In drought years it is critical to pregnancy scan your ewes and make management decisions based on this information. The two main things you should be doing with this scanning information are:
- Know your rate of conception and the reasons you achieved this result. Have changes in management this year given you the results you wanted?
- From your scanning results draft and manage your dry, single and twin bearing ewes separately as they all have different nutritional requirements.
Cross bred ewes reach peak energy requirements 25 days after lambing. These ewes require approximately 25 MJ/day for a twin bearer, 14-18 MJ/day for a single bearer and 8MJ/day for a dry ewe.
There is a definite need to manage your dry, single and twin bearing ewes in separate mobs. If you run these three classes of stock together your dry ewes will out compete your pregnant and lactating stock.
Even if you leave the single and multiple bearing ewes in the same mob it will have a direct negative impact on lamb and ewe survival and lamb growth – it is very important to manage each mob separately.
If you shear your pregnant ewes in winter keep in mind that the nutritional requirements will increase dramatically as the cold weather and/or wind, coupled with no fleece, will cause them to burn more energy to keep warm.
Consider feeding grain or a good quality hay as a source of energy. I realise these feeds are difficult and expensive to source but can make the difference to the survival of the ewe and lamb.
For more information please contact the Northern Tablelands Local Land Services livestock officer’s Max Newsome on 0427 007 190 or Brent McLeod on 0413 884 710.
Check ingredients of livestock feed
By Nigel Brown - Northern Tablelands LLS District Vet
Around the Northern Tablelands we are seeing more and more livestock deaths as a result of incorrect rations. Please carefully check the ingredients of rations you buy or mix yourselves that you are feeding out to livestock.
Why?
As feed stuffs become ever harder to buy, prices continue to rise and the variation in quality increases.
This year we have seen deaths, among other issues, related to:
- inadequate feed and starvation as hay, silage and other roughages do not have enough energy and protein to sustain livestock;
- mineral imbalances from inadequate supplementation of calcium and magnesium for some rations;
- mineral poisoning from rations containing raw ingredients with levels of mineral higher than some livestock can tolerate. For instance, grape marc is known to be high in copper and sheep are not so tolerant of copper in the diet so ruminant pellets containing grape marc could pose a threat to sheep;
- nitrate and cyanide/prussic acid poisoning from crops harvested when under stress. Dangerous feed can be identified by lab testing but not by visual inspection;
- too much easily fermenting whole cereal in home-made rations or added to some Dry Distillers Grain pellets resulting in acidosis, abomasal (stomach) ulcers, pulpy kidney/enterotoxaemia, laminitis (lameness) and nephritis (kidney diseases);
- inadequate energy and protein so bacteria die out and fermentation stops resulting in impacted omasum and abomasum (stomach) with rupture and peritonitis;
- Botulism – mostly from silage so seriously consider vaccination.
The list goes on….
Warnings
- All bought-in fodder should be accompanied by a Commodity Vendor Declaration (CVD). It is free so ask for one and make sure you get it! Make certain the feed you are buying is fit for the purpose you are buying it for.
- When you are feeding fodder of unknown provenance, ask suppliers or producers about high-risk components, like grape marc. If in doubt ask your supplier specific questions and get a written answer.
- There is some pretty ordinary feed on the market at the moment – frosted, drought-stressed etc, so get a feed analysis to help you make a ration mix that provides adequate nutrition for your animals.
Remember
- The unborn calf or lamb grows most in the last third of pregnancy. This means increasingly less room in the abdomen for feed as the pregnancy advances and that is when the quality of the feed needs to be best.
- Different types of livestock have different feed requirements. Most livestock have very little reserves at the moment and are unable to tolerate miscalculations or oversights in feed quality, quantity and make-up. It is essential to meet their nutritional requirements or they will suffer.
Advice
Contact you private nutrition advisor, vet or LLS Livestock Officers and District vets (see numbers below) if you have concerns about the health of your livestock or for specific information about your ration.
Biosecurity and things you find in fodder
By Nigel Brown - Northern Tablelands LLS District Vet
If you are buying fodder from outside your own part of the country - beware of things in it that are not edible livestock feed.
Weeds like Parthenium and Black Knapweed are ‘prohibited matter’ in NSW and will cause significant problems if they get established on the Northern Tablelands. Seeds can be eaten, survive digestion in the bellies of cattle and sheep and then pass out in faeces onto the ground.
When the rain comes and the ground warms up they could germinate and grow into a crop you don’t want.
Beware of the various insect pests that get transported in soil, turf, potted plants, baled hay or straw, mulch and manure.
A local producer recently sourced some hay from Queensland at a very competitive rate and wanted to order it for himself and others in the area. Fortunately he contacted me because the property was in the Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA) Control Zone. That means the hay has to have a health certificate issued by a Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) inspector before it enters NSW. Inspection also covers Parthenium weed.
