Sheep consultant and educator Dr Jason Trompf – maximising lamb numbers still a real opportunity despite low ewe numbers.

TASMANIAN sheep producers can access timely tips and tools to tailor flock management to seasonal conditions when the It’s ewe time! Forum is held in Campbell Town next month.

The half-day forum on 12 June at The Grange Meeting and Function Centre is designed to deliver practical information to increase producer awareness and provide take home tips on the principles, practices and tools of sheep enterprise profitability and productivity.

The forums are a joint initiative of Meat & Livestock Australia and Australian Wool Innovation as part of the flagship Making More From Sheep program and provide producers with direct access to industry experts.

AchieveAg principal Nathan Scott

Topics and guest speakers include:

• Maximising ewe performance – Nathan Scott, Achieve Ag
• Mob size and marking rates – Dr Jason Trompf, JT Agri-Source
• Achieving your carrying capacity – Jason Lynch, Macquarie Franklin
• Sheep health is your wealth – Paul Nilon, Nilon Farm Health
• Making money from breeding and selection – Dr Jason Trompf, JT Agri-Source
• Decision making for the autumn break – Hilary Beech, Holmes Sackett

Consultant and producer Dr Jason Trompf said maximising the number of lambs marked to ewes joined continues to be a real opportunity for Australian sheep producers, particularly given the lower number of breeding ewes.

“Scanning rates have been low this year so it is likely to be a low marking rate year.

“Any producer who can defy these conditions and have product to sell will be in a good position in the coming years,” he said.

“At the Campbell Town forum, producers can learn about recent research that has established how ewe mob size at lambing can impact survival rates and how mob and paddock size can be optimised for different enterprises.

“The lambing density and mob size project, funded by AWI and MLA, set out to quantify the effects of mob size and stocking rate on lamb survival and provide some more credible recommendations for allocating ewes to mobs and paddocks at lambing.

“The project found lamb survival was poorer at higher mob sizes, but the stocking rate of ewes at lambing did not influence lamb survival. I’ll be discussing how producers can apply those findings on-farm.”

The cost to attend the forum is $35 per person, which includes a forum booklet, morning tea and lunch. Registrations open at 8:30am, with the forum running from 9am to 1:25pm, followed by lunch with the speakers.

To register and for more information visit  www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au/events or call 1800 070 099.

Source: MLA.