Farmers at BCG’s Sheep Management Showcase on August 17 will hear how the profitability and resilience of their businesses can be enhanced with a well-run sheep enterprise.
Speaking at the one-day event BCG CEO Chris Sounness will focus on how business risk can be minimised and long-term profitability improved on mixed farms.
“As the last two seasons have shown us, the less diverse the business, the greater its risk profile,” he said.
“In an average or better than average season continuous cropping is often more profitable than a mixed farming business, but in poorer season’s the losses are greater.”
New VFF livestock president Leonard Vallance will also address producers inviting them to use the organisation to improve outcomes for the industry and for farmers.
The labour that is involved in looking after sheep is one of the many reasons farmers cite for not having them on their farms, but according to highly regarded sheep specialist Nathan Scott (Achieve Ag Solutions), new technologies such as electronic identification tags (EID) has the capacity to make sheep work easier.
At the Showcase, Mr Scott will discuss how capturing performance data can quickly be used to make decisions, make the system more efficient, and improve the profitability of a commercial sheep business.
Mr Scott will also give produces a glimpse into the future, providing insight to where transformative technologies such as virtual fencing and unmanned aerial vehicles will operate.
Taking advantage of technology that is here and now, Wimmera-based livestock scanning technician Raquel Tyler (On Track Livestock Scanning) will talk producers through the scanning process and the flow-on benefits that accurate pregnancy scanning information can have on lamb survival in income from lambs.
“Pregnancy scanning has become a valuable management tool of ewe flocks,” she said.
Scanning enables producers to separate dry ewes, and meet the nutritional requirements of pregnant ewes according to foetal numbers. Scanning data can also be a marketing tool when selling ewes.
Livestock Biosecurity Network vet, Dr Patrick Kluver will also address farmers at the Sheep Showcase.
Dr Kluver will discuss how abattoir surveillance is detecting diseases occurring on-farm, and what management will improve the productivity and profitability of the sheep meat enterprise.
The BCG Sheep Management Showcase is being held at the Birchip Leisure Centre on August 17.
Other key speakers featured in the program includes: livestock consultant and Western Region chair of MLA’s Southern Australian Meat Research Council (SAMRC) Tim Leeming and highly regarded livestock specialist Ken Solly (Solly Business Services).
Buloke Shire Council Mayor Reid Mather will let growers know about an initiative to develop intensive livestock businesses in the region, while Gallagher, Clipex, Advantage Feeders and Stephen Pasture Seeds will demonstrate their products for farmers.
The 2016 BCG Sheep Management Showcase will be held from 9am to 3.30pm. Entry is free for BCG members and $40 for non-members. A lamb lunch is available for purchase on site from local caterer Gourmetsnotaflavour. Please RSVP here.
