A strong focus on animal welfare is helping south-west Victorian prime lamb producers Tim and Georgie Leeming, Paradoo Prime, achieve lamb survival rates of more than 90 per cent.
The Leeming family run a 8500-head self-replacing composite ewe flock on their 1500-hectare property at Pigeon Ponds.
Based on performance recorded Coopworth and Coopworth composite genetics since the early 1990s, Paradoo Prime sell more than 300 composite maternal rams each year.
Mr Leeming has also been extensively involved in the delivery of Meat & Livestock Australia’s Lifetime Ewe Management program and is a regional chair of the Southern Australian Meat Research Council.
As one of the producer speakers at this year’s LambEx 2018, which is being held in Perth, WA, from August 5 to 7, Mr Leeming will focus his presentation on lamb survival and the key on-farm management strategies he uses to ensure high lamb survival rates.
“Stocking rates and lamb survival are our two main profit drivers and the best way to improve stocking rates is to sustainably produce as many lambs per ewe as possible,” Mr Leeming said.
“We aim to consistently achieve greater than 90pc lamb survival, measured at lamb marking, and keep ewe mortality to less than 1.5pc.
“It is more important to concentrate on lamb survival percentages and increasing this, rather than chasing lambing and scanning percentages.”
The Leeming family has focused their efforts on breeding a fast growing, moderate-framed sheep with a balance of fat and muscle.
Along with breeding, the Leeming’s are proactive in matching feed supply to animal demand to achieve optimal performance.
Mr Leeming believes a range of management strategies such as a short joining period, mob size, ewe condition, paddock selection and shelter play a significant role in lamb survival rates.
“Most ewe and lamb deaths occur in the last few days of pregnancy and the first few days of lambing, what we still tend to do is feed ewes during summer and autumn, then put them in a lambing paddock for six weeks and wish them luck.”
At Paradoo Prime, a tight joining period of 17 days is used with two main lambing periods in late June and the start of August to ensure there is sufficient pasture growth after the season break. Ewe lambs start lambing in mid-August.
“Tighter lambing with pasture recovery periods of about 20 days in between means we can utilise our best lambing paddocks multiple times.”
All ewes are pregnancy scanned and separated into single, twin-bearing and triplet-bearing mobs so their pregnancy status can be managed differently.
Last year 1.7pc of ewes scanned dry and this year Mr Leeming is aiming for a target closer to 1pc dry.
Mr Leeming is a big advocate of small mob sizes to reduce mismothering and aims to have twin-bearing ewes in mob sizes of 50 or less during lambing.
“I have 20 years of diaries that demonstrate that the smaller mob size you have for multiple bearing ewes, the better results and this has been quantified by recent mob density research.”
Lambing paddocks are subdivided using temporary electric fencing into smaller paddocks of 4ha to 6ha.
Ewes will be moved into these paddocks several days before lambing and then moved after lambing is finished to rest the pastures.
The Leemings have fenced their property according to the contours of the land, with gully paddocks and riparian areas providing vital shelter and quality pasture for lambing ewes. This also reduces the impact of wind chill on newborn lambs.
Ewe condition scores are also carefully monitored, with 5pc to 10pc condition scored when they come into the yards during summer and autumn.
Ewes will be supplementary fed oats and barley during dry times with lupins and beans given pre-joining for an added protein boost. This year, the mature ewes were joined at 3.3 and 3.4 condition score.
“We want our ewes as fat as we can get them before joining and then make sure we keep them in that condition to ensure the best possible conception rates,” he said.
“If we run out of dry matter we shut the sheep up in containment areas to protect our pastures and maintain ewe condition score.”
In tough seasonal conditions, lambs will also be weaned earlier to ensure the ewes can replace condition post weaning ready for their next joining cycle.
“I think it is about taking your lambing management and precision to the next level to increase lamb survival with an animal welfare advantage and getting some profitable production benefits along the way.”
- Tim Leeming is a speaker at LambEx 2018 in Perth, WA, from August 5 to 7. Other producers speaking at the event include Glen Woodhams, Kojonup, WA, and Kirk Reynolds, Dardanup, WA.