Limitations to pasture and sheep enterprises and options for improvement in the Victorian Mallee

Robertson, Susan; Wimalasuriya, Rukman

doi:10.1071/ea03030

Cited by 11 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…This suggested the concept of a central learning farm combined with network activities and providing the opportunity for producer input were concepts that received strong support across the New England region. This is consistent with the findings of Robertson and Wimalasuriya (2004) who conducted a survey of 29 sheep producers in the Victorian Mallee region to identify current issues with sheep and pasture management and constraints to adoption. They concluded that, to increase rates of adoption, there was a need for the collection of more data and benchmarking of both livestock and pastures within grazing enterprises in order to be better able to demonstrate the link between the production data and farm profit.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Surveying the management practices and research needs of graziers in the New England region of New South Wales

Kaine¹,

Doyle²,

Sutherland³

et al. 2013

Anim. Prod. Sci.

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Abstract. The inaugural committee of the Cicerone Project commissioned a survey of livestock producers in the New England region to determine the research problems and production practices which were of greatest importance to graziers. In addition, an assessment was made of the level of interest livestock producers had in participating in a proposed producer-led research and adoption project. The survey was mailed to livestock producers in five districts across the New England region during October and November 1997. The survey results concerning land and pasture management issues suggested that a majority of livestock producers in the New England region found the challenges of dry seasons, fertiliser use, pasture composition and pasture persistence to be major problems. A further issue identified was the problem of resistance to drenches used for internal parasite control in sheep. It was clear that producers depend largely on pastures as the primary feed source due to the high cost of supplementary feed. There was considerable interest in learning how to fill gaps in the feed supply, and the management of the feed supply through droughts. Thus, one desired focus of future studies was to explore management systems that might improve the productivity, resilience, stability and longevity of pastures in the New England region. In addition, a focus on grazing management and its effects on pastures and on internal parasite control was suggested by survey respondents. Of the 316 responses to the survey, 76% expressed interest in becoming involved in the Cicerone Project, confirming the desirability of forming a producer-led research and adoption network within the New England region. One hundred and eighty-one respondents expressed an interest in becoming partner members, 100 respondents indicated they were interested in having their farm included in a network, while 139 people were interested in attending regional workshops where further details about the nature of the Cicerone Project would be developed. The survey was clearly of interest to commercial-scale livestock producers as the average size of respondents' sheep flocks and cattle herds was over 5000 and 500, respectively. The results of this survey provided empirical evidence to support the formation of the Cicerone Project, which was created in 1998 following the approval of a business plan by the primary funding agency, the Woolmark Co.Additional keywords: producer led, research and adoption partnerships, sustainable and profitable grazing enterprises.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Surveying the management practices and research needs of graziers in the New England region of New South Wales

Kaine¹,

Doyle²,

Sutherland³

et al. 2013

Anim. Prod. Sci.

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“…Many modelling studies have shown that increased climate variability decreases the number of livestock that can be managed per unit of land (Olson and Mikesell, 1988;Kingwell et al, 1993;Kobayashi et al, 2007). This modelling is supported by surveys of farmers, which suggest that most Australian farmers manage the stocking system at a fixed, manageable number of ewes to avoid having too many sheep in years with low pasture growth (Doyle et al, 1993;Austen et al, 2002;Robertson and Wimalasuriya, 2004). Therefore, regions with more reliable pasture growth should be able to manage sheep at a higher stocking rate, which may affect the value of traits in different regions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Breeding objectives for sheep should be customised depending on variation in pasture growth across years

Rose

Mulder

Thompson

et al. 2015

Animal

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Breeding programmes for livestock require economic weights for traits that reflect the most profitable animal in a given production system, which affect the response in each trait after selection. The profitability of sheep production systems is affected by changes in pasture growth as well as grain, meat and wool prices between seasons and across years. Annual pasture growth varies between regions within Australia's Mediterranean climate zone from low growth with long periods of drought to high growth with shorter periods of drought. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess whether breeding objectives need to be adapted for regions, depending on how reliable the pasture growth is across years. We modelled farms with Merino sheep bred for wool and meat in 10 regions in Western Australia. Across these 10 regions, mean annual pasture growth decreased, and the CV of annual pasture growth increased as pasture growth for regions became less reliable. We calculated economic values for nine traits, optimising management across 11 years, including variation for pasture growth and wool, meat and grain prices between and within years from 2002 to 2012. These economic values were used to calculate responses to selection for each trait for the 10 regions. We identified two potential breeding objectives, one for regions with low or high reliability and the other for regions with medium reliability of pasture growth. Breeding objectives for high or low pasture growth reliability had more emphasis on live weight traits and number of lambs weaned. Breeding objectives for medium reliability of pasture growth had more emphasis on decreasing fibre diameter. Relative economic weights for fleece weight did not change across the regions. Regions with low or high pasture reliability had similar breeding objectives and response to selection, because the relationship between the economic values and CV of pasture growth were not linear for live weight traits and the number of lambs weaned. This non-linearity was caused by differences in distribution of pasture growth between regions, particularly during summer and autumn, when ewes were pregnant, with increases in energy requirements affecting the value of lambs weaned. In addition, increasing live weight increased the intake capacity of sheep, which meant that more poor quality pasture could be consumed during summer and autumn, which had more value in regions with low and high pasture reliability. We concluded that breeding values for sheep production systems should be customised depending on the reliability of pasture growth between years.

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“…There is a lack of quantitative information on the production of pastures and their impact on sheep production on farms for the Victorian Mallee, a low-rainfall (275mm to 375mm) mixed farming region. This has restricted attempts to define the impact of various management strategies on the production and profitability of sheep (Robertson and Wimalasuriya 2004). Reported data are largely restricted to experiments conducted over a limited number of years and pastures, with limited detail of both sheep and pasture production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Latta (2003) is the only report describing both sheep and pasture production, but neither the stocking rates nor the improved pasture reflected common industry practice. The few reports from commercial properties do not provide detailed descriptions of both sheep and pasture production (Molnar 1962; Rigby and Latta 1995; Robertson and Wimalasuriya 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crop stubbles are as important for sheep production as annual pastures in the Victorian Mallee

Robertson¹

2006

Aust. J. Exp. Agric.

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The impact of different management strategies on production and profit can be evaluated with knowledge of how sheep production responds to changes in the available feed base and sheep or pasture management. This study aimed to quantify on-farm pasture and sheep production in mixed sheep and cropping systems in the Victorian Mallee of south-eastern Australia (325 ± 50 mm annual rainfall) as a prelude to computer simulation modelling. During 2001 (average rainfall) and 2002 (extreme drought) pasture production, the feed base and sheep production were monitored in 15 paddocks on 5 properties located across the region. Crop stubbles were the major source of feed for 6 months of the year, enabling ewes to maintain liveweight. There was more variation in pasture parameters between paddocks at the 1 location than between locations. The botanical composition, plant density, soil fertility and management were key variables associated with between-paddock variation in pasture production. Variation in pasture production between years was larger than within-year differences. In contrast, stocking rates were not much lower in the drought year of 2002 than in 2001. This study suggests there is potential for management to improve pasture production, and demonstrates the importance of feed sources other than annual pasture for sheep production in environments where the annual pasture growing season is short.

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Limitations to pasture and sheep enterprises and options for improvement in the Victorian Mallee

Cited by 11 publications

References 8 publications

Surveying the management practices and research needs of graziers in the New England region of New South Wales

Surveying the management practices and research needs of graziers in the New England region of New South Wales

Breeding objectives for sheep should be customised depending on variation in pasture growth across years

Crop stubbles are as important for sheep production as annual pastures in the Victorian Mallee

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