lambing of 140% docked. “We haven’t cracked that yet, but we were hitting about 135-136% in the years before the drought.” Last year, after the 2018-19 drought, the farm achieved only 121%. Jon says the 15% drop in lambing drove the decision to start feeding supplement as soon as conditions started to dry up this year.
SHEEP GO NUTS FOR PELLETS
Ewes are pregnancy scanned in June and set-stocked from mid-August.
This year the Sherlocks fed about 40 tonnes of sheep nuts at a cost of $750/tonne. The pellets were fed from a spreader towed by an ATV. “Sheep nuts are the only practical option for our contour,” Jon says. “At around 75c/kg drymatter (DM) and a total cost of $30,000, the sheep nuts were not cheap, but we decided to take the hit and go early so we could maintain ewe condition”. He believes the investment will pay off. “A 15% lift in lambing equates to about 480 extra lambs. At $90/lamb, that’s $43,000, which easily covers the cost of the feed. That makes sheep nuts look pretty good, especially when you take into account the better condition of the ewes. If supplement is required again next season, Jon says they will look to reduce the cost by feeding maize. Fiona says feeding sheep nuts helped lift morale during a very tough season. “The ewes loved them and it made us
FARM FACTS: • Jon and Fiona Sherlock, North Waikato • Farming 950ha effective • Otorohaea, Waingaro - 575ha eff. • Wintering (2020) 3200 ewes, 190 R1 heifers, 53 R2 heifers • Kerr Road, Naike – 375ha eff. • Wintering 820 ewe replacements, 325 R2 Friesian bulls, 200 R1 Friesian bulls and 36 R3 Friesian bulls • Store and finishing operation • Targeting 137,000kg weaned lamb
feel good to know we were actively doing something for our stock.” Grazing ewe hoggets “down country” on a liveweight gain basis is another option being considered by the Sherlocks to simplify the system at home and to spread their climatic risk. Ewe hoggets are currently grazed on the Kerr Road farm but Jon says it’s difficult to achieve good growth rates consistently in the North Waikato, especially if it’s dry. “If it works, we’d like to send about 850 ewe hoggets to an area where they will achieve good mating weights, then bring them back here after weaning their lamb. Grazing ewe replacements off-farm also gives us the opportunity to increase ewe numbers on Otorohaea and bull numbers on the Kerr Road farm.”
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