THERE was an air of confidence and a positive outlook as a crowd of more than 40 sheep producers and industry representatives gathered for the ASHEEP Autumn Field Day last week held at Wayne and Tracey Lewis’ property Fleming Grove, north of Gibson.
ASHEEP president Simon Fowler, Condingup, welcomed attendees by stating there were exciting and interesting times ahead for producers in the area.
Riding on the back of early rains and good autumn pastures, many producers in the Esperance region are looking forward to a bumper season.
The various speakers and topics covered throughout the field day were closely aligned with the best practice and information sharing focus of the group.
Kicking off the day with an outline of ASBVs was DAFWA Sheep Genetics development officer Meghan England.
The presentation focused on how ASBVs can be used in conjunction with visual selection in the ram buying decision process.
Scott Pickering, Derella Downs and Pyramid Poll Merino studs, Cascade, and Nils Blumann, Olimarena, Gibson, followed up with some practical examples of rams in the yards.
Next up was Erica Ayers, an independent veterinary monitor consulting to ASHEEP, and Bob Reed, Reed Richardson & Associates, who gave an update on the ASHEEP Regional Flock Quality Assurance (QA), which operates as an entity within the ASHEEP group.
The entity undertakes a proactive approach to the identification and control of contagious sheep diseases and facilitates the services of an independent veterinarian to assist with testing and control programs.
The ASHEEP Flock QA are currently dealing with the urgent issue of Ovine Johne’s Disease (OJD) and are facilitating testing, improving biosecurity and education in the Esperance region.
Mr Reed said there were often no clinical signs of the disease in the early stages.
“Sheep will typically incubate the disease for two to four years before they become sick,” Mr Reed said.
This means by the time of diagnosis, large numbers will already be infected with the disease, with no treatment options to prevent infected sheep from dying.
Dr Ayers and Mr Fowler travelled to Kangaroo Island in the past to witness the effect of OJD there.
Many comparisons can be drawn between the island and the Esperance region such as soil type, rainfall and climate, so they were able to study the spread of the disease throughout the island and the management techniques employed to curb its spread.
ASHEEP has been proactively identifying and highlighting the risk OJD presents to sheep producers in the Esperance region and are concerned with the increasing distribution of the disease throughout the region.
An initial program of abattoir testing arranged by ASHEEP Flock QA from 2011 to 2016 involved 330 PIC tests over five years, which only produced four positive results.
The group in 2016 made a swing to targeting at risk sites and testing using the more sensitive Pooled Faecal Culture (PFC) method and this produced five new positive results for OJD from 16 tests.
During this period a further five cases were diagnosed in the district by private veterinarians, mostly through the investigation of sick animals.
As result of this testing since 2011, ASHEEP is concerned test results indicate OJD is moving out from the original areas of infection and this will increase in momentum if producers remain inactive.
Dr Ayers emphasised the difficulty of managing the disease.
“If you wait to see clinical signs before acting it will take years of management to stop the deaths of infected sheep,” she said.
“Vaccination provides a very cost effective insurance policy against OJD and is the only way to avoid high stock losses that would occur should the disease take hold.”
The recommendation is for producers to commence a program of vaccinating all long term stock on their property, including the ewe lamb portion of their lamb drop at marking and any wethers that are likely to be held any longer than eighteen months and also flock rams.
“Producers cannot afford to sit back and wait to see if the disease will spread.” Dr Ayers said.
“It is on the cusp of moving from the incubation phase to a full clinical disease.
“Producers must be proactive to avoid Esperance becoming the next train wreck in the spread of this disease.”
Next a technical review on Zolvix Plus was presented by Nick Rolls, Elanco technical service veterinarian.
Newly released Zolvix Plus is a unique combination drench which is effective for the treatment and control of sensitive strains of roundworms including strains that are that are resistant to moxidectin.
Danny Ryan, Westcoast Wools, gave an outline of the current wool market, providing some insight into future markets and pricing.
He spoke about the increasing opportunities in overseas markets such as the United States and new retail products featuring wool as sports and active wear ranges by major retailers such as Nike, Adidas and Katmandu.
Mr Ryan also outlined the important endeavours that Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) have been doing to promote the versatility of Australian Wool at key global events in the northern hemisphere, leading to increasing demand for Australian wool.
Rabobank representatives were on hand to give a brief overview of the services they offer such as their webinars for beef and grain producers, with one for sheep producers planned in the near future.
WAMMCO’s Rob Davidson gave an overview of the role and position of WAMMCO in the industry and how it worked with member producers to supply a premium product.
Mr Davidson summarised the overseas markets, saying that while lamb exports are on the rise, it is domestic markets which are critical to the growth of the Australian market.
He said there was a continuing and rising demand in the USA, The Middle East, China and South East Asia, however some of these international markets were undergoing movements and changes, including increased competition from other importers and competing products. “In some of these markets consumers are demanding products that meet certain food safety standards and product claims such as no antibiotics or hormones and products marketed as 100 per cent natural,” Mr Davidson said.
“An example of this is the increasing demand in China for a premium chilled lamb product, which could see an increase of Australian lamb exported to the region.”
Mr Davidson concluded his presentation by giving a refresher on how to avoid carcase defects such as high fat scores, ovis, grass seeds, bruising and arthritis.
Representing new ASHEEP sponsor V&V Walsh was supply chain manager Dale Miles who discussed local and global movements in the meat market, reinforcing the trends presented by Mr Davidson earlier.
Mr Miles discussed the opportunities and challenges for V&V Walsh in establishing a successful chilled supply chain for WA produced, processed and packaged lamb to the Chinese export market.
Providing some light hearted entertainment intertwined with an educational presentation was Enoch Bergman, Swans Veterinary Services, who delivered some important information on mineral deficiencies and supplementation in sheep for the Esperance region.
Dr Bergman highlighted the most common deficiencies in the region, namely copper, cobalt and selenium, explaining sandy soils and high rainfall received in the area meant these minerals were quickly depleted in the soil.
Simeon Roberts, provided a producer focused case study based on his sheep feedlot in Cascade.
His presentation reinforced the issues surrounding mineral deficiencies mentioned by Dr Bergman by sharing with the group some examples of problems that he had encountered.
Mr Roberts also gave an insight into the management of his feedlot.
Stock handling and sheep yard design was addressed by Ian Crafter from Atlex Stockyards, who had the audience laughing in appreciation when he described the Atlex yards as ‘divorce proof’.
Mr Crafter explained how upgrading your sheep yards can make your day to day sheep handling tasks much more enjoyable, and that investing in good yard design would pay for itself with the time that it would save in drafting.
The presentation was supported by a walk through the Atlex yards already installed at Fleming Grove.
Finally Ben Fletcher from Zoetis gave a practical demonstration on the use of the Gudair vaccine for the control of OJD.
As the field day drew to a close attendees enjoyed the balmy evening with refreshments while discussing the ideas raised throughout the day.
It was evident the open-minded sharing of information between the members of ASHEEP benefited all involved, which would ultimately result in improved productivity and profitability.
