Sheep farmers may not like admitting their dairy farming cousins have taught them a thing or two, but Jonathon Bennett seems quite happy to acknowledge he has adopted the dairy practice of condition scoring his sheep flock reports The ODT. It certainly paid dividends during last year's drought as he tried to restore condition on his ewes in the autumn when the rains came, and it is something he adopted again this year. By conditioning scoring his sheep, the Sth Otago M&WNZ monitor farmer was able to ration feed, prioritise feeding and monitor performance. In doing this, Mr Bennett told a recent field day that last year his 1170 ewes carrying the Inverdale gene went in to winter in light condition from which they struggled to recover. Rationing feed included using sheep nuts and giving priority feed to those in lightest condition and it worked for most flocks, with a lambing percentage in the 2008 spring across all his ewes of 147%, up slightly on the 2007 lambing where he recorded 143%. But he was disappointed in the performance of the Inverdale flock. He told the field day that this was an example of how his farm management has grown and changed in the two years he has been a monitor farmer. Other changes include greater care with feed planning for ewes and lambs, monitoring weight and condition and preparing for dry periods over summer.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.