Selecting and culling sheep flocks

SHEEP flocks are culled and selected for two main reasons—firstly to get immediate improvements in the present generation and secondly, to improve future generations

Surplus cereal crops for sheep feed

SINCE the introduction of wheat quotas many farmers have considered feeding unsaleable grain to sheep. The three alternative methods of feeding this grain to sheep are • as standing crops • as grain supplements, fed in the paddock • as grain plus hay, in a feedlot

A guide to good lamb marking

LAMB marking is the most severe of the various ordeals that sheep are called upon to endure. It is a series of surgical operations, each involving a risk of infection, and some involving risks of severe haemorrhage. Growth rate is reduced to the same extent by rubber rings as by the knife

How to control flystrike in sheep

FLYSTRIKE affects incomes and efficiency because a large part of the work done on sheep farms is to prevent or treat it, and because it kills sheep and reduces the amount and quality of production

Urea or grain supplements for stubble?

Three methods of supplementing sheep grazing stubble were compared at Merredin Research Station in 1970. The stubble used in the experiment was left after harvesting a nine-bushel crop of Gamenya wheat which was a weed-free second crop on new land. The land had never been sown to legumes

Urea mixture formulations

This experiment was done once the experiment above (Urea or Grain Supplements for Stubble) had shown definite but uneconomic responses to a particular mixture of urea, molasses and minerals. The aim was to find whether the response depended on the content of various portions of the mixture, and whether the response to the shotgun lick could be explained by the presence of salt, sulphate or cobalt

Rationing standing crops to sheep

This experiment was done at Merredin Research Station to develop and test a method of rationing standing crops to sheep, and also to find whether rationing would reduce the sheep\u27s water consumption. The experiment involved 60 sheep on 12 one-acre plots of drought affected Gamenya wheat

Flystrike control methods

A short article outlining methods to control flystrike

Ewe nutrition before and during mating

Lambing percentages depend partly on the condition of ewes at mating. If it is practicable, ewes should be allowed to gain condition in the months before mating. Where this is not practical and ewes are in a store or backward-store condition at mating, flushing should improve their fertility

Crop rationing : a useful drought feeding technique

A TRIAL carried out during the 1969 drought demonstrated that rationing standing crop is a practical method of feeding it to sheep when feed is scarce. Rationing will be mainly a drought feeding technique for that part of the crop which will definitely be used as sheep feed. Crop that may or may not be needed for sheep would normally be harvested and the grain kept as a contingency allowance