SHEEP producers are the latest target in the sights of controversial animal rights group Aussie Farms.
While Aussie Farms has kept most of its efforts focused on the pork and poultry industries, last week it posted on Facebook photos of dead lambs on an unnamed property.
This drew immediate responses from social media users across Australia.
The Facebook post is critical of the number of lambs that die within 48 hours of birth each year, with a link to an article in The Australian which warns producers about a need for a stronger lamb survival focus.
Dr John Plant, who was a vet for the Department of Primary Industries for about 30 years, said eradicating feral pigs and foxes was one of the most important things for producers to limit lamb losses, particularly in western NSW.
“The worst lamb losses occur on properties where pigs and foxes are a problem,” Dr Plant said.
One of the worst examples Dr Plant saw was on a property near Broken Hill, where feral pigs killed “all but two lambs” out of a mob of 500 pregnant ewes.
“That’s the sort of problem sheep producers are faced with... but they try and do something about it (by eradicating pigs and foxes) and the animal rights groups complain about that,” he said.
“Farmers are trying the best they can.”
Keynote speaker at this week’s Lambex event, Jason Trompf, said the message to producers was “survive and thrive”– to implement well researched techniques that proactively improve the well-being and production of their sheep and, in turn, the national flock.
Mr Trompf said the industry was making good progress on improving lamb mortality rates through programs such as Australian Wool Innovation’s (AWI) Lifetime Wool research, Lifetime Ewe Management and Bred Well, Fed Well – Making More from Sheep and Sheep Genetics from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).
He said the initiatives had “contributed significantly to lifting national average marking rates from about 80 per cent in the 2000s to now averaging 90pc of lambs marked to ewes joined”.