THE Northern Mallee Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) group last week staged a workshop on ewe requirements and assessing feed on offer for pregnancy management.
Held in the shearing shed at Nowingi farms, on the Nowingi Line Track, about 50km south of Mildura, the event attracted producers from across the region looking for alternatives and better outcomes.
They were there to hear presentations on a series of topics, including:
• Ewe feed requirements
• Assessing ewe body condition
• Pregnancy scanning
• Feed on offer assessment
• Livestock feeding tools
• Flood and storm support available
The focus for farmers participating in the More Northern Mallee Lambs on the Ground producer demonstration project is improving current reproductive performance.
It has a project goal of achieving a 5-10 per cent increase in lambs weaned for host farmers using improved scanning, joining length, mob size and other management practices to improve reproductive efficiency.
While their business profiles are primarily cropping, sheep have been making a comeback to these traditional grazing areas through a gradual reintroduction of wool and crossbred varieties.
The producer demonstration site is managed by Agriculture Victoria and funded by Meat and Livestock Australia and Agriculture Victoria.
Agriculture Victoria’s Erica Schelfhorst and Dynamic Ag’s Steve Cotton were the keynote speakers.
Dr Cotton says he works with farmers, offering independent livestock advice based on the latest scientific research and industry best practice and he spoke about managing ewe and feed requirements for pregnancy management and why producers pregnancy scan.
Agriculture Victoria’s Erica Schelfhorst talked to participants about the tools available to plan livestock feeding requirements.
