Seeking To Safeguard Stock Position

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32164, 6 December 1969, Page 8

Seeking To Safeguard Stock Position

What sort of action can a farmer take to safeguard his position as far as stock are concerned in the face of con* tinuing dry conditions? This question was discussed this week by Professor J. D. Stewart, professor of farm management at Lincoln College.

Professor Stewart said he did not think it was possible to generalise on the question of selling ewes and cutting down on stock numbers at this particular stage. In the most critical drought areas he said that this was probably decided for the farmer, but it was a very difficult issue to come to a decision on in an area of more moderate drought but where there were no reserves of hay. If it was possible to make any generalisation, he said it was probably that not many farmers could afford to reduce their flock numbers at current prices for wool.

Fanners, he said, should think carefully before selling ewes at this time of the year, as it was possible to handle them at this time with a minimum of feed and make a decision about holding them or quitting them later. The decision was, however, obviously a difficult one and each farmer had really to look at it in the light of his own circumstances. Admittedly if it remained dry into the autumn the possibility of selling now with schedule prices at an attractive level and avoiding sale later when prices might not be so good and the pressure of sheep for sale might be greater had something to be said for it In the meantime where a farmer decided to hold on to his sheep in the face of tight feed conditions, Professor Stewart urged that farmers should start weighing their sheep early to check on how they were faring. He said it was possible to obtain advice on how much body-weights could be safely reduced, and with the aid of weighing the most economical use could be made of limited feed supplies. The poorer sheep would need to be drafted off periodically for special treatment

Elaborating on this procedure, Professor L E. Coop, professor of animal science, said this week that where Corriedale ewes were being run if it could be guaranteed that there was going to be a good autumn then the weight of these ewes could be taken down to about 951 b by the end of February, but on the other hand if the autumn was going to remain dry and hand feeding was to continue in April then he believed that these sheep should not be allowed to fall lower than something just over 1001 b by the end of February. The corresponding figures for Romney ewes would be about 1001 b if a good autumn could be anticipated and 1051 b to 1101 b if it was going to remain dry. At these low body-weights prior to tupping, Professor Coop said that a farmer could expect fairly low lambing percentages but in his view it was not economic to feed I these ewes well over the sum-

mer period on expensive boughbin feeds simply to maintain a high body-weight In other words he would be prepared to allow bodyweight to go down, taking the risk that there would be a good autumn and bodyweights could be raised again on grass rather than to have to use expensive bought-in feeds.

Professor Coop said that they normally marked with raddle about 20 or 30 ewes in a mob and tried to .weigh these same ewes each time—about every two or three weeks. It had to be noted that the body-weight could vary quite markedly according to tile belly fill so that the sheep needed to be weighed under fairly standardised conditions —at the same time of the day on each occasion, before feeding and off the same kind of feed on each occasion.

For example, if sheep were shifted from a poor paddock to a good paddock bodyweights would probably shoot up 31b or 41b in one day which was not realistic. Ewes on about half maintenance requirement would lose about 21b of body-weight a week, he added. Drafting of the lighter ewes off for preferential treatment could be done by eye, but the experience in weighing would help in this process. Scales for weighing wool bales could be used for weighing sheep if proper sheep scales were not available, and if necessary a man could stand on the platform holding the sheep with the weight of

the man being of course deducted.

For next season Professor Stewart said that there would be a drastic shortage of hay and at prices recently quoted for hay its use was not economic on the basis of the expected returns from sheep. A critical question, therefore, was how to face up to the stock feeding position next winter and spring and in this, context farmers would need to sow substantial areas of fodder crops, and probably overdrill greenfeed, particularly Tama westerwolds ryegrass if adequate supplies were available, or else cereal greenfeeds. In this context he was relying on good autumn conditions for these crops being successful, and if there was a dry autumn again then people would be really up against it

In areas where there had lately been good falls of rain and where the moisture status of the soil was quite good and there were good soils, farmers might consider growing early sown and higher yielding fodder crops such as chou moellier, giant rape and Green Globe turnips. In this case sowings could be made in the next week or 10 days. Experience in the last season Had demonstrated the important contribution that could be made under short feed conditions by all types of low quality straws, such as perennial ryegrass,'barley and pea straws. It was important that where they were available they should be saved, as with a minimum amount of barley they constituted quite a feasible ration.

It was generally accepted that some bulk was. necessary to be fed along with grain to keep stock in good order. At this stage it is still too early to be able to be precise about the availability of barley for feeding next year. The acreage in barley for malting has been reduced but a lot of feed barley has been grown and a lot will depend on whether there are late rains to fill the crop and increase the yield.

On the college’s mainly light land Ashley Dene property, Professor Stewart said this week that it was now ex-

pected to be able to fatten all lambs at down to 251 b killing weights and to hold ewes together for another month, but if there was no substantial rain in the next month they would have to resume hand feeding and they were now looking at ways of feeding to maintain body-weight for two months between Christmas and tupping time.