Around the Camp: New Coordinator, Ramping up Repro, Grants and Deep Dive on ‘Lambed and lost’ Website Post

  1. Quick picks: New Coordinator, Ramping up Repro, Grants
  2. Deep dive – ‘Lambed and lost’
  3. Upcoming events
  4. Podcasts, eBulletins and surveys

Goodbye, 2024. Hello, 2025. I hope you are ready for another year of Around the Camp. January is usually a time of resolutions, assessments, reviews and goal setting. Many graziers will be planning the number and class of stock they will carry through this year or setting goals for achieving a certain marking percentage. One of my goals is to get more reader engagement in this newsletter. So, if you have anything that you would like to share with your fellow graziers, such as what you’re doing to improve your marking percentage or a question you haven’t found the answer for, please reach out. Regards Sam.

Quick picks

The south-west region has a new Regional Coordinator: We would like to welcome Chloe Owen to the Leading Sheep team. Chloe joins Belinda for the north and central west and Noel for the south. Part of their role is to provide regional information and be an easy contact point for producers to find out about the project, contribute ideas or request specific support. You can find Chloe, Belinda and Noel’s contact details here.

Ramping up Repro Checklist for pre-joining: Performing pre-joining checks on your rams twelve weeks before joining allows you to pick up any issues early and check that your rams are in top condition. You can use Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Zoetis’ checklist for pre-joining as a quick reference checklist. Click here to access it.

Picking Performer Ewes: This one is so good we will include it again this month.  AWI has launched a new, one-day workshop aimed at helping woolgrowers lift the lifetime performance, productivity, and value of their Merino ewes. The Picking Performer Ewes workshop identifies the key practical actions that commercial enterprises can implement on-farm to improve the net reproductive rate in a Merino breeding flock. Learn more by visiting the AWI website. Fill out this expressions of interest form if you’d like to attend this workshop in 2025.

Rural Landholder Recovery Grant Scheme available for southern Queensland fires: The Rural Landholder Recovery Grant Scheme offers grants of up to $10,000 for clean-up and reinstatement activities to help rural landholders pay for the costs of clean-up and reinstatement of their primary production enterprise that has suffered damage as a result of 2023-2024 disaster events. Click here to find out more.

Beware of the worms biting: The Barbers Pole could be a big problem for your sheep this year. With the favourable season in some areas (remember if you see green pick it’s likely that worm eggs are hatching), keep an eye on your sheep and know where you will get your worm egg counts done. Remember to check out your regional guides here at ParaBoss.  Also check out our factsheet with some information on the options regarding your worm egg counts here.

Do you feed licks or blocks to sheep? If so, we would like to hear from you. I’m gathering information on how sheep react to the wide range of licks and blocks on the market. Your responses will be anonymous but contribute to future editions of Around the Camp. The results may help you decide what lick to try given there seems to be a good deal of difference in which sheep accept different licks under different conditions and land types. If you feed a block or lick, please click here to complete the form.

Merino Superior Sires No. 30 now available: Curious to see the top Merino sires? Published annually the Merino Superior Sires is the annual report for the Merino Sire Evaluation (MSE), the long running progeny testing program designed to evaluate genetic performance of 12 Merino Sire Evaluation sites operating across Australia. The resulting progeny between the Sires and ewes is evaluated for an extensive array of traits, including visual scoring and classing as well as measured traits. Click here to find out more.

Want to be better prepared for drought and climate resilience? The Drought and Climate Adaptation Program (DCAP) assists producers to better manage and adapt to future drought and climate risks. DCAP delivers improved forecast products, decision support tools, and extension activities. To learn more about this program and upcoming events, subscribe to the bi-monthly DCAP News here. Click here to access DCAP fact sheets, tools, webinars and videos.

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Deep dive – ‘Lambed and lost’   

‘Lambed and lost’ logistically too hard or is it the lowest hanging fruit?

