The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s (DPIRD) sheep team invite you to a presentation by respected farm modeller and analyst John Young (Farming Systems Analysis Service) on the value of a ewe, in light of current prices and turnoff systems.
Location: This presentation will be delivered by video conference to all DPIRD southern regional offices (Albany, Bunbury, Esperance, Geraldton, Katanning, Manjimup, Merredin, Moora, Narrogin, Northam and South Perth).
The ewe is the powerhouse of the sheep enterprise and her ability to produce lambs and wool may be compromised through an incomplete assessment of the costs and benefits of managing her. The analysis looks at price differentials, regions, time of lambing and finishing/selling systems.
Spoiler alert: With sheep gross margins close to $500/ha in the ‘woolbelt’ at the moment, she is worth about $275 as a twinning ewe. This is the value that those thinking of selling ewes for cash flow, buying extra feed for, pregnancy scanning to identify her and protecting her during lambing, need to consider.
The presentation will also give new clues about feeding and following the condition score profile for Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) and the benefits of reducing ewe mortality. Used in conjunction with the flock composition tool, producers will be able to see the impact of their selling/feeding decisions on flock structure and profitability.
We look forward to your participation. It will also be an opportunity for us to ‘road test’ some of the messages for our producer audience.
This inaugural presentation will be available to interested professionals and rolled out further through media and producer workshops in February 2020.
Please RSVP to:
Mandy Curnow
Livestock Research & Industry Innovation
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development
444 Albany Hwy | Albany WA 6330
