Tools that keeps WA grazier ahead of worm burden risk

By: "Farm Tender" News
Ag Tech News
Aug 27, 2018
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Leading West Australian sheep producer Brad Wooldridge is enjoying increased peace of mind and confidence in his management decision thanks to ASKBILL’s ability to alert him in advance to parasite risks to his flock.

Mr Wooldridge, of ‘Warialda’, Arthur River, said the online tool was like having a “real sheep person in the paddock with you every day” to check decisions and provide reminders of urgent issues requiring attention.

Developed by the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (sheep CRC), www.askbill.com.au provides timely and accurate predictions for sheep wellbeing and productivity using climate, stock and pasture information.

It complements grazing knowledge with detailed data about livestock and pastures to predict opportunities and threats to individual businesses from weather, pests or disease—the critical information needed for making more precise farming decisions, protecting flock wellbeing and maximising productivity.

“The complexity of the modelling is what sets ASKBILL apart from other tools and its predictions mean you can plan ahead – if you’re not planning, you’re reacting and from a management perspective that’s a whole lot harder,” Mr Wooldridge said.

“If you know a couple of weeks in advance, or even a couple of months, then you get on top of things before they become a problem. For example, if you need labour to help out, it means you can organise labour.”

Mr Wooldridge runs 2200 ewes across two properties in the southern WA, turning off composite lambs at 100-120 days and average live weight of 30-35kg.

At ‘Warialda’ he has 300 hectares devoted to pasture and 200ha to crop, while his Albany farm, 220 kilometres south, has 230ha of pasture.

To carry this stocking rate from joining through to market, Mr Wooldridge maintains a strict focus on pasture availability, calculating biomass weekly to stay in front of forward contract obligations.

For this reason, Mr Wooldridge’s operation was used as part of the Sheep CRC’s validation trials of ASKBILL which tested the system’s predictions against actual data measured on farm.

“We really need to have a good grasp on pasture availability into the future, and having a tool that will calculate this for me will make life a whole lot easier,” he said. “It’s all about dollars per kilogram liveweight and we need to know if our lambs are going to make it to market on time and if not, what do we need to do?”

But its ASKBILL’s worm forecasting tool that Mr Wooldridge believes will be most useful to him, with his Albany property carrying a high-risk of Barbers Pole worm and the resident population becoming increasingly resistant to chemical treatment.

“Our property on the South Coast is the one that stresses me most. I’ve been travelling 1500km a week to feed sheep there, which is a lot of driving, but it’s been a decision backed by the alerts from ASKBILL and it’s pleasing to achieve good results in a challenging season,” Mr Wooldridge said.

“I feel ASKBILL will help keep me on top of things while I’m away as I’m very confident in the long-term predictions for worms, plus the alerts ASKBILL provides keep me focussed on what I need to act on right now.”

Mr Wooldridge was impressed with the complexity of the ASKBILL calculations, in particular the model used to calculate worm infection risk on pasture, which is based on the weather forecast, pasture availability and the drench program on-farm, and could take into account risk of re-infection.

“I don’t think you can afford to make mistakes these days. A lot can happen in a week and on the coast Barbers’ Pole worm can take off really quickly.

“Or if you’re a fortnight late in spotting that your lambs and ewes are losing condition, then you’re really losing money.

“Acting on the alerts from ASKBILL is the key – it’s mucking around and not making a decision is what costs you.”

Mr Wooldridge said getting started with ASKBILL was “surprisingly easy” and required less than half an hour to input the farm data needed for the system to begin generating forecasts.

ASKBILL is available for purchase online at a subscription fee of $110/year (inc. GST). For more information www.askbill.com.au.