Lambed and lost is the practice of assessing ewes’ udders at lamb marking to identify the ewes that were scanned in lamb but failed to bring a lamb to the yards at marking. One of the most legitimate barriers to introducing this practice is the need for an extra person in the yards when you’re already struggling to find enough staff at lamb marking to get the lambs processed quickly.

    While there are some difficult logistics to navigate, culling sheep who have failed to raise a lamb is a proven method to improve your profitability. The research conducted by Lee and Atkins in Trangie showed that 37% of the 2 and 3-year-olds in the flock reared lambs in both the 2 consecutive years studied, bringing on average 5.2 lambs to the yards over their lifetime. On the contrary, 11% of the 2 and 3-year-olds in the flock,  failed to rear a lamb in both the 2 consecutive years studied and brought on average 2 lambs to the yards over their lifetime.

    One strategy southwestern sheep graziers discussed is putting heavy selection pressure on maiden ewes by at least culling ewes in this group that lambed and lost. This would be a great way to introduce the practice without the burden of doing udder assessment on the whole flock. Rearing ability is highly repeatable and maidens that rear lambs in their first year of reproduction will rear more lambs in their lifetime. It can also be an important diagnostic tool in mobs that show a significant difference between pregnancy scanning (especially if the number of foetuses is known) and marking percentages.

    Another barrier to introducing lambed and lost culling strategies into a flock might be the selection pressure becoming too great resulting in unsustainable culling numbers. Flocks weaning less than 90% may find this the case for them. In this instance, you might consider applying a “twice-lambed and lost” rule, where if ewes fail twice to rear a lamb, they are culled. Research has shown culling ewes that have consecutively failed to rear a lamb has a similar impact on lifting the reproductive performance of the flock as culling ewes consecutively dry at pregnancy scanning. Identifying these ewes can be done through eID or simply a notched or second tag. This may also be important if you are balancing selection pressure with a number of other traits. Another strategy could consider retaining additional older ewes who have repeatably reared lambs to maintain production whilst culling more heavily in younger ewes, just keep in mind older ewes will generally have a higher mortality rate, less wool and be less saleable.

    You may also be surprised to discover 6 to 22% udder abnormalities with udder examination. Given these abnormalities can impact the ability of a lamb to suck, these ewes should be culled from the flock. A combination of ram selection for reproduction traits, with identification and retention of the highly productive ewes could improve your net reproductive rate by 15% over 10 years. Click here to find out more, including how to conduct an udder assessment.

    Megan Rogers delivers a webinar on AWI’s ‘Picking Performer Ewes’ here which discusses lots of tips to pick your best sheep, including using lambed and lost.

    This month’s Deep Dive is written by senior extension officer and Leading Sheep project leader Dr Andrea McKenzie.

    Upcoming events

    • 11-12 February. Carbon EDGE, Emerald. Delivered by ConnectAg. For more information and to register, click here.
    • 11 February. Livestock, Carbon and Sustainability, St George. Delivered by DPI. Register here.
    • 13 February. Livestock, Carbon and Sustainability, Stanthorpe. Delivered by DPI. Register here.
    • 25 February. GroWQ Ag Industry Roundtable, Longreach. Delivered by GroWQ. Information to come.
    • 26 February .Succession Planning for Farm Business Resilience, Texas. Delivered by DPI. Register here .
    • 5 March. Xero training, Longreach. Delivered by CHRRUP.Register here.
    • 11-13 March. Grazing Land Managment EDGE, Longreach. Delivered by DPI. Register here.
    • 27 March. Leading Sheep Forum, Longreach. Delivered by DPI. Information to come.
    • 30-31 July. GroWQ Ag Innovation Expo: Talks, Tech, Trade Displays, Longreach. Delivered by GroWQ. Information to come.
    • 3 October. GroWQ Next Gen Event: Grassroots Growth in the Grazing Industry, Longreach. Delivered by GroWQ. Information to come.

    Podcasts, eBulletins and surveys

    Mobile Connectivity Survey: how has your mobile coverage been since the 3G network closure? AgForce are conducting a short survey to gather your thoughts and experience on the coverage since the 3G shutdown. Share your views here.

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