ELDERS Ouyen livestock manager Kieran O’Shannessy says modern hi-tech farm machinery has changed the landscape for traditional stubbles-grazing programs through the Mallee.
Mr O’Shannessy said the machinery did such a good job, it didn’t leave anywhere near the feed which farmers could count on as part of their summer feed bank not that many years ago.
However, he said the feed situation in his patch was “not too bad” and he hoped that would be improved if the promised rain managed to fall this week.
“We have only had about 240mm for the year – and that’s about 90mm short of an average season around here,” Mr O’Shannessy said earlier in the week.
“But cropping yields have still been pretty good because we might have been short on rain, but it just kept falling at the right time.”
While grazing stubbles did provide a valuable tool to fill the summer feed gap, the big question was how do we know what value is in a stubble and when do we need to supplement?
The majority of feed value in stubbles comes from two main areas: grain residues and summer growth (depending on the plant).
Standing straw and trash left behind provides very little feed value, due to the low digestibility and energy content.
Stubbles are also notorious for being imbalanced in their nutrient profile, so matching your stubble with the appropriate supplement (grain, pellet, loose lick or block) is a great way to improve the performance of your stock on the same amount of feed while avoiding major health challenges such as acidosis, urinary calculi or a calcium deficiency.
Mr O’Shannessy said decisions on when to pull stock out of stubbles would depend on the class of stock and what level of performance was required.
He said the following guidelines provided some rough “rules of thumb” for knowing when to start supplementing or when to remove stock:
• Lambs generally need grain residues of more than 100kg per hectare to continue growing.
• Dry stock will lose weight if there is less than 40kg per hectare of grain or green material.
• To minimise soil erosion, do not graze once stubble material is 1500kg dry matter per hectare or below (about 50 to 70 per cent ground cover).
“Finally, do not forget to ensure animals are recently vaccinated before going onto stubbles, to avoid pulpy kidney losses, and also consider testing and drench treatment for worms if necessary,” Mr O’Shannessy said.
“Each year, region or paddock/mob will potentially need a different plan.
“We have had people buying in young lambs and sheep with a bit of weight to carry through to the autumn, but restocker demand has been down about 50 per cent on this time last year.”
Sheep sales at Elders Ouyen won’t resume until February 1 next year.
