The impact of ewe lamb mating and different feeding strategies over summer–autumn on profit and risk: a case study in south-west Victoria
Jonathon Tocker
A B D , Ralph Behrendt A , Margaret Raeside A and Bill Malcolm C
A Agriculture Victoria Research, Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, Mt Napier Road, Hamilton, Vic. 3300, Australia.
B Present address: ‘Te Ngawa’, Blackhead Road, Waipukurau, 4284, New Zealand.
C The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic. 3010, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: jonathontocker@hotmail.com
Animal Production Science 61(11) 1137-1150 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN20107
Submitted: 6 March 2020 Accepted: 9 March 2020 Published: 18 June 2020
Abstract
Context: Mating ewe lambs at ~7 months of age is viewed as a way to increase the profit of sheep farms in south-west Victoria, Australia. For a successful mating and high reproductive rate, ewe lambs need to be of >40 kg liveweight and condition score 3 at mating. The region has a temperate Mediterranean climate, and as such, dry summer pastures do not provide adequate nutrition for the weight gain required over summer and autumn if ewe lambs are to be mated early. There is limited economic information on the whole-farm benefits and risks associated with different feeding strategies for meeting the feed requirements of mating ewe lambs.
Aims: The aims were to test, for a prime-lamb system, whether profit would be increased by the mating of ewe lambs and whether there would be a reduction in whole-farm business risk. We hypothesised that different forage systems would offer profit and risk advantages over current dry-pasture and supplement systems for growing out ewe lambs.
Method: The biophysical and economic characteristics of a prime-lamb case-study farm were modelled to examine how six different pasture and forage systems for mating ewe lambs would perform under varying seasonal, price and cost conditions. Systems 1 and 2 were based on perennial ryegrass and subterranean clover pastures. System 1 compared lambing at 2 years of age, and System 2 lambing at 1 year of age. The other four systems simulated the use of different forages on a portion of the farm to grow out the ewe lambs for lambing at 1 year of age: System 3, spring-sown forage brassica rape; System 4, spring-sown winter-type canola; and System 5, lucerne; System 6, as for System 4 but at a higher lamb marking rate.
Results and conclusions: Lambing at 1 year of age increased profit and reduced business risk compared with lambing at 2 years of age. Use of spring-sown canola or lucerne forage for ewe-lamb mating provided the best returns on capital relative to the risk involved. Use of spring-sown canola reduced variability of annual returns, in part because of the diversification of income received from both lamb and canola.
Implications: The results of this modelling study indicate that some feed systems can increase farm profit and reduce business risk.
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