Murnong Sheep Farming System - Case Study Example

MURNING SHEEP FARMING REPORT Name: Course: Instructor: Institution: City: Date Introduction Murnong farming system is a mixed farm with, sheep, pigs and crops. Murnong is located on the edge of the Western district in Southern Victoria, Inveleigh. This report however focuses on sheep farming in Murnong farm. The firm has undertaken for the past five years the prime production of lamb. The main of this trip was to describe and interpret various the factors involving sheep farming in Murnong farm. This report has two main parts, that is the description part and interpretation part. The description part involves the physical details of the farm, climatic conditions of the place of location, physical details of the sheep enterprises, sheep management in the enterprise, grazing and pasture management, production of the enterprises and management preferences and goals of the farm operators or owners. The interpretation part includes assessing the reasons behind adoption of various management practices of the farm. Description Murnong farm is located in South Victoria, Invelegh. The ship farm comprises of 700 composite ewe prime lambs. The lambs are fed on forage crops and lucerne. The firm uses supplementary feeds that are given to animals with certain conditions for instance pregnant sheep. The supplementary food for the sheep makes 10% of the stock grain. Since 2009, lambing on average has been after every 9 months. The farm comprises of elite rams, lambs, and ewe. Murnong divides ewes in a piece of land in relation to their weight and nature. In the farm, each hectare accommodates nine ewes each weighing 75kg. In addition, a group of 11 ewes weighing 65kg each is on a piece of land with an area of 1 hectare. The soil type in the sheep farm is loam soils and clay soils. Increasing the soil fertility requires increasing the amount of nitrogen in the soil, done by ensuring more legumes are introduced in the farms. The farm produces on each day 10000kg of pasture per hectare for the sheep. The farm’s land lies on region that produces an annual rainfall of 500 ml. the farm system is more integrated. The sheep are on a 300ha piece of land. The farm is divided into paddock with each paddock having specific number of sheep based on the nature of the sheep. The farm uses dogs to direct sheep into their various paddocks. The lamb’s survivability rate in Murnong farm is at 83% compared to the average survival rate of 75% in Australia. Marking of the lambs takes place after 3 weeks while weaning takes place after 9-10 weeks. The joining date of the lambs is 20th February and lambing date is set at 20th July. Lambing in sheep farming is done after 12months.Murnong farm sales its sheep after 120-150 days. This is when they are considered mature for consumption. The nutrition required before joining includes, hay, cropping and stocking. The farm is located in a high rainfall zone producing 500ml per year. Over the last years, there has been an increase of 24% in the carrying capacity of sheep in Murnong farm. The genetic scanning rates of the sheep have also increased over the last few years by 18% in every joining. Shaving of the lamb takes place once a year before joining. Mature ewe size has dropped from 85-90kg to 65-70kg. This represents a 20% drop in the input requirements or an indication production of 20 more sheep is possible in the farm. In sheep farming, the stocking rate of sheep has increased by 8DSE that is an increase from 12DSE to 20DSE. Sheep farming also involves imprinting, that making sheep adapt to the farm and be able to feed on the available food. This entails proper training of staff in order to ensure they handle the animals appropriately. If the sheep are feed on the ground, the farm loses between 15-20% of the grain. An electric fence fences the sheep farm in Murnong farm system. This ensures that the sheep does not find an escape rate. The farming system also applies fertilizers in various zones, especially those soil with low nitrogen. In sheep farming, farmers in this sector are encouraged to plant summer crops during December in order to enable them withstand extreme weather conditions. Sheep should also be provided with enough nutrition before joining. In every farm, there exists six staffs and two staffs allocated one sheep. Sheep farming also practices irrigation to cover for little rain during summer. Irrigation ensures continuous flow of water in the farm. Interpretation The farm has achieved much growth over the past years recording an increase in the number of sheep and pasture production. However, the farm faces various challenges that need to be addressed. Firstly, the problem of ensuring survival of lambs due to changes in weather conditions. The survivability of lamb in the farm is at 83%, with the average survivability in Australia at 75%. This is an indication that Murnong’s sheep farming strategies has enhanced the survival of their sheep. However, the farm aims at making the survivability rate to be 100%. Murnong farming has put in place various strategies to achieve the target and ensure their lamb survives during harsh weather conditions. The farm uses primera as a terminal sire to increase survival rate of the lambs. The use of the primera sire has seen the survival rate of the lamb increase over the past years, for example, in 2010, the survival rate was at 68%, in 2011 they recorded an increase of 4%, 2012 an increase of 5%, 2013, and increase of 6%. This is an indication that using primera as a terminal sire has enhanced the survivability of the lambs. Secondly, Murning farming system faces a challenge of producing pasture. An increasing number of