Nutrition and feeding

Feeding whole bales of hay to sheep can result in wastage as high as 45 per cent. Wastage is mainly due to spoilage by urine and faeces, with rain an added complication.

Staff from NSW Department of Primary Industries at Cowra, working on a Sheep CRC project , have developed the Cowra Bale Feeder to increase feeding efficiency.

The Feeding Grain for Sheep Meat Prodution CD is available by contacting Janelle Holzberger at the Sheep CRC on 02 6773 2927.

Profit margins for feedlotting can be low and it is important that producers accurately estimate the profitability of such ventures prior to committing resources to this labour intensive activity. The web based gross margin feedlot calculator developed by Dave Stanley and Geoff Duddy of NSW DPI enables the user to enter different real time production, economic and feeding scenarios to estimate likely profit for a lamb feedlotting enterprise. For those not experienced with lamb feedlotting it is suggested that the linked nutrition information (eg. agnote on feedlotting lambs) be read.

This Conference combined world class science with its practical application.

This Conference combined world class science with its practical application.

Sheep CRC Practical Wisdom Notes is a series of technical notes to assist sheep producers to make sound decisions about technology and practices and then to have the know-how to implement their decisions.

The Sheep CRC, in partnership with Rural Industries Skills Training (RIST), presents a practical course focusing specifically on the nutrition and health issues associated with the ewe and develops participant skills in sheep assessment and feed budgeting, based on key information from the lifetimewool project.