MUCH of the Northern Tablelands is dealing with a tough winter, but now is the time to start planning and working out the critical decision-making points to deal with ongoing dry weather.
Some producers are already handfeeding, but even if it does rain soon, there are still some tough decisions to make around feeding or selling cattle, according to Local Land Services livestock officer Jason Siddell.
“Some analysts, like Simon Quilty, think we’re going to see the bottom of the beef market in 2018, around October, because our market is about 18 months behind the US,” Mr Siddell said.
“If you’ve got good grass, it could be a good opportunity to stock up, but if you don’t, you won’t want to be selling at that time.”
With the dry season, the focus still needs to be on maintaining condition score in cows, so give them the best chance of getting in calf next year.
“You want a cow to have a fat score of three or four at calving, so the cow will cycle quicker and get back in calf earlier,” Mr Siddell said.
Supplementary feeding calves can be a solution, reducing pressure on cows to produce milk, while helping turn weaners off earlier.
“I think we’ll see some creep feeding, about one kilogram to 2kg a day, which will reduce the feed requirement of the cows, and help them maintain good condition. Producers can halve protein and energy costs on pasture by turning lactating cows into dry cows.”
Producers can start creep feeding at three to four months of age, once the rumen has developed, with a 16 per cent protein grain or pellet mix.
Mr Siddell expected producers to sell weaners earlier with the dry weather.
“If they can add some extra weight by creep feeding, they might be able to sell in January or February, and prices could be stronger with the smaller number of weaners on the market at that time, especially if we get good spring or summer rain.”
Mr Siddell said producers needed to have a stock management plan which outlines when to make the tough decisions.
“You need to work out what you’re going to do at those critical points, whether it’s selling or feeding, and have a plan, whether it rains or not.”