Meat and Livestock Australia

Meat and Livestock Australia have an interesting website with frequent updates. If you are a levy payer - someone who sells stock other than privately,( such as the saleyards) a levy is paid to the MLA on all transactions. They use this for research and promotion that  benefits  the industry. 

This week they had a labour saving checklist for sheep farming:
Smart management and labour use, starts with a whole-year plan for the sheep enterprise

• Make timely decisions and react quickly to seasonal conditions
• Use time-efficient husbandry systems, such as improved water points and big feed trailers
• Amalgamate tasks such as tailing, drenching and lice control
• Create well designed laneways
• Invest in good sheep handling facilities, including a modern shearing shed, and latest equipment and production technologies
• Match sheep stocking rates to available feed, and undertake feed budgeting to run an efficient sheep enterprise
• Manage year-round sheep condition score, to optimise flock productivity and reduce mortalities
• Pregnancy scan ewes for more accurate feed allocation to meet sheep energy requirements
• Manage weaners to optimise production and reduce mortalities
• Run big mobs to save time and effort
• Breed easy care sheep, including those that do not require mulesing
• Control parasites and disease to produce healthy sheep that are less labour intensive
• Benchmark gross margins, costs of production and returns from meat and wool each year to assess efficiency and identify areas that need attention.

The offsiders