INCREASING lamb survival across the national flock is one of the biggest opportunities facing the industry.
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J.T. Agri-source nutrition and lamb survival consultant Jason Trompf has been screaming this message for years in an effort to salvage an estimated $700 million lost in potential revenue every year due to lamb deaths.
Dr Tompf said very few farmers were scanning pregnant ewes and allocating feed according to their pregnancy status which was leading to high mortality rates in the first 48 hours of birth.
He said Merino ewes scanned on average 120 foetuses, however only marked about 80 per cent of lambs.
“So for every 100 ewes, the wastage is about 40 lambs,” he said.
Dr Tromf used a case study of 80 farms in Western Australian which had improved their lamb survival levels in their Merino self-replacing flocks by breeding, feeding and managing to best practices.
One operation scanned 133 per cent in lamb from their 5000 ewes, however marked 90pc, or 4,500 lambs.
Dr Trompf said the 2100 lost lambs were due to scanning but not reallocating feed away from the single bearing ewe to the twin. He said best practice, which allocated an extra 15kg of grain to twin bearers, profited about $20 more per ewe.
“With the extra sheep sales through the extra lambs, the extra ewes you kept alive, the extra wool from the ewes and from the lambs, and taking into account the feeding cost, that was $20 profit per ewe,” he said.
“Plus you've set the ewe up to go around for the next reproduction cycle much more handsomely.”
