Feedlot increases production on Eyre Peninsula

At Goldmine Hill Farms, Lock, Kerran Glover's mixed-farming operation was running 2000 Merino breeding ewes, but lambs were usually sold to restockers due to insufficient feed to finish them off.

To get more bang for his buck, Mr Glover decided to look into feedlotting about two years ago, and now he expects to trade about 6000 lambs through his farm this year in addition to his breeding ewes.

"This all came came about by putting in some containment yards to manage our own flock and the variability in certain seasons with paddock feed," he said.

"We were also able to manage ground cover better and spell paddocks at certain times of year.

"It just gave us a lot more flexibility."

Originally planned as a way to finish off the farm's own lambs, the feedlot became a way to add depth to the business without buying more land.

In addition to his own Merino lambs, the farm buys in Merino and crossbred lambs from other producers, with all lambs through the feedlot to date coming from the Eyre Peninsula.

"It's allowed us to find the number of livestock we can comfortably carry and not have to change that number depending on the year," he said.

"Some years you've got way too much feed and then other years you don't have enough, but containment feeding balances that out."

Mr Glover said he aims to buy lambs in at about 40kg and then sell them on at about 55kg to 60kg, gaining about 300g per day.

"We want them to go out at about 25kg dressed weight," he said.

"The timeframe is between six to 10 weeks depending on what they're like when they come in.

"But we don't like to keep them any longer than that."

With animal health critical in any farming operation, Mr Glover said Goldmine Hill Farms was no exception and he prioritised properly acclimating his lambs to the new feed.

"We also utilise the containment yards to induct lambs before they go on to the auto feeder," he said.

"The induction is probably the most critical of that because things can go pear shaped pretty quickly if you haven't got things right - particularly feeding cereals.

"The risk of acidosis or grain poisoning if they get the wrong amount is there, so we've got through that by making sure the percentage of high quality hay is higher than grain and then slowly adjusting that."

Previously using premade feedlot pellets, Mr Glover says he has been able to implement his own mix of feed grown on the farm which keeps costs at a minimum while providing the lambs with the necessary nutrition to grow.

"Feedlot pellets are a really great product which are safe, balanced and have buffers, but now we've got a feel for what we're doing, we can replicate that," he said.

"We're using grain that we've produced on farm and that mixture is based on mainly lupins, then barley, and then screenings.

"We just did our seed grading so all the screenings will get blended out with that mix of lupins and barley and keep the cost of the ration down."

The yards are run with two autofeeders connected to 60 tonne silos, which support about 1000 sheep per day.

"With the yards at full capacity, the feeders are putting out about 1.5 to 2t of feed per day," Mr Glover said.

"Depending on what stage the lambs are at, that's enough feed for about 30 to 40 days.

"That's really labour efficient and it's part of the reason we went with this path as opposed to licks."

The feeders are also automated by a mobile app, which allows Mr Glover to track the amount of feed the lambs are getting per day and ensure they're getting getting the right amount for their weight.

Looking ahead, Mr Glover says there's potential to expand the farm's feedlotting capacity.

"We've dipped our toe in the water and we're getting some confidence in our system," he said.

"We can potentially expand through another auto feeder and increase our capacity, but that's not something in our immediate future.

"We want to run as we are for a little bit longer, it's only been two years, and then look at getting the staff to be able to cover an increase."