There are a number of challenges facing profitable lamb production farms. These include:

• Increasing the stock/Ha during the winter feed gap
• Reducing the amount of supplementation
• Increasing lamb survival
• Reducing mis-mothering
• Increasing lamb growth rates
• Eliminating the “check” lambs have at weaning
• Achieving a high conception rate in ewe lambs

Ways the trial will attempt to address and overcome the above challenges

1.Farms (especially mixed grazing and cereal farms) have their biggest deficiency in pasture availability and livestock consumption when ewes are in late pregnancy and early lactation. If stocking rates are increased during this period (based on lambs growing efficiently), the farm can often sustain this higher stocking rate for the remainder of the year. Stocking rates can be increased by supplementing stock with little and often amounts of starch based feeds as microbe populations increase and ensure high pasture utilisation. The stocking density of the Advantage Feeders (AF) groups within this trial is 8% higher than the control groups. Several other trials have shown a 50% higher stocking rate can be achieved.

2.Supplement can be reduced in a number of areas:

a)Feeding little and often provides an environment where microbes thrive. Trials have shown that the feed required to supplement mature stock can be reduced by more than 30%. As the control group had ceased being supplemented by the time the trial started, this doesn’t affect the profitability of this trial period.

b)Most enterprises have a target weight for their weaners based on reaching a particular weight for a premium market or to coincide with the finish of the spring pasture flush. Creep feeding achieves higher growth rates which allow the pregnancy period to be delayed.

c)Weaning coincides with the ability of a lamb to be self-reliant on pasture. Creep feeding brings this forward approximately 4 weeks meaning that lambs can be weaned off their lambs early – usually during the spring pasture flush. This provides the ewe more time on high quality pasture to raise their condition before mating, reducing the amount of supplement feeding required in early and mid-pregnancy.

The majority of supplement costs on a farm is from feeding pregnant ewes before there is adequate pasture. If mating is delayed by 3 weeks, this saves approximately $3/ewe.

3.Supplementing ewes with starch at lambing thins its colostrum increasing the chance of its lamb receiving enough to survive past the first few days of its life.

4.Supplementing ewes through lambing makes them run away from their lambs to receive their feed, leading to mis-mothering. It is often the lesser of two evils to choose not to supplement them. The control mob in this trial has not been supplemented so mismothering isn’t applicable.

5.Lamb growth rates are increased in three main ways:

a)Supplementing ewes post lambing increases milk supply.

b)Creep feeding lambs from 2-3 weeks of age starts the transition of their rumen so they can start consuming and converting pasture.

c)Lambs that have been creep fed have a developed rumen by eight weeks of age. Feeding a controlled ration after this period will provide an environment to maximise growth off pasture.

The combination of these can often lead of the latter two benefits can produce a feed conversion of 3:1.

6.Weaned lambs that have been creep fed can transition through weaning better because they are less reliant on their mothers to feed.

7.Ewe lamb conception is heavily reliant on the mating weight of ewe lambs. Higher growth rates of ewe lambs before weaning increases their conception