Key decisions, critical actions and benchmarks
Meat & Livestock Australia January 25, 2022
Background information
Now that pasture growth and variability are known, you need to estimate your annual animal demand for the enterprises in your business.
Flexibility with stock numbers during the year and between years is a key element of matching animal demand to pasture supply and managing risk. How flexible you can be with stock numbers will depend on your enterprise structure and goals, value of stock, disease risks if agisting or trading stock, and your willingness to conserve or purchase fodder and concentrates.
At a glance
- Define the feed requirements for your classes of sheep
- Set condition score or liveweight targets for different stages of the year
- Identify opportunities to modify the annual animal demand curve and enterprise mix to suit your pasture supply curve
- More variable rainfall and pasture production between years requires more flexibility to manipulate stock numbers during and between years
- Set trigger points for action to cope with the yearly seasonal variation and more extreme drought conditions.