UNDERSTANDING how much feed a sheep needs to maintain condition, particularly when lambing, has helped the Andriske family at Galga to retain their flock numbers during the recent dry times.
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It also helped them to nab the best presented pen award at the recent Lameroo off-shears sale.
David Andriske, with wife Julia and parents Ray and Annette Andriske, runs a 1000-head self-replacing Merino ewe flock in the Mallee, alongside a 2500-hectare cropping operation.
The country has only had 150 millimetres of rain since May - about half of the annual average - which forced them into more intensive containment feeding.
David said a recent Lifetime Ewe Course taught him a lot about what condition the ewes needed to be in prior to joining, through their pregnancy cycle and when they have lambs at-foot.
The information was vital in helping them to hold onto their numbers.
"Working out feed budgets at the start of the year was a bit scary, but it allowed us to plan for the upcoming season and reduced a lot of stress," he said.
"We have worked hard on improving our flock and have been striving to put more wool on our sheep, that's hard to replace.
"It may have cost us a lot in feed, because we were containment feeding longer, but the sheep are making us a better return than cropping at the moment."
David said ewes had been containment fed from early April to the end of July, because of the late break.
We had never containment fed for such a long period of time before.
- DAVID ANDRISKE
"We had never containment fed for such a long period of time before," he said.
The sale ewes then went onto sown vetch and oats paddocks before shearing in September and being sold at Lameroo on October 11.
Lambing is June-July on a grazing property at nearby Mercunda.
They often achieve over 100 per cent lamb marking.
The lambs are weaned in September at shearing time, and then put on to good oats and vetch paddocks, and then stubbles after harvest.
Half the ewe hoggets are kept, with the other half sold at Lameroo, while the wether portion is carried to 12 months old, shorn twice and then put into a feedlot to finish off and sold where the best returns are.
If the seasons continue to stay on the dry side, David said they would consider increasing their containment feeding to protect paddocks from erosion.
"We had a lot of wind damage on our lighter ground, resulting in poor establishment, which may take a few years to recover," David said.
But their crops were looking "surprisingly OK", with harvest two to three weeks away.
"Anything is better than the 120mm we had in 2018," David said.
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Attention to detail rewarded
THE Andriske family were chuffed to receive the best presented pen at the recent Lameroo off-shears sale for the first time, judged by Allan Piggott, Illoura, Moorlands.
The 240 June/July 2018-drop ewes fetched $288 - the best price they have ever received for ewes.
The pen sold to repeat buyer Elders Warracknabeal, whose client uses them for first-cross ewe production.
David Andriske credits the quality presentation to their Mernowie bloodline and shearing job by local Matt Stasinowsky.
They have been buying from Mernowie for 30-plus years, attracted to the "meaty", long-bodied Merino ewes the Rowett family produce with quick growth rates.
They also work with the Marrabel-based stud to improve their wool, which averages about 19 micron.
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