Mecardo Analysis - Worst case cost of carrying ewes
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Sep 04, 2018
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By Angus Brown | Source: MLA, Evergraze, Mecardo.
A query from the media last week asked ‘how much will it cost to carry ewes through the drought?’. The answer was ‘how long is a piece of string?’ We can however, estimate what it is costing per week, and how much it will cost to carry ewes through to their next lamb.
Recent Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) slaughter statistics have highlighted the cull which is going on with east coast sheep flocks at the moment. As lambs are weaned early in dry areas, any ewes which are not going to be held for breeding are hitting the market and seeing the flock wane.
We are interested in what is happening with the ewes which are being held. In many parts of NSW these ewes will be in containment and be fed a full ration. As we have done with cattle, it’s worth looking at what sheep feeding is costing and whether it will be repaid.
Dry ewes weighing 50kgs being fed a maintenance ration in containment require 6 Megajoules of Metabolisable Energy (MJ/ME) per day to maintain condition score. This equates to around 500g of grain per day. At $400/t the cost of grain comes to 20¢/sheep per day. Table 1 shows that this is pretty manageable, with the cost over 90 days of being dry coming to $18 per head.
For Merino ewes, the value of wool grown over this period will almost pay for the feed.
Energy requirements and feeding costs rise after joining and through to lambing. Figure 2 shows the increasing costs per day of confinement fed ewes. For those with crossbred sheep, the 60kg ewe is more applicable. At the current grain price the cost per day peaks at 50¢ per day in the last month before lambing.
The worst case scenario is easy to imagine, especially with the latest Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) 3-month outlook. No rain until the northern wet season provides relief in December or January. In that case, ewes which have weaned lambs recently will have to be fed through until late pregnancy. Hopefully, they can lamb onto green feed.
Key points
* With many lambs being weaned early sheep producers are now faced with holding ewes or selling.
* The cost of carrying ewes through until early 2019 should be paid back by wool and lamb production.
* If it rains in spring or early summer feeding ewes should pay off well.
What does this mean?
Figure 3 shows the cost of feeding ewes in confinement from weaning to lambing. Remarkably, at current wool prices Merino ewes, cutting 5kgs annually are likely to go close to paying for their feed with wool. Lambs will be the profit.
For crossbred 30 micron plus sheep, the feeding equation is a lot tighter. If lambing onto green feed single lambs produced should pay for feeding the ewe. Twinning ewes will have to be more profitable. If it has rained, the ewe will be worth a lot more than they are currently, which adds more value to the unit.
The costs will be large, but if it’s done right feeding core breeding ewes through to next year should pay off. Obviously, the earlier it rains the better the payoff. If It hasn’t rained by the time lambs are due to hit the ground, Merino producers will come out ok with wool value. The crossbred sheep equation won’t be as good.
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