Another producer notified us of cattle deaths on his property after feeding the stock with hay from South Australia. He then found the bones of a dead lamb in the bottom of the hay rack. These hidden contaminants can cause very serious diseases that can have wide-spread and long-lasting consequences right across the industry.
It is everyone’s responsibility to keep an eye on what’s coming onto our farms so we can keep these biosecurity risks out. These producers did the right thing by contacting Local Land Services.
Contact Northern Tablelands Local Land Services for biosecurity advice:
- before you buy unusual feeds from unusual places
- if you find something unusual in bought fodder
- if you identify unusual livestock disease
If you suspect something serious you can call the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on
1800 675 888 or the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on
1800 084 881. For all other biosecurity concerns you can call the NSW DPI Biosecurity Helpline on
1800 680 244. These emergency contact numbers are manned 24 hours a day every day of the year.
Digging Deeper Soils Course
Northern Tablelands LLS is offering Tenterfield and Walcha landholders an opportunity to undertake one of Australia’s most successful soils courses for producers in the Tenterfield and Walcha areas. This course is for farmers and land managers who want to build strong soil management skills. This course will be co-delivered by Northern Tablelands Local Land Services and Soil Land Food over five days on farm. The course gives participants experience with soils and reading soil tests in the paddock. The course covers biological and chemical approaches to soil management.
By the end of the course participants will have a high level of confidence to manage their own soils. You will:
- Understand soils and how they function;
- Understand soil nutrients on the farm;
- Understand how different farming/grazing practices affect soil health and fertility;
- Read soil tests with confidence;
- Identify soil types and map the soil types across your property;
- Assess soil health in the paddock and use soil tests;
- Identify soil constraints such as low organic matter, soil acidity, soil salinity and compaction;
- Set benchmarks for your soils;
- Take effective action to address soil issues that are impacting the farm business and landscape;
- Manage soil nutrients effectively and evaluate fertiliser and soil input options; and
- Monitor your soils.
Places are limited so if you are interested in completing this course please register your interest with Karl Andersson on 0437 867 523 or 02 6770 2000. There will be a cost for the course and participants must commit to the full five days and be willing to host a day on their farm. The course will start in the 2nd week of September 2019 in the Tenterfield and Walcha areas.
Agmentation 2019
The Northern Tablelands LLS, UNE SMART Farms and the SMART Region Incubator are delighted to be working together again this year to hold Agmentation 2019 which is an event designed to bring diverse talent, producers, technologists, students, researchers, startups, industry people together to work on grassroots ag problems that matter to producers. The theme this year is Future Food and Fibre in the New England North West. The dates: July 26 (6pm-8pm) and July 27, 8am- 6pm at the UNE SMART Farm. We are looking for 10 producers to join Agmentation to work on solutions to our challenges. It is a great way to have an impact on designing and developing ideas that could make a difference to our region and our producers. To register contact Max Newsome 0427 007 190 or go to http://smartri.com.au/agmentation/
New UNE research project on Soil Carbon
Alert to new research project on Soil Carbon and improving farmers’ capacity to manage it!
Soil carbon management is complex and involves many components. But being able to manage your soil carbon can also have many benefits. A project on this topic is expected to start in early in August this year.
The PhD student, Nurul Amin is undertaking his research at the University of New England, and his project is examining how farmers develop their skills and knowledge for managing carbon in their soils. He wants to examine how ecological and social components interact under farming or grazing practices to build soil carbon. The other part of the research is how the social and ecological components influence farmers’ capacity (skills and knowledge) to manage soil carbon.
The work will be in the Northern Tablelands, especially in grazing enterprises or where livestock have been integrated into cropping, and these changes have occurred in the last 10 years. So he will be talking to those farmers or graziers interested in sharing their understanding and reasons for building C in their soil.
Nurul is looking for producers in the Northern Tablelands who are interested in soil carbon and who can assist him with his research. If you can help out please contact Northern Tablelands LLS Armidale agronomist - Karl Andersson 0437 867 523 - who will put you in touch with Nurul and the UNE research team.
The Local Land Services team is here to help
Brent McLeod - for sheep management and nutrition - 0413 884 710
Tahnee Manton - for cattle management and nutrition - 0428 600 473
Max Newsome - for cattle and sheep management and nutrition - 0427 007 190
Georgie Oakes - for agronomy (based Inverell) - 0429 310 264
Jeff Lowien - for agronomy (based Glen Innes) - 0427 102 680
Daniel White - trainee agronomist (based in Glen Innes) - 0427 217 066
Karl Anderson - for agronomy (based Armidale) - 0437 867 523
Johnelle Stevens - for Farm Planning - 0409 791 619
Sandy Hodgens - for livestock and soils projects - 0428 744 287
Andrew Biddle (Inverell) - for animal health and biosecurity - 0427 825 725
Lisa Martin (Tenterfield) - for animal health and biosecurity - 0428 623 471
Nigel Brown (Glen Innes) - for animal health and biosecurity - 0419 434 087
Amanda Walker (Armidale) - for animal health and biosecurity - 0439 836 673
