Sheep Connect Tasmania Connecting people in the sheep business 1

summer 2015

Eight out of 10 Tasmanian sheep producers have made changes to their enterprise as a result of knowledge and/or

skills gained from Sheep Connect Tasmania (SCT) events and information products.

That’s the key finding of a recently-completed Final Evaluation Report for the 2012–15 Sheep Connect Tasmania project.

EventsThroughout the duration of the current project, SCT has achieved strong participation at events, with 914 attendees from July 2012 to October 2014, with up to 25–30% of attendees under the age of 35; a result that stacks up well when reports1 indicate this age group accounts for less than 10% of sheep producers Australia-wide.

Highlights of the evaluation results include:• 84% of survey respondents (n=113) rated SCT’s events

(field days, workshops, seminars etc.) useful or very useful• 98% of attendees at the sheep handling equipment field day,

lamb survival workshops and TQM abattoir tours (n=>270) said they will be making changes to their enterprise as a result of knowledge and/or skills gained from the events

• overall satisfaction ratings for events ranged from 8.8–9.8 out of 10

• almost 50% of attendees (n=80) estimated the value of lamb survival workshops to their enterprise was $5000 or more

• 82% of survey respondents (n=113) made a change to their enterprise as a result of knowledge and/or skills gained from SCT events and information products (26% of the above were service providers, who made a change to the advice they provide).

Information productsSheep Connect Tasmania membership has continued to grow, and has now achieved virtual market saturation, with more than 600 e-newsletter subscribers and 800 hardcopy newsletter subscribers.

this issue

Clear evidence producers are making changes With more than 400 sheep producer e-newsletter subscribers (the balance being service providers, media, farmer organisations and R&D bodies), our membership aligns with reports2 that indicate there are 420–440 sheep properties in Tasmania.

E-newsletters are a popular and successful component of the project, achieving open rates up to 49% (the industry average is 24%), and click/open rates3 up to 56% (the industry average is 21%).

Other highlights include:• 42% increase in smartphone usage to open e-newsletters

in the past 18 months, with phones now more common than desktop computers

• the SCT website has achieved an average of 344 views per month since May 2013

• 95% of survey respondents (n=113) rated SCT’s information products (e-newsletters, hardcopy newsletters, factsheets, local case studies etc.) useful or very useful

The Final Evaluation Report found SCT 2012–15 has provided the Tasmanian sheep industry with valuable, timely and relevant farming systems information via a broad range of extension methods including field days, workshops, seminars, e-newsletters, hardcopy newsletters, media (print and radio), social media (Twitter and YouTube), and online information.

There is clear evidence sheep producers and service providers find SCT events and information products useful and of value, and the vast majority of those engaged with the project have made changes to their enterprise as a result of SCT activities.

Further informationJames Tyson BAgrSc MBA Project Manager, Sheep Connect Tasmania E: james.tyson@utas.edu.au M: 0409 006 7741 Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC)

New Entrants to Australian agricultural industries: Where are the young farmers?, February 2014

2 Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) Commodity outlook and financial performance of key agricultural industries in Tasmania, September 2012, and IBISWorld Industry Report: Sheep Farming in Australia, March 2013

3 Click/open rate is the percentage of subscribers who open an e-newsletter then click a link for further information

Clear evidence producers are making changes . . . . . . 1

Vaccine offers hope for footrot control . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Scoring for profit poster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Grazing management delivers productivity increases . 6

Stay focussed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

summer 2015

Sheep Connect Tasmania Connecting people in the sheep business2

The availability of outbreak-specific vaccines could herald a new tool in the footrot management package for sheep

producers throughout Tasmania.

Veterinary pharmaceutical company, Tréidlia Biovet Pty Ltd, supported by The University of Sydney and the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE), is currently seeking Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) approval for the commercial production of serogroup-specific footrot vaccines.

While a range of vaccines has been trialled unsuccessfully in the past, researchers believe they have now developed a ‘serogroup-specific’ approach that will be both successful and cost-effective.

The challenge for researchers developing potential vaccine options has been the subtle, yet significant, variation among the types of bacteria that cause the disease.

The major disease-transmitting agent — D. nodosus — possesses hair-like structures on its surface, which enable the bacterium to move and attach to the skin surface. Differences in the genetic and physical properties of these structures have been used to classify D. nodosus into 10 major serogroups.

