning and providing twin bearing ewes with better management.
"The ones that don't deserve as much feed are always the first ones behind the feed trailer, the poor old ewe that's staggering behind, with two lambs inside her or two lambs following behind her, by the time she gets to the feed it's gone," he said.
Mr Heggaton believes that innovative feed lick technology could provide the answer to this problem.
"There is anecdotal evidence to show that lick feeders might revolutionise how we feed our sheep," he said.
"I think the proof's in the pudding."
Mr Heggaton also spoke about the benefits of grazing wheats in the ewe and lamb management stages.
Agriculture and Food Department officer Johnathon England was also on hand to speak about the Lifetime Ewe Management Program that is offered throughout WA.
The course takes a look at the ewe throughout her reproduction cycle.
"Farmers are encouraged to look at the condition score leading up to joining, condition score throughout the ewe's pregnancy, lamb birthweights, lamb survival and a whole host of other variables," said Mr England.
Mr Heggaton believes that it is a "very worthwhile course to do."
For course details contact the Department of Agriculture and Food, Narrogin on (09) 9881 0222.
Email a friend