Late-break strategies

Managing lambing and a late break

You can find resources, including presentations, here.

Vic Hub South-West Node Southern Farming Systems hosted a “Dry Times: Strategies to manage a late break and lambing” event at Lismore today.

Some 80 people keenly listened to the four presenters, all experienced and well-regarded in their fields, speak on topics of interest during these dry times.

Supported with funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the event was organised after SFS members expressed their need for an informative event with the current dry conditions and their concerns leading into lambing this season.

Deb Scammell, Talking Livestock

Deb spoke on containment feeding, letting ewes out of containment and lambing in containment or sacrifice paddocks. Some key messages were:

• Condition scoring (CS) is critical. Set CS targets. Supply ewes with their energy requirements.
• Containment feeding allows paddocks to get away after the break. They can also be used post-lambing for 4-6 weeks to let feed get away again.

Andrew Speirs, Meridian Agriculture

Andrew spoke on nutritive values of feed and energy requirements of ewes, pasture growth and the use of gibberellic acid or urea. Some key messages were:

• Feed testing is important to ensure you’re meeting energy requirements of stock.
• Nitrogen is less effective than gibberellic acid at this time of year.
• Leaf area is vital for growth.
• Established perennial pastures will provide the quickest feed.
• Anything annual sown now will be slow to graze (late August at best, most likely November).

Simon Falkiner, Falkiner Ag

Simon spoke on grazing crops, when to graze cereals and grazing canola. Some key messages were:

• Grazing winter cereals can be done without yield penalty.
• Canola is more sensitive and needs to be sown earlier to limit yield loss post-grazing.
• Do the ‘pinch and twist test’ to begin grazing and end grazing before GS30.
• Grazing management is critical.

Dr Andrew Kennedy, Thrive Agri

Andrew spoke on post lambing management, weaner survival and management, and post-weaning recovery for ewes. Some key messages were:

• Condition scoring at lambing will tell you what to expect.
• Condition scoring at marking will help to decide weaning date. May need to wean early to help ewes recover.
• Manage ewes and lambs based on lambing status (twin/single) or condition score to prioritise feed resources.

The event was met with positive feedback, and a post evaluation survey found producers were keen to make practice changes from condition scoring to containment feeding, weaning earlier and using gibberellic acid.

Interested to cross reference dry summer materials?

See the Vic Hub Tech Note series for feed shortfalls over summer

And find the series on dry-summer strategies on our blog page.