Unfortunately, the immune response of an animal to D. nodosus is serogroup-specific, and immunity to one serogroup of D. nodosus does not provide protection against all serogroups.

Historically, this serogroup-specific immune response, coupled with the presence of multiple D. nodosus serogroups in Australian flocks, has been the main impediment to the development of a vaccine that provides complete protection against virulent footrot.

Footrot vaccines — the historyThe first footrot vaccines developed for research purposes were developed to target only one serogroup of the footrot bacteria — they were monovalent.

Field trials of the preliminary vaccines indicated they provided some protection against footrot, but they did not

provide complete protection against the disease. Sheep producers still relied upon foot-paring, foot bathing and topical antibacterial treatments for disease control.

The first commercial footrot vaccine was also monovalent, and was patented by CSIRO in 1971. By 1972, three monovalent footrot vaccines were commercially available. Again, field trials demonstrated the efficacy of these vaccines to be poor (providing only partial protection for a maximum of 8 to 10 weeks), and they were subsequently withdrawn from the market in 1976.

The first multivalent footrot vaccines were developed for research purposes in the early 1980s, and targeted the five most prevalent D. nodosus serogroups in Australia at the time.

These vaccines protected sheep against the five serogroups contained in the vaccine but did not afford protection in circumstances where additional serogroups were present on a property.

A multivalent vaccine targeting all 10 D. nodosus serogroups (Footvax®) was released commercially in 1986 and was tested and evaluated in Australia. As with previous vaccines, Footvax® was shown to provide only limited, short-term protection against virulent footrot, despite targeting all 10 serogroups of D. nodosus.

The failure of Footvax® to provide complete protection was later attributed to a phenomenon called ‘antigenic competition’, in which the immune response to one serogroup modifies or suppresses the immune response to the other serogroups included in the vaccine.

Footvax® continues to be used for control purposes in a number of countries, however the vaccine was withdrawn from the Australian market, because the vaccine contains serum from North American cattle, which was considered a BSE risk, again forcing producers to rely upon traditional methods of controlling footrot.

Outbreak-specific vaccine offers hope for footrot control

Insidious infection: Footrot is a highly-contagious bacterial disease, which infects the feet of sheep and goats, causing severe pain and lameness.

Photo: Bruce Jackson

key points• The availability of out-break specific vaccines

to help control virulent footrot is on the horizon.

• Trials of the vaccines have been promising in flocks across Tasmania, Nepal and Bhutan.

• Correct identification of the serogroups of bacteria present is essential to the success of an outbreak-specific vaccination program.

Sheep Connect Tasmania Connecting people in the sheep business 3

summer 2015

Of the remaining producers, one was burnt out during the bushfires of 2013, and the other failed to eradicate virulent footrot due to a failure to identify two serogroups. It is not clear whether these serogroups were missed at the first sampling, or whether they were introduced to the property after testing and vaccination had been conducted.

Control properties that did not vaccinate achieved minimal control of virulent footrot using traditional methods.

For further informationDr Om Dhungyel P: (02) 9351 1606 E: om.dhungyel@sydney.edu.au

Footrot — a complex combinationVirulent footrot is a highly contagious bacterial disease of the feet of sheep, and is one of the primary causes of lameness in Australian sheep flocks.

The essential transmitting agent of virulent footrot is the slow-growing, anaerobic bacterium called Dichelobacter nodosus (D. nodosus), which lives exclusively on the feet of infected animals.

Virulent footrot is a complex disease, resulting from interactions between D. nodosus and other microbial species present on the foot.

Mild temperatures and consistent rainfall are required for the disease to be fully expressed.

In some regions of Australia, particularly those with long dry periods, producers have successfully used control methods such as foot bathing and foot-paring to reduce the prevalence of virulent footrot considerably.

However, in regions with more uniform rainfall patterns, virulent footrot is endemic and regular foot-bathing and individual antibiotic therapy is required to manage the disease, with significant economic impacts.

To date, vaccines have proven an ineffective control option due to the number of serogroups of the disease and the complexity of developing a single vaccine to control the full range of serogroups.

Outbreak-specific vaccinationDuring recent years, outbreak-specific footrot vaccination has been trialled with considerable success.

