BredWell FedWell is a practical, one-day introductory workshop on how productivity and profitability can be improved through good breeding and feeding.
On the back of a decade of success, MLA redeveloped the BWFW workshops to reflect evolving best practice genetics and nutrition management.
The revised program has been refined after piloting and is being rolled out nationally via a network of trained and accredited deliverers.
Producers can use the outcomes of the workshop to develop a genetics and nutrition regime suited to their environment and markets to boost profitability.
BWFW workshops are informative, interactive and individualised with on-farm activities aimed to improve the knowledge and skills of producers so they can:
Develop a customised breeding plan for their livestock enterprise aligned to their profit drivers.
Identify sires and select animals that help them meet their objectives.
Feed animals well to achieve their objectives and maximise their genetic investment.
So far, BWFW has delivered $17.2 million in total net benefits to participating producers as a result of workshops from 2015-2021.
Participants can expect an average annual net benefit of $2.48/ewe joined for sheep producers, and $2.98/cow mated for beef producers.
In 2017, Nicole Hayes and her husband Ben attended the MLA Ambassadors for the Red Meat Industry program in Alice Springs, looking for tools to help make their bull selection easier and improve their knowledge of Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs).
“I saw the BWFW workshop and in 2019 I put my hand up to host the northern cattle version; however, due to COVID, it was put on hold,” Nicole said.
“It wasn’t until the workshops were reintroduced that MLA contacted us to ask if we were still interested to which we gave an energetic ‘yes’.”
After reading through the guidelines and communicating with the deliverer, Nicole and Ben got to work on selecting six similar bulls and providing their BREEDPLAN EBVs data to the deliverer.
“There were other tasks involved such as setting up portable yards close to homestead, providing seating, food and toilets and promoting the event through social media,” Mrs Hayes said.
According to Mrs Hayes, the learning outcome of the experience outweighed the odd jobs they were required to do as hosts.
“It was especially helpful to be able to simply focus on what the deliverer was saying instead of also considering how it would apply back home,” she said.
“Having our own selection of bulls in our own environment also allowed us to really take out the physical attributes and focus on their EBV which is something we plan to utilise during upcoming bull sales to help our decision-making process.”
After going through the workshop, Mrs Hayes said that she and husband also learnt their breeding objective didn’t actually align with their herd goals.
“While we did breed year-round, we didn’t have a perfect understanding of when feed requirements were higher in females and which seasons were most beneficial when moving cattle around.
“Hosting the workshop really allowed us to get a better understanding of our young females needs and how to set them up for success.”
Register your interest as a host by contacting Peter Schuster, BredWell FedWell National Coordinator, at peters@schusterconsulting.com.au or 0418 604 412.
