Lamb policy pays off for Winchmore

Press, 10 April 1987, Page 11

Lamb policy pays off for Winchmore

The dramatic reduction in sheep returns during the past 12 months has been well publicised. Many farmers anticipated this downturn but later found diversifying was not the panacea of all economic ills.

Others chose to persevere with the lamb and wool production system for which they possessed the management knowledge, skills and facilities. Where this was done with minimum input costs, returns have been better than predicted. The irrigated sheep production unit (S Block) at Winchmore Irrigation Research Station is an example of this.

The benefits of the low input system adopted on this unit over the years were most evident during the past 12 months. This 11 ha unit operates a permanent pasture system, there is no cropping and no pasture renewal.

No insecticides are used and minimal weed control measures are necessary. Pastures are maintained with 180 to 200 kg a ha superphosphate annually, 2*/ 2 to 3t a ha lime every 20 years, five to seven irrigations a year and an intensive grazing management system. All feed requirements are met from the unit. Conserved feed requirements are low, consisting during 1985-86 of 0.6 bales hay a ewe with a similar quantity of silage. The costs of operating the unit have been calculated for the past 12 months and are shown in the table. These include contract rates for fertiliser applications, shearing, tailing, dipping, hay and silage conservation and maintenance of the irrigation system plus labour assistance at lambing. Ail other labour requirements are operator supplied.

These 37-year-old pastures carried 15.3 Coopworth ewes and four replacements each hectare during 1985-86. The lambing performance averaged 154 per cent lambs tailed for the ewes joined. All lambs sold were slaughtered for export. These were selected over the mid-summer to late autumn period. Carcase weights averaged 15.3 kg and 12.9 kg for ram and ewe lambs respectively and overall 80 per cent graded Y and 18 per cent P. They gave a net return of $11.67 a head, including slipe wool. Ewe and hogget wool sales averaged 60kg and 18kg a ha, while lamb shearing during mid March yielded 28kg a ha. The gross returns from wool averaged 334, 342 and 384 c a kg for ewe, hogget and lamb wools respectively.

By RAY MOSS, Winchmore Irrigation Research Station

Twenty-two per cent of the ewe mob was culled and these gave a net return of $4.56 a head. Total sales gave a gross income of $604 a ha. This income was 25 per cent lower than during the previous year despite a 22 per cent increase in lamb production and comparable levels of wool production. While this reduction reflects a lower net return for cull ewes ($4.56 v. $13.90) the main cause was the poorer return from lamb meat. This declined from a gross return of 220 c a- kg during 198485 to 135 c a kg during 1985-86. Wool values during 1985-86 were only 4 per cent lower in gross terms than during the previous year. Operating costs shown in the table are 11 per cent higher than during the previous year mainly through the inclusion of lamb shearing charges for the first time. Deducting this charge during 1985-86 reduces the cost increase to 4 per cent, being due to fertiliser and freight charge rises. These costs have been sustained while inputs have been continued at a level sufficient to maintain high pasture and animal performances. Despite the considerable reduction in lamb and cull ewe returns during 1985-86 the unit made a gross income of $604 a ha. While this was slightly lower than that recorded by the M.A.F. Advisory Services Division on its farm monitoring of Ashburton cropping units, S block recorded a higher net income. The cropping units monitored had gross incomes averaging $637 a ha, but cropping expenditure was also higher at $461 compared to $323 a ha on the sheep block. Thus cropping gave a net income of $176 a ha compared to $2Bl from S Block. Net income is available to meet living expenses, debt servicing and reinvestment. These expenses, according to the above monitoring, totalled $317 a ha from the cropping units and $lBl a ha from irrigated sheep farms in Canterbury. Those deductions from net income showed a cash deficit of $l4l a ha from cropping compared to a surplus .of $lOO a ha from S Block. This achievement in a year of financial adversity illustrates the potential profitability of a permanent pasture system in which input requirements are few but performances high.

FARM INCOME AND WORKING EXPENDITURE 1985/86

($/ha) Hay and silage 28 Fertiliser 36 Shearing and rams Animal Health 34 Weed control 3 Freight “5 * Wages * Electricity " * Vehicles * Repairs and maintenance 18 * Administration and standing charges 36 Total expenditure 323 Export lamb sales 233 Cull ewe sales 1® Wool sales 356 Gross farm income 604 Net farm income .281 * Values calculated from MAF Advisory Services Division monitoring of irrigated sheep units in CanterAll other values are prices paid or receded.