SHEEP producers willing to participate in on-farm demonstrations of the benefits of short and long term ewe flushing are being sought in Victoria, southern New South Wales and south east South Australia.

Producer demonstrations on farm have shown that flushing ewes with green feed for one week prior and one week post joining delivers impressive reproduction benefits.

The demonstrations across NSW and Victoria have shown that short term flushing of ewes with green feed such as lucerne, rape, millet or green pasture increased lamb production.

The Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources with Meat & Livestock Australia co-funding, has conducted on farm demonstrations over the past three years on 25 producer sites in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales, who join Merino or crossbred ewes between January and March for a winter/spring lambing.

Two flocks in western Victoria have agreed to participate in the demonstrations, but DEDJTR is seeking interest from more producers for the 2016 demonstrations. The trials will compare the reproduction rates of ewes joined on traditional dry feed, versus ewes grazing lucerne for one week before and one week after joining (short flush), versus ewes grazing lucerne throughout joining (long flush).

Participants would need to make available 250-300 ewes for each of the above three treatments, which is 750-900 ewes in total.

DEDJTR will supply up to 900 electronic tags. If the ewes are already tagged, the tags could be utilised by other sheep, for example the new lamb drop. DEDJTR will assist producers with data collection.

If you would like more information or are interested in being involved in the demonstrations, please contact Gervaise Gaunt at DEDJTR Rutherglen on (02) 6030 4571 or [email protected]

Source: DEDJTR.