Rather than targeting all 10 serogroups simultaneously, outbreak-specific vaccination targets only those serogroups present in a particular flock.

Where three or more serogroups are present in a flock, sequential administration of bivalent or monovalent vaccines is employed, with a three-month period between vaccinations employed to avoid antigenic competition.

To date, researchers from The University of Sydney have conducted numerous successful field trials of outbreak-specific footrot vaccination.

Early success was achieved in Nepal, where specific footrot vaccination using a bivalent vaccine was used to eradicate virulent footrot from 40 flocks of sheep and goats with a 25–year history of the disease.

Similar success was later achieved in a flock in Bhutan with an eight-year history of virulent footrot.

Local trialsBetween 2005 and 2013, further field trials of outbreak-specific vaccination were initiated in south-east Australia, including flocks in Tasmania. The results of these trials were equally promising, and indicated outbreak-specific footrot vaccination to be an effective means to control — and in some cases eradicate — virulent footrot.

A further opportunity to extend field trials of specific footrot vaccination in Tasmania arose during 2011, to assess whether the approach could be used to eradicate footrot from large commercial flocks.

The trials, conducted by The University of Sydney in collaboration with the Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE), included seven treatment properties and 10 control properties, with flock sizes ranging from 1500 to 20,000 sheep.

Swabs were collected from each vaccine treatment flock and tested to determine which particular serogroups were present. Mono- and/or bivalent vaccines were manufactured for each respective property as required.

Affected flocks received two doses of the specific vaccine/s, with each dose administered between four and eight weeks apart.

Following vaccination, all producers continued to inspect their sheep for signs of footrot, and any sheep that did not respond to vaccination were culled.

Five of the seven producers involved in the trial were satisfied with the results, achieving very good control or eradication of virulent footrot.

Identification: Pared back foot ready for footbathing.Photo: Bruce Jackson

This infographic describes seven important phases in the reproductive cycle of Merino ewes. Managing ewe condition during each step of the cycle affects: conception success, reproductive rate, placental development, udder development and colostrum production of the ewe, foetal growth of the lamb, including wool follicle development which influences wool production in the progeny and ewe milk production which influences lamb growth after birth.

The condition score of the ewe at lambing influences birth weight and lamb survival.

Lifting the condition score of twin-bearing ewes from 2.5 to 3.5 at lambing can increase lamb survival by about 15–20%, delivering an extra 30 lambs born for every 100 ewes joined.

Lambs from ewes fed to maintain condition score during pregnancy produce 0.2kg/hd more wool and up to 0.2 micron finer wool than lambs from ewes allowed to lose a condition score.

70%of lamb survival is driven by birth weight.

Ewes in condition score 4.0 or higher (particularly single ewes) may be at increased risk of having lambing difficulties (dystocia).

Lamb liveweight at weaning is important for weaner survival.

20 extra lambsper 100 ewesfor each increase in condition score.

Ewe condition score during early to mid pregnancy affects placental development, which drives primary follicle development and can have a lifetime impact on fibre diameter and fleece weight.

800kg DM/haminimum green FOO to maintain ewe condition** Supplementary feed as required

Scoring for profit

of lamb mortalities from birth to weaning occur during the first 48 hours of life.

500kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target at break of season

900kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target by day 90 of pregnancy

1200kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for single-bearing ewes

1800kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for twin-bearing ewes

3.0condition score target at joining

Ewe condition score on the day of conception is the major predictor of reproductive rate.

Condition score (CS) is an assessment of the amount of soft tissue (fat and meat) over the short ribs and backbone on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0. This assessment is independent of body weight. For more information go to www.lifetimewool.com.au/conditionscore.aspx

Feed on offer (FOO), also known as pasture mass or herbage mass, is the amount of pasture available for sheep consumption expressed in kilograms of dry matter per hectare (e.g. 1100 kg DM/ha). For more information go to www.feedonofferlibrary.com

Improved ewe nutrition through lactation means bigger weaners and better weaner survival.

