Don't let profits slip through your fingers

With that in mind, next Thursday, April 4, ANFD will be holding their annual Livestock Field Day, themed this year as 'Turning Pasture into Profit' at their site at Borenore.

Pasture assessment will be the focus of Sue Street and Phil Cranney's small group presentation - one of a number of informative sessions planned for the day. 

Sue Street, senior land services officer - livestock, with Central West Local Land Services, has recently completed her PhD on Sheep nutrition, comparing nutrient digestibility and rumen parameters between Merino and Dorper sheep.

Having spent a portion of her PhD in the NSW DPI feed testing laboratory, Ms Street will be outlining key points to assessing feed quality.

Feed testing for quality is an objective measure if the sample is collected correctly, but estimating pasture quantity is whole other story.

Phil Cranney, senior land services officer - pastures, with Central Tablelands Local Land Services, will be offering farmers some short-cuts to estimating how much pasture they have.

"Estimating pasture quality and quantity can be done fairly effectively," Mr Cranney said.

"The key is actually setting targets for feed availability at crucial times throughout your operation's calendar.

"It makes decision making easier if you have sensible targets in place."

We are all hoping that the drought breaking general rainfall event, that turns our paddocks from that distant dust haze into lush waving green grass, comes sooner rather than later.

When those rains do come, the Local Land Services animal health team will be there to help plan to reduce the risks involved with re-stocking after the drought.

District veterinarians Lucienne Downs, Nigel Gillan and Kate Peffer from Central Tablelands Local Land Services are presenting on this topic as part of Turning Pasture into Profit.

Dr Gillan will be demonstrating correct sheep feet trimming practices, while Dr Peffer and Dr Downs will discuss the various preventative practices to reduce the risk of disease transfer when buying in sheep or cattle.

"There are a few key things that farmers can do to prevent introducing a new disease to their existing flock or herd," Dr Downs said.

"Adjusting quarantine times and treatments according to the relative risk of the bought livestock is one way to manage risk."

For more information on this and many other topics, visit the ANFD Livestock Field Day at Borenore on April 4, with gates opening at 9.30am.