Scanning – the time to make a difference

01-08-2010 | Not Specified

Look on scanning ewes as an investment, not just a cost, Manawatu vet Trevor Cook says.

Cook told Tararua sheep and beef farmers that scanning 1000 ewes was a $1000 investment with a potential return of $5300.

"The scanning itself doesn't give the payback - it is how you use the information that will see the return coming back to you."

He outlined many advantages from scanning, including being able to identify multiple-bearing lambs and early and late lambing ewes, particularly when feed supplies were short.

The first advantage was being able to take the dry ewes out of a mob and sell them early, thus reducing mouths to feed.

Identifying multiple-bearing ewes allowed them to be condition scored, separated and preferentially fed, giving the potential to lift lamb survival rates and weaning weights.

"You can tell which ewes need to be paddocked out at a lower rate and which ones need a safer paddock for lambing, and which cannot afford to lose condition."

Scanning time is the time to make a difference, Cook says.

"Have a total focus on the multiple ewes you identify at scanning; they must not lose condition in the five weeks before lambing, so put the date in your diary.

"Then take off any ewes with BCS 3 or 2.5 and less - drench and preferentially feed them. That is where you can lift the performance level of the flock."

By lifting ewe condition at the post-scanning stage from 15% of ewes below or at BCS 2.5 to having only 5% below or equal to BCS 2.5, lamb survival can be improved from 78.4% to 81%, increasing the gross margin a hectare from $854 to $875.

The increase in BCS will also flow through to around an extra kilogram of weaning weight, up to 27.4kg from 26.5kg, Cook says, further increasing the gross margin a hectare from $875 to $920.

Improving the body condition scores of the lighter conditioned ewes can lead to a significant jump in gross margin, he says, and scanning is the ideal time to identify and deal with the issue.

  Printable View