Ewes with newborn lambs. Picture – Craig Hinchliffe.

POPULAR sheep productivity and profitability program, It’s Ewe Time, returns to New South Wales and Queensland in July and August this year with a focus on building resiliency in the dry conditions.

The forums will be held as half-day workshops across Southern New South Wales at Cooma, Gunning and Cowra on July 24-26; Northern NSW and Southern Queensland at Dubbo, Walgett and Dirranbandi on August 14-16, and in Queensland at Longreach, Tambo and Mitchell on August 21-23.

Meat & Livestock Australia general manager – producer consultation and adoption, Michael Crowley, said the objective of the half-day forums was to help producers achieve productivity increases in the form of carcase value, reproduction rates and reducing cost of production.

“With the strength of the sheepmeat and wool markets there is renewed interest in boosting productivity and profitability of sheep enterprises to ensure the resilience of the industry continues.

“Some mixed farmers are increasing the sheep portion of their enterprise and these forums will provide information to help facilitate that shift and support sustainable business management,” Mr Crowley said.

Australian Wool innovation general manager for wool grower services, Stephen Feighan, said while seasonal conditions are unfortunately very dry in many regions across Australia, the forums have been designed to help sheep and wool producers to plan and create more flexible and resilient businesses to achieve increased productivity and profitability.

“Each of the forums will deliver the latest research and information outcomes to ensure producers leave with confidence and the tools on how to best manage their flocks for current and future seasons,” Mr Feighan said.

Topics to be covered include sheep meat and wool market outlooks, managing ewes in dry times, maximising lamb and weaner performance, animal health, integrating cropping and livestock and how to maximise profits from sheep.

The forums will have a clear practice-change focus and will point interested producers to many of the extension and adoption tools available through MLA and AWI.

The forums will be held on the following dates:

• Tuesday July 24 – Cooma, NSW
• Wednesday July 25 – Gunning, NSW
• Thursday July 26 – Cowra, NSW
• Tuesday August 14 – Dubbo, NSW
• Wednesday August 15 – Walgett, NSW
• Thursday August 16 – Dirranbandi, Queensland
• Tuesday August 21 – Longreach, Queensland
• Wednesday August 22 – Tambo, Queensland
• Thursday August 23 – Mitchell, Queensland

Victorian sheep producer, Will Kinghorn, Byaduk, attended the It’s Ewe Time forum at Hamilton in 2017, and encouraged other producers to attend the half-day forums.

“It was a good refresher of ewe management and I was able to take away some useful information on feed management to implement on-farm.

“It’s Ewe Time reiterated that containment yard feeding was a worthwhile thing to be doing for several reasons – we run containment yard feeding to optimise our ewes’ feed intake prior to lambing,” Mr Kinghorn said.

“It also helps us to enhance pasture growth and keep decent ground cover by resting some paddocks.

“The forums are useful for refreshing knowledge about the proper management of ewes and sheep,’ he said.

“Those in the industry know it but every now and then it’s good to go over what you should be doing and how to do things properly. I’d encourage any producers who have the opportunity to attend the forums.”

The It’s Ewe Time program is a joint initiative of MLA and AWI and the forums are part of the flagship Making More From Sheep program.

Forum cost is $35 per person, and includes a forum booklet and all catering. For more information and to register, visit www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au/events or contact 1800 070 099.

Source: MLA.