Planning the feed budget for finishing the lambs
- By: "Farm Tender" News
- Ag Tech News
- Dec 03, 2018
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The ewes and their lambs have been grazing a ryegrass paddock since just after lambing with a view to cleaning it up ready for spraying and re-sowing. It is now close to 500 kg DM and time to move the stock.
There are two goals that need careful feed-budgets as we plan their management over the coming months.
One is to get all of the ewes back to at least condition-score 3 prior to joining in May. The second is to start selling lambs in the carcase weight range of 18-25 kg by June.
A 40 ha crop of Titan® forage rape and Pallaton Raphno® Kale/Radish hybrid was planted on 7 November to produce high quality feed for the lambs and it has germinated well and now reached 50-60 mm out of the ground following 60 mm of rainfall since sowing.
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ASKBILL is predicting we may have a challenge ahead in reaching our target pasture biomass across the property as a whole, but even so we are on track to maintain the body condition score for our ewes.
As this is the industry’s Resource Flock, the lambs are sired by Merino, Maternal and Terminal breeds representing a wide range of genetic potential for growth. This means the lambs will reach their target weights over an extended period.
We are therefore using this opportunity to predict and check turnoff dates for each sire progeny group by including data for the ram’s post-weaning weight ASBV.
Predictions for turn-off dates will be made prior to weaning and then monitored with monthly weights. Further details about this aspect of lamb performance will be reported in future blog posts.
Figure 1: (main picture) Pasture biomass over the last 90 days and the predicted values over the coming 180 days against the target (circle) set for April 2019.
Figure 2. Ewe live weight over the last 90 days and the predicted values for the coming 180 days against the target (circle) set for mid-January 2019.
Ad - After a successful Ram Sale, Wallaloo Park now has Grade Rams and Semen available from their leading Sires. Click here for more - Ad
Ad - After a successful Ram Sale, Wallaloo Park now has Grade Rams and Semen available from their leading Sires. Click here for more - Ad
Having applied Clik in October, and with ewes regularly monitored for worm egg count and on a Barbervax program, there are no risk alerts for flies or worms.
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