3.0+condition score target for twin-bearing ewes at lambing** target condition score for ewes bearing single lambs is 3.0

2.7–3.0condition score target during lactation

1400kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for single-bearing ewes

2000kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for twin-bearing ewes

5 Lactation (day 150–240)

4 Lambing (day 150)

3 Late pregnancy (day 90–150)

2 Early to mid pregnancy (day 1–90)

1000+kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target

800kg DM/hatarget to preserve groundcover* * Supplementary feed as required

7 Post weaning – pre joining (day 240–365)

1100kg DM/haminimum green FOO to maintain ewe condition** Supplementary feed as requiredweaning liveweight target*

* draft off and preferentially feed lightweight weaners until critical liveweights are achieved

3.0+

4.0–6.0kgthe optimum birthweight for lamb survival.

Stocking rate vs profitability

6 Weaning (day 240)

The more time on high-quality green feed post weaning, the lower the cost of achieving condition targets prior to joining. Give priority to lighter condition score ewes.

r

Ewe nutrition during late pregnancy has a greater impact on lamb birth weight (up to 0.45kg), than early pregnancy nutrition.

3.0+condition score target for twin-bearing ewes by lambing** target condition score for ewes bearing single lambs is 3.0

Birth weight (kg)0 2 4 6 8

100

80

60

40

20

0

Lam

b su

rviv

al

(%)

SingleTwin

3.7kgtwin lambs

4.9kg single lamb

average birth weight

1000kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for single-bearing ewes

1200kg DM/hagreen FOO minimum pasture target for twin-bearing ewes

Clea

n fle

ece

wei

ght

(kg)

Single Twin

Lose 0.5 CSMaintain CS

3.4

3.3

3.2

3.1

3.0

2.9

2.8

0.3 recommended maximum loss of condition score

Liveweight at weaning (kg)10 15 20 25 30 35 40

100

80

60

40

20

0

Wea

ner s

urvi

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Feed on offer (kg DM/ha)0 1000 2000 3000

300250200150100

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Lam

b gr

owth

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/day

)

SingleTwin

Maximum age for weaning lambs

$

2.5–2.7ewe condition score target at weaning

1 23456

7

joiningearly to m

idlate

lambinglacta

tion

wea

ning

po

st weaning

pre joining

pregnancypregnancy

Ewes in condition score 3.0 have full eye muscle and no excess fat but the short ribs and spine are well covered. La

mbs

bor

n (p

er 1

00 e

wes

)

160

140

120

100

80

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Ewe condition score at joining1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0

45%adult bodyweight

Stocking rate (DSE/ha)7.5 10.0 12.5 15.0 17.5 20.0

350,000

300,000

250,000

200,000

150,000

100,000

Profi

t ($

/farm

/yea

r)

Increasing utilisation of pasture

lifetimewool guidelines(better condition at lambing)

Previous recommendations (thinner at lambing)

This infographic has been produced by Hot Tin Roof Communications and Redtail Graphic Design for Sheep Connect Tasmania from information contained in the Ewe Management Handbook produced by lifetimewool. For more information about managing ewes for optimal reproductive performance or to find out about participating in a Lifetime Ewe Management course go to: www.lifetimewool.com.au

ewe condition score target post weaning to pre joining

70%

lifetimewool more lambs, better wool, healthy ewes

Ewe condition score at lambing

Lam

b su

rviv

al (%

)

SingleTwin

100

90

80

70

60

50

401 2 3 4 5

15% increase in lamb survival

FOOFeed on offer (FOO) and pasture quality during lactation (particularly legume content) is the major driver of lamb growth rates.

Feed on offer (FOO) targets^

^ FOO targets are for high-quality (75% digestibility) green feed

1 Joining (day 0)

Sheep Connect Tasmania Connecting people in the sheep business6

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Filling the gap: Rotational grazing is improving the condition of both pastures and livestock for Scott Colvin (pictured above) and his family.

Photo: Catriona Nicholls

Shift in grazing management delivers productivity increases

After 35 years of set stocking, the Colvin family has made a radical change by moving to intensive rotational grazing,

which has seen stocking rates increase by 20%, improved pasture utilisation and lifted weaner growth rates to levels of about 250–300gm/hd/day according to Scott Colvin.

Scott recently completed the Australian Wool Innovation (AWI)-funded Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) course, which highlighted the potential fit for rotational grazing in the Colvin’s mixed farming system.

“Our business is going through a transition phase this year in a number of ways,” Scott explained.

“And the way we manage our sheep and the pastures that underpin our prime lamb and wool enterprises reflects this.”

