Sheep Trial – Barley Supplement
Bill and Sheila Wright

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

Cave, 28km NW of Timaru, NZ

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

Approx. 50 days

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

Advantage Feeders was developed in Australia and is now used by livestock producers in Canada and around the world.

Advantage Feeders are distributed in Canada by Huber Ag Equipment, based on a working farm in Alberta where the feeders are used with cattle, sheep and goats.

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Snapshot:
  • Total profit/lamb: $11.81
  • Total profit (800 lambs): $9,445
  • Daily weight gain: supplemented vs unsupplemented: 350g/day vs 250g/day
  • Total expenses/lamb: $1.94
Background:

Barley-supplemented lambs from Advantage Feeders on lucerne pasture achieved significantly higher weight gain compared to lambs on lucerne pasture alone.

Method:
Duration:Approx. 50 days
Equipment:2 x HD1800 in the supplement group
Quantity:Approx. 800 lambs in each group
Stock type:Weaned lambs
Feed amount:100gram/day of barley

1. Calves per feed input which was increased from 25 calves to the commercial application of 50 calves per feeder

2. The outputs used the calculator from www.advantagefeeders.com.au/calculating-return-on-investment

3. The outputs includes the costs associated with filling, monitoring and depreciation.

Observations:

Bill Wright, the experiment operator had the following observations throughout the experiment:

The high quality pasture has high protein levels but doesn’t always allow stock to reach potential weight gains. Adding grain and straw helps balance the diet by increasing carbohydrates and fibre.

I introduced the feeders to lambs and ewes in spring and it didn’t take long for stock to get used to the system of getting barley from the feeders. Lambs are naturally inquisitive, grain is like lollies to them. A good number of sheep have had grain before, so it didn’t take long for them to work out how to get it from the feeders. The study was anything but scientific – it is only over one season with one mob, but the results are exciting.

I grow 30ha of barley to keep supplement costs low but the system should work with bought-in barley, as the returns are significant.

Findings:

Added feeding expenses and income

Number of lambs800
Feeding duration (days)50
Average barley consumption/day/head (kg)0.1
Barley cost (tonne)$220
Total barley cost$880
Labour*$1210
Depreciation**$555
Total expense$1,555
Total expenses/lamb$1.94
Added growth rate/day/head (kg)0.1
Value of live weight/kg$2.75
Total income***$11,000
Total income/lamb$13.75
Total profit$9,445
Total profit/lamb$11.81

* The feeders were filled twice, taking one hour to fill both feeders each time at a rate of $60/hour.

** This is calculated by multiplying a depreciation rate of 15% and the investment of two feeders $3,700.

*** This doesn’t include the added potential to finish more lambs on the Lucerne because they are sold

quicker with lower pasture consumption.

Average live weight gain (grams/head/day)
Average live weight gain (grams/head/day)
Conclusions:

Stock offered 100grams/day of barley gained 350grams/day of live weight – those without gained just 250grams/day of live weight.

Barley-supplemented lambs made a higher profit of $11.81 per head..

Recommendations:

The experiment shows that the supplemented mob of 800 weaned lambs grew considerably faster than the control group. The experiment also concluded the income greatly outweighed expenses. For the future the recommendation is to continue supplement to increase growth rate. As least lucerne was consumed by the supplement group, the recommendation is to also increase head by…

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Advantage Feeders was developed in Australia and is now used by livestock producers in Canada and around the world.

Advantage Feeders are distributed in Canada by Huber Ag Equipment, based on a working farm in Alberta where the feeders are used with cattle, sheep and goats.

Feeders can be collected directly from the farm, shipped to designated pickup locations, or delivered directly to your operation depending on location.

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