What level of stubble are you prepared to leave to protect against wind and water erosion? Considering that keeping sheep in the farming systems is becoming a valuable part of risk management.

With stock and wool prices maintaining with a good outlook, it is vital to keep your core breeding flock. But the key is to keep your cost of production under control by minimising feed costs and utilising paddock feed.

By now all the grain, which is the main grazing value of stubble, would have been used and a lot of the stubble has been trampled. So how long are you going to graze stubbles for and what will the paddocks look like by the end of April?

With low stubble residuals from the 06 and 07 harvests it makes maintaining the ground cover targets very difficult. On a sandy loam the desirable ground cover is 50% with 1.5t/ha of dry matter and most cereal stubbles this year have less than this before grazing.

There is some suggestion that stubbles yielding less than 1t/ha should not have been grazed as the benefits of erosion control and moisture retention outweigh the grazing value.

Cereal stubbles are usually low in energy and protein but this year the quality is sufficient to maintain dry sheep. So the challenge was, and still is, how do you utilise this feed, which is your cheapest option while maintaining ground cover. Controlled grazing management with good water points is essential.

At the point when paddock feed is utilised and if you make the decision to keep your stock, maintenance feedlots are a great management tool. Construction can be done cheaply and feeding large numbers of stock can be done easily. There is a project starting on EP, which provides $1,000 towards constructing maintenance feedlots.

To discuss livestock management options a number of “Coverwise” discussion tours have been organised to follow up on the “Stockwise” workshops held in December. The mornings will involve visiting local paddocks to assess ground cover, complete feed budgets, and visit feedlots to look at construction and rations.

All the tours start at 8.30am and go through to lunch leaving from the following locations 22nd Feb Piednippie Hall, 26th Ian Bergmann’s (Ceduna), 27th Wirrulla Pub, 28th Wudinna Oval, 29th Cleve Hotel.

AUTHOR: Daniel Schuppan, Livestock Consultant, Rural Solutions SA
CONTACT: Daniel Schuppan, Rural Solutions SA Office Port Lincoln, Telephone:  8688 3010, Mobile: 0428 102 276, Email: schuppan.daniel@saugov.sa.gov.au