According to Scott, on his return to the farm during 2012 it was clear there were a couple of key challenges he and

father Andrew needed to address to boost productivity and profitability in their purebred Coopworth operation:• ewe-lamb condition leading up to joining, and• weaner growth rates.

With a mid-September lambing, the traditional summer feed gap was central to both these challenges.

“We’ve always struggled for feed during late December through to the start of February,” Scott said.

“We wean before Christmas, haven’t got access to our ryegrass seed paddocks, or poppy ground and our peas are still under pivot — this all comes at a time when we are at our peak stocking rate.

Pasture utilisationAfter participating in an LTEM course and working closely with grazing expert Basil Doonan of Macquarie Franklin, Scott and Andrew have made some radical changes to their grazing management and the dividends are already becoming apparent.

“Essentially our problem was one of pasture utilisation,” Scott said.

“In the past we have run our ewes in set-stocked mobs, which didn’t allow our pastures any time to recover from grazing, but this year we have changed our tack.

“With guidance from Basil we have invested in water and wire and shifted to an intensive rotational grazing system during the past few months.

“We are currently using a 30–60 day rotation, varying the stocking rate in line with pasture growth rates.

“We aim to start grazing the pasture at the emergence of the third leaf — the timimg of this will vary according to the season and seasonal conditions.

“Recovery time between grazing also will vary depending on the seasonal conditions and access to irrigation.

“The biggest thing is planning — you have to be aware of what is in front of you.

key points• A shift from set stocking to intensive rotational

grazing has boosted weaner growth rates and pasture productivity.

• Allowing pasture a recovery phase following intensive grazing is encouraging grass tiller production and increasing groundcover.

• A “measure-to-manage” approach allows for more timely decisions around matching feed availability and livestock demand.

Case study: Andrew and Scott Colvin Location: Blackwood Creek, Tasmania Property size: Nosswick — 950ha, Maitland — 160haAverage annual rainfall: 750mm plus irrigation (nine pivot irrigators and 19 pivot circles) Soils: Light duplex soils — poorly draining soils prone to waterlogging during winter Enterprises: Mixed farming system — sheep (4000 Coopworth breeding ewes), irrigated and dryland pastures (white clover, annual ryegrass), cropping (annual ryegrass seed, poppies, beetroot, carrots, broccoli and processing peas)

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Getting startedThe Colvins started the ball rolling with the new approach at weaning.

“We condition scored our mature ewes at weaning and split them into two mobs —above and below condition score 3 (CS3),” Scott explained.

“This year we aim to have everything at CS3 for joining during late April using better feed utilisation, without supplementary feeding.

“Our lighter ewes are running on the better quality feed and have been rotating through paddocks that have been locked up since weaning.

Scott is managing his better-condition ewes for maintenance only.

“We also are ensuring our ewe lambs have access to high-quality feed and currently have 1500 ewe lambs working their way through a 40ha paddock of a mix of white clover varieties, with access to 10ha at a time.

“They move into each new section of the paddock when there is about 3000kg of dry matter (DM) and we move them on when there is about 1500kg DM/ha left, which equates to a feed utilisation rate of 1.5kgDM/hd/day for a 35kg lamb.”

Fast resultsBoth Scott and Andrew have been impressed at just how quickly the benefits have started to flow from simple grazing management changes.

“Implementing rotational grazing after weaning has allowed us to increase our stocking rate over summer by 20%,” Scott said.

“Last year we sold the bottom 15% of our mob in January because we didn’t have the feed to keep them — we now find ourselves with a feed surplus at a time of year when it is traditionally tight. We have recently bought 900 store lambs to use this excess feed.

Measure to manageA key component of LTEM is to help producers gain skills in measuring and managing the condition of their ewes throughout the reproductive cycle and the amount of pasture dry matter produced by their pastures throughout the year.

“LTEM taught you to assess sheep and pasture (dry matter assessment) and to develop feed budgets, which then allows you to see if the ewes will go ahead under current conditions,” Scott said.

But for Scott the benefit has come from gaining a better understanding of how to influence pasture production through grazing management.

“Our recent experience has been about increasing feed production without adjusting any other input other than the number of animals in the paddock and the grazing period,” Scott said.

Investing in pasture is expensive and by better managing what we have, we are getting more out of that investment.

