Flexible drafting policy matches feed

13-04-2009 | Not Specified

None of the lambs finished over summer on Dawson Downs are shorn.

Between 7000 and 8000 lambs arrive in the autumn and these are usually later-born lambs from hoggets and triplets from Landmark Romney ewes.

They are all wintered on swedes and kale. Except for the tops, they are shorn in spring.

They are then fed to appetite until they reach target liveweight. They are drafted for the works between July and November.

In early July, 2500 scanned in-lamb, one-year breeding ewes arrive and lamb in mid-August.

They are weaned in early December and sold before Christmas. The early lambing hurts the lambing percentage a bit, but the main focus is on lamb finishing. This means it's important to free up space in December for when lambs arrive in January.

All the animals are delivered in truck and trailer units and have all been quarantine drenched after being drafted off their mothers.

The lambs are selected on bodyweight and drafted into mobs of between 25-30kg for transporting to Dawson Downs.

They are quarantine drenched again as they come off the truck and put into a holding paddock for a couple of days. They are then drafted into mobs in a liveweight range of 2-3kg. They stay in their mobs until they reach 40kg-plus when they are ready to be drafted for the works.

The spring lambs are run in mobs of 1000 - 1500 on covers of between 1600-2000kg DM/ha on daily shifts until the end of March.

Manager Gus Spence says if the mobs are any bigger average growth rates tend to drop off as lambs start competing for the best part of the sward. It is better running smaller mobs when feed covers are below 1500kg DM/ha as it means the heavier lambs can be given priority to keep them moving off the farm.

While the minimum target is 40kg LW, with the aim of achieving between 17-18kg CW, they keep their drafting policy flexible to match feed availability.

By mid-February they had killed 6000 lambs at an average 17.6kg CW. The plan is to have another 2000 to 3000 away by the end of March.

About 500 calves arrive in April and are wintered on kale crops. Then another 300 mainly Angus steers arrive in September. The target is to finish them to an average of 500kg autumn LW before they go to Five Star Beef feedlots.

This system suits Dawson Downs as they don't have too many heavy cattle on wet paddocks over the winter period. This avoids pugging and minimises pasture damage.

They also winter 320 two-year-old cattle in sheds. These are fed on good quality whole crop barley silage topped up with pasture silage.

"This works really well as the cattle are finished by the time they come out of the shed in August and we are selling prime cattle when there is a limited supply on the market."

Gus is always on the lookout for new ideas and opportunities to increase production and improve efficiency.

"And if there's some spare grass we can often pick up extra cattle, lambs and deer as opportunities arise."

  Printable View