THE KEY to the success of Bobbara Station, Galong, was unlocked last week at a Lambpro field day attended by more than 80 people.
The Bobbara Station enterprise run by Brad Pellow includes 4500 hectares of which 1800ha is used as crop and 2700ha is used for pasture production to supply feed for its self-replacing composite flock based on genetics from Holbrook-based Lambpro operator Tom Bull.
Mr Pellow turns off 12,000 lambs annually, with 2000 ewe lambs returning to the self-replacing flock, while 4000 ewe lambs are sold as self-replacing ewes along with the 6000 wether lambs to suckers or trade.
He said lamb turn-off due to moving to a maternal base of ewes had gone from 9000 to 12,000 and as more older ewes came into the system they would grow to 13,000.
The oldest ewes last year were three years old.
Planning and pasture management were key to the running of the operation according to Delta Agribusiness senior farm consultant Chris Duff, Young, who planned the whole process with Mr Pellow to be able to achieve the 30,000 dry sheep equivalent (DSE) of grazed area on “Bobbara” at a May rating of 10 DSE/ha.
Mr Duff said the thing to remember was that 30 per cent of Bobbara Station was non or semi-arable, which pulled down the DSE of the farm, due to big rocky hills and other land issues.
The planning was split to 9000 DSE for cattle and 21,000 for sheep, which broken down was 9000 breeding ewes and 12,000 lambs, achieving a 130pc lambing percentage to ewes joined for all his ewes which are aged one to three years.
Mr Duff said planning was a big part of the operation and they had already sunk plans for 2013 for stock numbers and direction, identified cropping paddocks and new paddocks to come into rotation as well as undertaken pasture assessment.
“They consistently reassess pastures for composition of dry matter relative to that season and their grazing crops are always planted on time to maximise growth at peak periods,” he said.
Mr Duff said management and planning was key, but they must have productive pastures and that must be matched to the livestock calendar to get maximum benefit, while always analysing seasonal risks and having buffers in place to counteract them.
“Grazing management allows them to maintain targeted species in areas needed at peak times in a ewes breeding cycle or when lambs need to be finished,” he said.
Mr Pellow said they achieved this as their pastures were in good condition and had been appropriately fertilised, with regular soil tests to 10 centimetres, liming and pH levels.
Mr Pellow joins his ewe lambs in order to lamb on their first birthday, which is a balancing act between days of age and achieving good pre-joining weights.
“We have been able to manage 150pc for our older ewes, 130pc for our two year olds and 100pc lambing rates for the ewe lambs,” he said.
Mr Pellow, with the guidance of Mr Duff, uses a split between their top four pasture species to get to their correct amount of hectares to marry up with their livestock calendar and production throughout the year.
They use a balance of fescue, phalaris, clover, lucerne and chicory in their operation.
Mr Duff said fescue was a base pasture as it had the fastest growth of any perennial grass through winter, which broke down the traditional curves of lost production through the colder months due to good feed availability and it worked well with phalaris, which was one of the most hardy species around.
Mr Duff said the base pasture for the ewe flock was a three-way mix of fescue, phalaris and clover through the autumn and winter period.
A number of paddocks have the addition of either lucerne or chicory which assisted with production but was very important for finishing lambs through the spring and early summer period.
Fodder rape was an important part of the production system, which increased the amount of high quality dry matter available for finishing lambs.
Growing fodder rape transfers moisture use in winter into dry matter in spring.
Mr Pellow said their lucerne and fodder rape were used to finish suckers, while the surplus young ewe lambs not being retained got lucerne and chicory to prepare them for surplus sales.
“We use fodder rape in our system because you can grow eight tonnes of dry matter per hectare even in a dry spring, which you can’t do with any other species, allowing feed when we need it most,” he said.
Mr Duff said fodder rape took 10 to 12 weeks to the point of grazing, was high in protein and is highly digestable, which had allowed them to achieve 5t/ha to 6t/ha in the first period and 2t/ha to 4t/ha in subsequent grazing.
Mr Duff said they always plan to sow grazing cereals in March, even in dry seasons to get the crucial winter dry matter production which fills the winter pasture feed gap.
“If you don’t sow in March you cut your dry matter potential by two-thirds,” he said.
It is this reason that Mr Pellow buffers against risk factors like dry seasons, producing fodder reserves and plenty of silage, with 3000t underground, giving him two years of reserves if he needs it.
Mr Pellow is a big believer in the composite sheep produced by Lambpro and has swung their breeding program to produce lambs for the marketing options Lambpro now offer them Mr Pellow will offer 3000 ewe lambs in the next Lambpro AuctionsPlus ewe sale.
He said he used to run big frame, productive Merinos, but was converted to maternals and using PrimeLine rams when he saw the benefits of more lambs, quicker growth rates and a greater cost of production.
“I have been able to maximise my pastures to suit lamb production and ewe maintenance to get the best out of my sheep through the maternals,” he said.
Lambpro’s Tom Bull summed the day up for producers saying that it was all about kilograms on trucks and better cost of production, through turning pasture into kilograms of lamb.
Mr Bull asked the question of what made a good lamb producer.
“A good agent telling you your sheep were the best or topping the market?
“Or is it in fact the economics of what you do, showing how much you make per hectare off your enterprise?”
