A visit to a previous monitor farm

This visit included two farms run by two brothers. They run both farms as a unit together. They keep Romney ewes and put a Suffolk, Dorset or Hampshire rams on them. They also keep cattle, Friesian cross Angus and put a Charolais bull on them. They also rare dairy heifers. Sheep are not fed any concentrates or conserved forage. Cattle are fed silage over the winter when needed. Mainly to keep lambing paddocks for the sheep. The sheep are set stocked for 6-8 weeks over lambing. 

They are currently weaning lambs and have already sold 60% of the lambs before weaning. 
It was interesting to see how well the dogs worked in the handling pens and the setup of the handling pens.

While discussing the monitor farm they were really pleased with how this worked and how it really helped them move forward. The steering group and attendees at the meeting gave lots of good ideas. Some not so good and they felt it was up to them to pick out what suited them and the farm. They both said one of the best things about being a monitor farm was all the tests they did as part of it and the contact they had with the vet. The terrain of this farm was again very steep and difficult to get around with all spraying done with a helicopter and fertiliser applied with a plane.

Visit to a Romney stud farm

This stud farm had 15,000 sheep in total, spread over three farms. He also has cattle and buys in store lambs. He exports rams and semen all round the world including the UK. His motto is work smarter not harder. He sells a few hundred rams every year over a period of around 10days. They are all recorded and the current focus is on muscle and rams tolerant to facial eczema. Some people have lost a considerable amount of sheep due to this. The rams are just fed grass. They will be brought down to the flats from the hill for a few weeks before selling just to make them look a little more presentable. They are drenched only three times in the year and weighed every 6 weeks with the bottom performing ones taken out every 6 weeks. They scan at 165%. They make sure the ewes have plenty of grass and move them every 2-3 days pre tupping and during tupping. He only lost 7 ewes from a group of 1,900 last year during lambing. On the flats he gets DLWG of up to 320kg compared to nearer 150kg DLWG on the hills. At weaning the lambs are sorted in to weight batches and the ones nearest finishing are put on the flats and then the next nearest are moved on to the flats etc. He plants forage crops to finish lambs, maize to feed silage outside to sheep and called chicory and plantain rocket fuel for finishing lambs.

There are quite a lot of feral goats on the farm and he said these are essential to control the weeds. A neighbour culled all the coats on the neighbouring farm and had real problems with weeds growing back. The setup of the farm is excellent as all the hill paddock run into the central lane on the bottom of the valley leading to the handling facilities and wool shed. To spray or fertilise the hills its all done by helicopter or plane.

New Zealand

I managed to arrive in NZ just in time for Christmas to spend Christmas day with some fellow Welsh people in TeKuiti. However it didn't feel much like Christmas.

NZ is very different to Australia in terms of landscape and farming methods. The fields are very heavily stocked and dairy cattle are everywhere.

I then moved down to Taumaruniu and arranged to go out with a shearing gang the next day. This meant getting up at 4.30 as they leave soon after 5. I learnt a lot about the way wool is treated and sorted this day at this Romney stud farm. The Romney ewes were very big and stubborn and the presser had a difficult job filling the pens with his dog and pressing the wool.

My last Australian visit - An abattoir

My last Australian meeting was with the production manager of an abattoir and he kindly showed me around the abattoir. The abattoir kills 5200 each day. Around 50% is currently exported. It used to be more, nearer 80%. They are EU approved and some goes to the EU. A lot goes to china. Lambs come in to the lairage 24-48hrs before. They have to come in 6-8hrs before slaughter so rarely come in that morning. There is a large lairage area and 15 paddocks. The major differences I noticed to UK abattoirs were the use of dogs in the lairage, the security is not quite as strict and the attention given to the skins. The skins are sorted to 3 ways to start off and then they are treated and then sorted up to 30 different ways depending on wool length, type/breed e.g. merino or crossbred, if there are any skin cuts, any grass seeds in it etc. The biggest markets for the skins are China and Russia, and most of the offal goes to Saudi. I was also surprised that the muck under the layarage is sold to be mixed with woodchip to sell as an organic product.  

Near the abattoir is a Stockyard (livestock market) and I was surprised how there were no barriers or gates between the stockyard and the road and no biosecurity. Most of the market is hardcore/chippings or grass with only a little bit of concrete in the lorry wash area. I was surprised by the large number of trees in it, but I guess these are needed for shade. Near here there were also three agriculture merchants. These stores do everything from selling feed and animal health products to trading wool, insurance, financial advice and estate agents.

A visit to a farm in Walcha, New South Wales

Again this farm is very large over 2500 acres with 2500 Superfine Merinos which is a self-replacing flock. 200-350 of the older ewes are mated to Border Leicester and Dorsets to produce prime lambs. There are also flocks of Poll Dorsets (400 ewes) and Border Leicesters (150 ewes) to produce rams. It initially started to produce rams for their own flock but it has grown and they are now selling over 200 rams in February. Selection is aimed at producing prime lambs that have low birth weight, yet high growth rate to allow early sales of lambs that have large loins with a fat covering to enable quick turn off and enhanced meat eating quality. As well as selecting animals with worm resistant qualities, mothering ability, early milking, lamb survival and early sexual maturity. 40% of the income for the sheep flock comes from the rams. 16% of income comes from the skin and wool. 
Lambing on this farm is managed intensively for good records and to remove any poor mothers. Twin bearing ewes are separated to feed accordingly. The twins are mostly fed grains pre lambing. Mainly to get through the August period when they used to have grass but the season is getting latter (probably by a month). They have a hard culling policy on the farm. About 10% are culled at weaning to remove genetic faults and at yearling stage another 10% are removed for lower performances and anything not structurally right. Also the lowest indexing ewes are culled.

