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Good Neighbour Wild Dog Baiting Program

The Department of Primary Industries (DPI), Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Parks Victoria have completed the annual Gippsland Good Neighbour Cooperative Wild Dog Baiting Program across Gippsland.

By Department of Primary Industries - 4th August 2005 - Back to News

Meetings were held prior to the commencement of the baiting program to provide community with the opportunity to participate in the planning and action components of the program.

Vaughn Kingston, Wild Dog Program Coordinator for Gippsland said community support continues to drive the cooperative program across East Gippsland.

"With the inclusion of the DSE Land Stewardship staff, the program is going from strength to strength."

Discussions have again been held through the Interstate Pest Animal Working Group to

coordinate wild dog management activities in SouthEast New South Wales and Victoria.

"The link with New South Wales agencies provides a definite advantage in wild dog management by enhancing our resources base and providing links to research and development opportunities on both sides of the border," Mr Kingston said.

For further information on wild dog management in Gippsland contact Vaughn Kingston on (03) 5152 0600.

STOCK CONTAINMENT GRANTS

FOR EAST GIPPSLAND

Financial assistance is available to farmers in the East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority area for the establishment of stock containment areas.

Stock containment areas are a carefully selected part of a property that are set up to hold, feed and water farm stock during adverse weather periods such as drought and cold weather.

Stock containment areas should be considered part of a property management plan and once established should be maintained and be available for use during emergencies.

The benefits of stock containment areas are:

• reduce the impact of soil erosion on the whole of the property by the protection of vegetative cover.
• confine the spread of weeds from imported feed.
• reduce the time taken for animal health and husbandry tasks.
• allow pastures to regenerate.

Grants of up to $2,000 are available for materials for fencing and water reticulation.

If you have any questions or would like to apply for a grant for a stock containment area, please call Julianne Sargant at DPI Bairnsdale on (03) 5152 0603.

POTATO 2005
Today and Beyond

The National Potato Conference is to be held at Cowes on Phillip Island from the 18^th to 21^st September.

Features of the conference include:

• Leading Australian and international presenters.
• A trade fair with more than 30 exhibitors.
• Major industry announcements and releases, including national water policy, new products, the new potato storage guide and the Processing Potato R& D initiatives.
• Poster display on the latest research.
• Industry tours.
• Be there to get practical and down to earth information.

For further information visit www.spv.org.au or contact the Potato Conference Secretariat at PO Box 1349, Warragul, Vic 3800. Phone (03) 5623 4188.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF AN EXTRA LAMB?

Dr Andrew Thompson, Sheep Production Scientist, Department of Primary Industries, Hamilton John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA

High meat prices increase the value of extra lambs and the incentive for farmers to improve weaning percentages in their flocks.

But don’t fall into the trap that if your best lambs sell for $80 you can spend that much to increase the number of lambs weaned. Extra lambs do not come at no additional cost.

To decide if it is profitable to implement a strategy to increase weaning percentages, wool and lamb producers should carefully work through the full costs and benefits of raising extra lambs for their circumstances, to ensure that extra lambs weaned means extra profits.

Cost of extra lambs

Across different price scenarios and flock types, from specialist wool to specialist meat, computer modelling by the ‘Lifetime Wool’ project indicates that the ‘hidden’ cost of raising an extra lamb to sale age is approximately $20/hd (range $18 to $22 at long term average wool and meat prices).

The cost is lower if the farm is understocked and/or lambing is in the middle of spring, as the number of ewes per hectare is less likely to be compromised. It is also less when meat prices are lower because of differences in optimum stocking rate and feed utilisation between price scenarios.

This ‘rule of thumb’ could be used by producers to calculate a value for extra lambs on their property based on the average net sale price of their lambs.

The modelling used has taken into account changes in flock structure and value of production of the whole flock that result from higher weaning percentages. It also includes the increases in energy requirements of ewes bearing and rearing more lambs, changes in the value of their wool and the increases in energy required for backgrounding and finishing the extra lambs.

Value of extra lambs

The modelling shows that the value of an extra lamb can vary between $12 and $49 depending on the type of flock and prices received.

Extra lambs are most valuable in flocks that produce prime lambs and are least valuable in specialist wool flocks (see Table 1). They are of intermediate value in wool flocks that sell a draft one-third of the larger wether lambs as Merino prime lambs (Wool + MPL).

The value of extra lambs is only slightly affected by wool and grain prices, but is very sensitive to meat prices. Current meat prices are above the ‘High’ scenario used in the modelling ($3.10 per kg carcass weight).

Table 1: Value of extra lambs ($/lamb) for three flock types and five price scenarios. The value of an extra lamb is calculated from the difference between the sale price and the estimated cost of raising that lamb.

So if you decide that you would like to improve weaning percentage, what can you afford to spend?

If you are running 10 first cross ewes per hectare, increasing weaning percentage from 120 to 130% will produce one extra lamb per hectare. From Table 1 (specialist meat x high meat price), the value of this extra lamb is $49. The strategies implemented to achieve the 10% increase in lambing should therefore cost less than $4.90 per ewe, less an allowance for your profit.

The ‘Lifetime Wool’ project has shown that there are a number of strategies that farmers can implement to increase weaning percentages. These can be targeted to increase reproductive rate (more ewes pregnant with multiple births) and or increase lamb survival.

For example, having ewes in better condition at joining will boost reproductive performance (foetuses scanned per 100 ewes). Across 70 ewe flocks involved in the ‘Lifetime Wool’ project, an extra condition score at joining improved reproductive rate by between 5 and 40 lambs per 100 ewes joined (average 22 lambs/100 ewes for each extra condition score). How responsive is your flock, as this will influence your management decisions approaching joining next year.

More precise management of ewe nutrition during pregnancy can also improve lamb survival and weaning percentages. In addition, improving ewe nutrition can permanently increase fleece weight and reduce fibre diameter of progeny from Merinos, and improve lifetime reproductive performance of ewe progeny from crossbred ewes.

These benefits in lifetime performance, and therefore the value of these progeny if they are retained on the property, also need consideration in calculating the cost effectiveness of management strategies that improve weaning percentages.

To optimise stocking rate, the key is to know how nutrition affects the performance of your ewes and her progeny on your farm in your environment.

For more information on the Lifetime Wool project and pasture and ewe condition score bench marks to improve overall flock productivity, contact Andrew Thompson or Darren Gordon, Department of Primary Industries, Victoria, on (03) 5573 0900.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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