“We are learning to better measure our pasture, understand the potential growth rates and production under current

seasonal conditions, compared with long-term data and make decisions accordingly — if you don’t measure it you can’t manage it.

Planning within the known parameters allows you to improve future feed availability calculations and making more timely stocking rate decisions.

Timing of operationsBy gaining a better understanding of the intricacies of matching pasture growth with livestock demand, and developing feed budgets throughout the year, Scott is evaluating and adjusting the timing of some of their sheep operations.

“We currently start lambing around mid September,” Scott said.

“But there is scope to pull this back to the start of September, which will allows us to bring marking forward and better capitalise upon increased pasture growth rates and feed availability during spring.

The Colvins are currently achieving marking percentages in the order of 150% in their mature age ewes and 100% in their ewe lambs and would like to improve on this.

“The system (bigger mobs) does put pressure on the livestock and certainly requires you to be more on the ball in terms of managing animal health.”

Andrew is philosophical about how far they can push marking percentages.

“We can do everything to optimise flock fertility — feed our rams on lupins leading up to joining, have ewes on a rising plane of nutrition, put lambing mobs in sheltered paddocks and manage parasites — but you can’t control the weather,” Andrew said.

While the large mob sizes are working well to maximize pasture utilisation at present, the Colvins will suspend rotational grazing across lambing, returning to mob sizes of 200. Post lamb marking mobs will be combined in order to the take advantage of spring feed under a rotational system again.

Contact:Scott Colvin E: scottgcolvin@hotmail.com

For more information about grazing management read the SCT article in the Summer 2011 newsletter.

Good condition: Getting all their ewes back to CS3 following weaning, and leading up to joining, is a high priority for Scott and Andrew Colvin.

Photo: Scott Colvin

8

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Sheep Connect Tasmania Connecting people in the sheep business

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useful linksAustralian Wool Innovation www.wool.com

Meat and Livestock Australia www.mla.com.au

Sheep CRC www.sheepcrc.org.au

LiceBoss www.liceboss.com.au

WormBoss www.wormboss.com.au

Making More from Sheep www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au

Sheep Genetics Australia www.sheepgenetics.org.au

Australian Merino Superior Sires www.merinosuperiorsires.com.au

Beyond the Bale digital.wool.com.au

EverGraze www.evergraze.com.au

Latest market information (beef and sheepmeat) www.mla.com.au/Prices-and-markets

Latest market information (wool) www.landmark.com.au/wool/daily-wool-prices-sales-roster-293.html

Latest weather www.bom.gov.au

FarmPoint www.farmpoint.tas.gov.au

8Change of details or subscriptionTo make sure our database is up-to-date and we are only delivering information to those who really want it, please take five minutes to update your details if we have them wrong.

Please update my contact details as per below

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Fax or post your details to: James Tyson PO Box 46 F: (03) 6336 5395 KINGS MEADOWS 7249You have subscribed to this newsletter as a stakeholder in the future of the Tasmanian wool industry. If you do not wish to continue receiving emails or hard copy newsletters from the Sheep Connect Tasmania team, contact James Tyson at james.tyson@utas.edu.au

To subscribe to the Sheep Connect Tasmania email newsletters or update your details, scan the QR code on the right or type the following address into your internet browser address bar: http://eepurl.com/ss-ar

TIA is a joint venture between the University of Tasmania and

the Tasmanian Government

This newsletter is published by TIA and AWI.

Stay focussedAs summer draws to a close producers need to ensure their

ewes and ewe lambs are in tip-top shape for joining. It is easier and more cost effective to maintain ewe condition than to boost condition that has been allowed to go backwards post lambing. Don’t just assume your ewes are tracking along nicely, take the time to condition score your ewes and maximise their reproductive opportunities from the start.

Let’s not let the boys off the hook. Don’t underestimate the impact a dud ram can have on your overall flock fertility. Again — looking is not enough. Bring your rams into the yards and inspect their feet and testicles to ensure they are fit enough to do their job and consider vaccinating with 6 in 1.

For more information on ewe and ram management leading up to joining, go to the modules in the Making More from Sheep manual, available online at www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au (go to Module 10: Wean more lambs) or order a hard copy from Andrew Bailey at andrew.bailey@utas.edu.au.