The farm also currently run 150 Angus cattle supplying feeder steer market. They sell the cattle to feedlots depending on the availability of grass and the money. The money was good this year and calves were sold 6 weeks earlier. Sometimes calves are sold through saleyards. They always purchase high performing Breedplan Angus bulls on the B3 index with bull selection focused on low birth weight, high 600 day weight, IMF and carcass weight. The herd is EU with the aim of moving across to selling oat fatten EU steers in the future. They really only keep cattle to keep the grass down. Cattle are fed a lick of molases, urea, concentrates to get them through the winter.

Issues that have recently cropped up are the changing rainfall pattern receiving rain different times of year and the length of time between rain can cause shortage of grass. Foxes and Dingo’s are issues and the usual health issues worm’s, fly’s and lice. They work hard to keep Johnne’s and Brucellosis out by keeping a closed flock. They have not seen footrot on the farm for 30years. They carry out worm samples for the breeding programme and carry out drench resistance tests yearly. 120 acres of fodder crops are planted each year to finish lambs and steers on. The growing rams also utilise about half of the fodder crops. A very interesting system with each flock complementing each other.

A day with a Sheep Meat Product Development Officer

As you have probably guessed I have had a few IT problems and have lots to update. Monday 19th December, I spent a day with a sheep meat production development officer. We visited two farms, met a wool inspector for lunch and had a quick look round a research farm. A busy day. The first farm we visited was just outside Guyra. The farm has increased in size quickly over the last 20years. From 1200 acres in 1990 to its current acreage, 4500 acres. I found the scale of this enterprise very interesting with very few staff. Only 1 worker. The farm currently carries 5000 ewes, buying in first cross Merinos (Merino cross Border Leicester) lambs at 8 months to tup them at 12-13months old to lamb in September. These mark at 80-100% and the main flock mark at 150%. He also has a few hundred cows and runs 800 bullocks. He aims to sell 30-50% lambs by weaning and all by winter (April). The average deadweight is between 21-23kg (48-50kg liveweight). He occasionally supplies lambs for export 24-26kg (55kg liveweight). They are mostly sold by the truck load, so either 440 or 660 at a time. Sometimes he might take 20-30 to the stockyard at Guyra if he wants to move them e.g. just before weaning. I was surprised to hear that 50% of animals in Australia go through the market. I asked what his biggest problems are, he said foxes. His marking percentage has dropped 10% and he thinks it’s mostly due to foxes. He thinks it’s because most people in the area only have cattle and they are not doing anything about them. Another issue is Barbars pole worm. This farmer has a very good net margin and I was trying to work out how he does this and I think its through good grassland management. He is currently not feeding his ewes at all before lambing. He closes lambing plots up a while before.  I asked what he thinks is the answer to a good system and he said mixed grazing. He’s currently got 65 cows and 65 calves on 80 acres to prepare it for lambs after weaning and the cattle are not getting on top of it.

The second farm visit between Guyra and Glenn Innes was up a very long dirt track and I was wondering where we were going. This farm also runs first cross Merino’s (2,800 ewes). They are border or white Suffolk cross and he crosses them with the Poll Dorset. He buys cattle in on the auction plus website to manage grass over the summer. He destocks the cattle over the winter. The ewes on this farm scan at 170%+ and marks at around 150%. The replacements are nearer 90% lambing rate. He feels that its essential to scan to feed them correctly and get rid of the barrens. Not everyone in the area is scanning. The ewes are shorn 4 months pre lambing with a covercomb. Lambs under 40kg at weaning are shorn as they wont be sold for 6-8weeks and the wool will grow back to a reasonable length before slaughter.

Then over lunch we had a good general discussion about the beef and sheep industry in the area and Australia. The wool inspector also farms 5000 acres. Most cattle are sent to feedlots. It's only the cull cows that go direct to abattoir. There are many cattle and lamb feedlots in the are some of which are owned by processors. I asked about the main issues and they said foot abscesses this year because it’s been so wet after a 10yr drought. Barbers pole is another big issue and predators. Dingos are such a problem in some areas that people can't keep sheep. We discussed wool prices and he said that the crossbred wool is now nearly worth as much as the superfine Merinos. Crossbred ewes are considerably more expensive to purchase. However the systems that have the best gross margin are mostly farmers with Merinos with terminal sires.  The final meeting of the day was a visit around a research site. There are now very few staff working there mainly due to staff retiring or leaving and not being replaced. One trial currently going on is that 27 local farms send 10 weathers there for performance analysis. The 270 weathers are run for 3yrs and their fleece value and carcass weight are monitored. I was surprised to see that there is one area of plots (Maize rotation plots been running since 1921 . A lot of Fescue and white clover breeding has been carried out there. We discussed what is in the typical New England grass mix and it included fescue, coxsfoot, phalaris, red clover, white clover and sub clover. I certainly learnt a lot about Australian agriculture this day.

Weekend along Waterfall Way to Coffs Harbour

With my weekend off I decided to head over to Coffs Harbour to do a few tourist things. On my way, there were plenty of opportunities for sight seeing along waterfall way, Wollomombi Gorge, Ebor falls and the Rainforest centre. Within an hour from Armidale the land changed quickly and it was obvious the climate is quite different not that far away. The fields appeared much greener, a lot less grass with probably better grassland management. However as soon as I left Armidale I so very few sheep, it was mostly cattle with a few dairy farms. I also so someone big baling and quite a few big bale stacks around. Forage conservation must be more popular in this area.