WHY a dramatic number of sheep producers opt not to scan is a question that has sheep advisor Anthony Shepherd scratching his head.
In a survey he conducted in 2011 across three states - representing more than 400,000 sheep - he found about 40 per cent of growers used the service.
But nationwide the number was less, with the national scanning rate thought to be half of that again, Mr Shepherd said.
At just 55 cents per head for a basic wet and dry scan, and about 75c/head for more complex scans, it was hard to pin it on price, said Young-based scanner Trevor Pearce.
Mr Pearce scans 200,000 sheep annually and has been operating for 15 years, mainly across the South West Slopes.
He offered three main scans - a wet and dry scan (to identify pregnant or empty), a twinning scan (to identify dry ewes, or those carrying singles or multiples), and an age scan (to identify age of the foetus).
Those who did scan had tended to lean towards finding out as much information as possible, Mr Pearce said.
The age of the foetus had allowed producers to finetune how they managed pregnant ewes, he said.
"With the age scan we can take out anything that is say 70 days and above and 70 days and below."
"One farmer buys in maiden Merino ewes each year - joined to Poll Dorsets - and by scanning for age he now hasn't had to pull any lambs because he can monitor the feed intake of the pregnant ewes and can consciously slow the growth of the foetus by putting single-bearing ewes on less feed."
Ideally, producers should follow the rule of thumb of a six-week joining, and scan another six weeks after rams are taken out, Mr Pearce said.
"That means your later conceived lambs are at 45 days old by scanning and your first at 85 days," he said.
"And by scanning at that time you can gauge your predicted lamb sales for the year ahead."
Mr Pearce blamed the low scanning rate on mistrust in the service.
"Where a lot of people probably got burnt and put off with scanning is if they've had an experience with a scanner who was inaccurate - you might as well throw your money in the bin," he said.
Sheepmatters principal Anthony Shepherd, Cootamundra, said the loss of potential income was "astounding" when put in context.
"A lot of producers just lamb them down and it is what it is," he said.
"They don't know what they don't know, and that's the majority not the minority," he said.
Scanning for age had gained momentum, he said.
Producers were using the information to run "early" and "late" mobs as they could identify when they would have different foetal pressure.
"We can supplementary feed those carrying multiples and not waste it on ewes that don't need it, so you're getting more bang for your buck," Mr Shepherd said.
"We can then lamb them down in early and late mobs, mark them separately so we have a nice even line of lambs in each mob, and can keep them on full term on mum so at weaning we're hardly getting a tail of lambs in any of the sheep."
"They've had their full potential on their mothers rather than the lates being ripped off with the early lambs."
Mr Shepherd said producers could remove the trend of breeding "charity lambs" by separating mobs.
"Some lambs will be born day one and some are seven weeks younger - they'll always be a charity for the rest of their life because they have had their life ripped away from them," he said.
"And along with not having their full growth potential, these are the lambs that are more susceptible to issues like carrying lice and worms at the end of the day.
"Scanning is huge information, and those tapping into that are reaping the rewards."
Finetuning ewe feed intake
THE ROCK producer Stuart Sly "pampered" pregnant ewes carrying multiple lambs by putting them on paddocks where he drilled oats in to lucerne pasture for extra feed.
Decision making leading up to lambing centred on information he obtained at scanning time, he said.
"This year started off dry so we could feed the twin-bearing ewes to the max while we basically left the single ones alone.
"How much supplementary feed we put into them and where we place them paddock-wise is a much easier decision when you know what they're carrying."
Mr Sly, pictured with two and three-year-old Merino ewes with July-drop lambs at foot, runs Kelenlea Farming Partners with his brother and nephew.
They joined 1900 Merino ewes in February each year for a July lambing and scanned in late April.
"We scan for ewes carrying multiples and singles, and also identify our dry ewes," Mr Sly said.
The entire flock was electronic identification (EID) tagged so the Slys could keep track of their breeding history, micron and wool cut, he said.
A month before lambing mobs bearing multiples were also split in to smaller mobs.
The Sly's 3440-hectare enterprise includes 2428ha of cropping, predominantly wheat and canola.
George Sims, U Scan Services, has scanned for the Sly family each year.
He said the fact less than half of producers nationwide scanned was astounding, although he knew of pockets across the state that never used the service.
"It gives you your budget for the year," Mr Sims said.
"If you can work out the expected lambs minus the few losses, and times that by an average price you already have a number in mind your expected income for the year."
Mr Sims said those not scanning didn't realise the loss in production dry ewes had on the rest of the flock.
"Cost still comes in to it; a lot of people think scanning is more expensive than it is," he said.
"I believe a lot of the Merino growers especially are quite focused on the wool cut, and maybe not so much on whether or not that ewe raises a lamb each year."
