At the recent BWBL meetings from 2-4 September, Ken Solly led growers through how to condition score sheep, which is an easy and accurate method of estimating the condition or ‘nutritional well-being’ of your sheep. It requires you to feel for the amount of tissue and fat covering the backbone and the short ribs of each sheep. Each assessment only takes a matter of seconds, so scoring 25-50 sheep to get an assessment for the mob will only take about 20 minutes and can be done while sheep are in for other husbandry activities.
Condition scoring a mob twice over a month can give a reliable indication of weight loss or gain, and can then be used to make decisions such as feed budgeting. This is particularly useful in the lead up to mating, as condition at mating can have a significant impact on lambing percentage. It is also very useful for monitoring pregnant and lactating ewes, who have higher nutritional demands. During the dry period condition scoring will give much more accurate information on how the flock is travelling compared with dry pasture assessment, and when a look out the ute window won’t cut it given they have a wool covering!
Condition scoring is often more useful than live weight in that it doesn’t rely on a weigh crate being set up (just a race), and you don’t have to correct for wool growth or wet wool, or for a foetus in pregnant ewes or the weight of fluid during lactation.
To watch a YouTube demonstration of condition scoring click:Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F5V-GcG1Qk
And to download a score chart and recording cards click:Â https://www.makingmorefromsheep.com.au/wean-more-lambs/tool_10.1.htm
Apps for condition scoring enable you to hold your phone and easily record the score as you assess each sheep. Such apps include ‘Lifetime Ewe Management’ and ‘Sheep Condition Scoring’. You can download these apps now to iPad and iPhone, while Android versions will be available in coming months.
Ken also demonstrated a number of livestock decision making worksheets. If you attended and would like a copy, please contact Alison on alison@bcg.org.au.
