- Sheep outside of an exclusion or electric fence
- Supplementary vs substitute feeding
- Pain relief options
- Summary of 2019
- Upcoming Leading Sheep events
- Upcoming events
- eBulletins
1. Sheep outside of an exclusion or electric fence
Can you help Leading Sheep gather information?
We are interested to hear from Queensland producers who have sheep outside an exclusion or electric fence. This information will be kept private and will be used to help us deliver more relevant workshops to producers.
If you or someone you know has sheep in Queensland outside an exclusion or electric fence, please click here and answer the 3 yes/no questions.
2. Supplementary vs substitute feeding
“To feed or not to feed” that is the question? Or should that be – “to feed and when to stop feeding?”
Supplementary feeding is accepted as a cost efficient method of increasing body condition of an animal. Described as feeding energy, protein and nutrients that may be lacking in what they can eat from the pasture, an example of this is lactating ewes on dry feed, needing higher levels of energy and protein to continue producing milk for their lambs.
With the benefit of hindsight and lessons learnt, producers often admit that substitute feeding was too expensive. Think, a bare paddock where you supply everything that animals eat.
While there are times when substitute feeding is the accepted practice, care must be taken to know your limits and at what point you should stop.
To help you in your decision there are several resources available. One that is widely used is the NSW DPI Feed cost calculator, available by clicking here.
3. Pain Relief
Do you use pain relief on your lambs or weaners? Which one?
With the recent release of Numnuts there are now four products on the market. That all have advantages and disadvantages. Published on page 36 in the December edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale, there is a very informative four page summary titled ‘Anaesthetics and Analgesics Widely Adopted by Woolgrowers’.
On page 37 of this publication, there is an easy to read table showing the cost per dose of the four different options.
To view this table, click the link below.
4. Summary of 2019
As we head towards the final sunset of 2019 we reflect on what has been a year of variation. At different times and in different places we have faced floods, fires, heat, cold, drought high prices and low prices. Through it all, one of the few constants has been some variation of the following conversation.
“How you going?”
“Yeah, nah. Not too bad”
“Bit (enter your choice of difficulty, for example dry, wet, hot, cold)
“Yeah, but not as bad as (enter the name of a neighbour, someone down the road, the next town or district over)
Think of someone you know down the road or in the next town, have you wished them a merry Christmas? Hop on the phone, go for a drive, see how they’re going, take a small present bought locally and have a chat with them. It will go a long way, and may turn a bad day into a good one.
Let’s see if we can end this year on a good note, what will next year bring? I don’t know I don’t have 20/20 vision.
5. Upcoming Leading Sheep events
- Watch this space.
6. Upcoming events
- 24 December Christmas Eve
- 25 December Christmas Day, Public holiday.
- 26 December Boxing Day, Public holiday.
- 1 January New Year’s Eve, Public holiday.
- 27 January Australia Day, Public holiday.