the sheep requires more pastures to ensure their growth and survival. Currently, the farm has a target of producing 15500-1800 kg of pasture per hectare to be able to serve over 500 sheep. To ensure this the firm has various strategies, including, defining soil zones in order to ensure they determine zones that produces low pasture. Defining soil zones also helps the farm owners and managers to determine the fertilizer required for planting and top dressing in various zones. They also select a suitable plant for every soil type for instance heavy clay soil for forage crop and loam soli for lucerne. Thirdly, the farm faces a challenge of improving lamb growth rate. After ensuring, the survival of the lamb, the farm needs to improve their growth rates. To ensure they achieve the required growth rate, they separate 5-8 twin ewes in a hectare piece of land and 10 single ewes in a separate piece of land. This is aimed at ensuring the ewe get adequate food for their growth. The firm also practices rotational grazing in order to ensure the animals exploit areas, which has enough pasture. Lastly, the firm faces a challenge of achieve the best size of a mature ewe. The farm needs to focus on growth and maternal. A mature ewe size ranges between 85-90kg and 65-75 kg. Today the farm argues that the sheep maturity size has decreased to 65-75 kg from 85-90kg. Achievement of a bigger mature ewe requires proper management of the animals, that is, providing food with appropriate nutrients and having a warm control with specifications of each paddock. Comparison of Dairy and Sheep Farm In sheep farming lambing takes place 20th, joining on 20th February, marking after three weeks, weaning after nine weeks and the sale of mature lamb takes place after 120-150 days. In dairy farming, calving takes place after the first four days while each heifer has 21 days from the start of joining session. In sheep farming, stocking rate of sheep has increased from 12DSE to 20DSE, meaning an increase of 8DSE, while in dairy farming the total stock rate is at 20 cows milked per 1 hectare. An increase in the stocking rate is due to less stress system. In dairy farming, each cow produces 6.7-7kg of concentrate milk per day. For the whole year therefore the cows produces 8000 liters of milk. On the other hand, in sheep farming, ewe matures when they are at 65-70kg and their sale takes place after 120-150 days. In dairy farming each cow eat 6kg of silage daily, each cow eats 1.9 tons of concentrate, 1.11 tons of silage and 2.82 tons of pasture, while in sheep farming, 5-8 twin ewes are allocated 1ha piece of land whereas not twin 10 ewes are allocated 1 ha piece of land. Sheep farming is located in a region that receives high amount of rainfall yearly, which is 500ml per annum, but irrigation supplements this rainfall during summer. Dairy farming also supplements rainfall water with irrigation water. Irrigation in dairy farming takes place during the months of November and April the following year. However both the dairy farming system and sheep farming system faces some similar challenges, for example, production of enough food for the animals, soil fertility issues and the growth rate of the of both sheep and cows. In both dairy farming and sheep farming, both farmers use supplementary feeds. In sheep farming, Murning farming system sheep supplementary food makes 10% stock grain while in dairy farming, silage and pellet feed comprising of wheat or barley makes up the supplementary feed for the cows. To enhance soil fertility, both the dairy farming and sheep farming relies on the use of fertilizers especially in the zones with low nitrogen content, for instance in dairy farming, the farmers uses 35-40 urea/hectare. However, excessive use of fertilizers is associated with loss of nitrogen content in the soil. Conclusion Murnong farm has recorded growth in its production of sheep and sheep products. The firm attributes this to proper strategies that help in managing farm activities. The strategies are directed towards ensuring proper management of farm activities. Murnong farm faces various challenges in its fish farming, for instance, achieving early maturity of the sheep, improving lamb growth rate, production of enough feeds and ensuring survival of lamb. However, the Murnong farm system has come up with different strategies to address these challenges, for instance, increasing lamb production by introducing new genetic pathway in their production system, increasing ewe production by decreasing the ewe size. In addition, the farm focuses on management of the grazing system by training its staff on proper management, adoption of weaning methods that are stress free, close monitoring of nutrients of the animals at every stages of production, ensuring the sheep are healthy always. Therefore, Murnong farming system should apply various management strategies indicated above to ensure survival of the firm. References Murnong Farming System, Available at http://www.murnongfarming.com Cathy D. (2008). The Welfare of Sheep Charles F., &, John S. (2011). The Making of an Australian Farming Landscape, 2011 [Settlement patterns on the northern plains of Victoria], Public Records Office, Victoria Kevin S., Christian H., &, Chris A.(2014) Forage Breeding for Changing Environments and Production Systems Crop & Pasture Science Special Issue Volume 65, Number 11 CSIRO Publishing. Seawright, AA. 1982. Animal Health in Australia, Vol. 2. Chemical and Plant Poisons. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 290 p. Langlands, J.P., Donald, G.E. and Bowles, J.E. 2004. Concentrations in Animal Feeds, Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture, 28, 291-297. Read More