“The responsibility of feeding animals through an exceptional time of scarcity is a heavy burden to carry alone.”
“Again, he assisted in sourcing this feed and gave practical advice that made all the difference.” Fortunately, rain came at Christmas time and continued through the autumn. The feeding regime implemented meant that Mathews lambs were at an ideal store lamb weight of 35kg in Autumn; not a bad result all things considered. “The store market was extreme, so I took the money at that time, $190/head, which helped offset my feeding costs,” says Mathew. “Between rain events I managed to sow some country to a rye grass crop in March to help keep the good green feed going into the winter for my remaining stock - a luxury at Walcha. “You might think that’s where the advice stopped too, but no. I was sceptical after spending so much money to get through the dry that Adam wanted me to keep putting a dry lick in front of my ewe lambs now on the good feed. “His advice to this point had been good so I trusted him and bought the product. We changed to a starch and mineral balancing dry lick to supplement the green feed they were now getting from the grass. I have never seen growth rates like it in my lambs! They were easily growing at 300grams per day through the winter, gaining an average of 27kgs over this time.
“After such an extremely poor start to the season I have managed to get most of my ewe lambs up to joining weight by eight months of age and they have continued to grow rapidly right through joining.” Mathew says that he believes his ewes are some of the best lambs he has ever grown and the property fully restocked. He credits much of this success to the quality advice and commitment from Adam and the team at Walcha. “Farming these days is becoming an increasingly technical business with many different areas where you need to have good knowledge and a wide set of skills.” “I am looking forward to the future with new confidence that with the help of the Elders team I can achieve the full potential of my livestock and my land in good seasons or bad. The addition of good people providing such good advice on livestock nutrition as well as agronomy is why I continue to use Elders exclusively for my livestock marketing as well as for most of my rural merchandise needs. Elders provides the whole package.” Our thanks for this testimonial to Kevin Mathews, Lamb producer, “Jiskardale”, Walcha. August 2020.
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