Options
Producers have options available to manage those animals that would originally be sold as ‘shippers’ in June through to September.
Some of these options include:
- Prepare and sell suitable animals prior to the end of May and talk to your agent about upcoming contracts
- Retain and sell to the live export market in October– sheep need to be maintained at condition score 2 or higher
- Retain for wool production in the longer term – adult sheep need to be maintained at condition score 2 or higher for good health and wool production
- Sell all or some wether hoggets if needed during the pause for slaughter as mutton
- Sell lighter lambs to the air freight market
- Sell heavier Merino lambs to slaughter while prices are good and processors are in short supply
- Retain and then sell as heavy weight mutton – sheep need to reach fat score 3.
Considerations
All decisions will have some impact on the farming enterprise and should consider the following:
- stocking rate for breeding ewes and available pasture for lambing ewes over the winter period
- stocking rate over autumn and early winter and available feed for growing weaners
- impact on cash flow with selling now rather than later and from wool returns.
Feed requirements for wether hoggets
To maintain dry adult sheep in condition score 2, energy is the most important input. Most green pastures and feeds will have enough protein to allow good health.
| Feed on Offer or FOO (kgDM/ha) | Amount of supplementary feed with 11MJ/kg (kg/hd/d) | Cost with $400/kg ration* |
|---|---|---|
| In confinement | 0.7 | $0.28 |
| 300 | 0.10 | $0.04 |
| 500 | 0.05 | $0.02 |
| 700 | None required | - |
For lighter or hogget wethers to gain weight or condition, energy is still the most important requirement. For Merino wethers to grow at 150g/hd/day, it will take approximately five weeks for a 45kg wether to reach 50kg, assuming the diet has 10% protein.
| FOO (kgDM/ha) | Amount of supplementary feed with 11MJ/kg (kg/hd/d) | Cost $400/tonne* | Cost to gain 5kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| In confinement | 1.3 | $0.52 | $18.20 |
| 300 | 0.75 | $0.30 | $10.50 |
| 500 | 0.6 | $0.25 | $8.75 |
| 700 | 0.3 | $0.12 | $4.20 |
*pellets or barley @ $400/T and average intake from actively growing pasture
Useful links
- Supplementary feeding and feed budgeting of sheep: a full explanation of the options and how to choose feed sources based on energy and cost
- Check your FOO using photo standards
- Boosting winter pasture growth with nitrogen fertiliser
- Condition scoring of sheep webpage and app