RYLINGTON Park Institute of Agriculture at Mayanup hosted one of the Spring Optimiser Workshops run by The Sheep's Back (TSB) last week.
More than 60 producers turned up to hear speakers present on the topics of animal health, business and technology alongside 100 others who attended days at Karridale, Boxwood Hill and Lake Grace.
One of the take-home messages from the afternoon workshops is there is plenty of confidence in sheep production in the southern regions.
The autumn and spring workshop rounds have been held for 10 years and the last time this many people attended was about eight years ago when producers wanted to learn how to survive the ban on mulesing issue.
This time around there was confidence aplenty and producer feedback suggested a $2000-$3000 return on investment just from attending the free afternoon session.
Everyone of the surveyed Mayanup audience said the workshop was a good use of Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) funds and the majority of producers' plan is to increase flock numbers in the next five years.
Pingelly sheep farmer and veterinarian Tim Watts kicked off the presentations, talking about the Campylobacter infection, Ovine Johne's disease (OJD) and worm control in sheep.
He told producers that veterinary laboratory work on more than one foetus and placenta to uncover characteristic lesions post-mortem was the most effective way to diagnose Campylobacter.
Mr Watts also said blood tests were needed to detect anti-body levels.
He also spoke about the efficacy of the Cooper's Animal Health Campyvax vaccine for sheep alongside dosage levels and the need for natural environmental challenge to create immunity.
Mr Watts said OJD was a bacterial gut disease that causes progressive emaciation and scour.
It has the ability to reach neighbouring paddocks via water courses as well as being spread via dung and feed and the bacteria will persist in its environment for two summers.
Mr Watts said vaccination was needed before 16 weeks of age to reduce OJD deaths by 90 per cent and productively speaking, sheep already exposed to the bacteria were fine but would always shed the bacteria and have the ability to pass it on even if vaccinated (the vaccine reduces the shedding of the bacteria by 90pc but doesn't eliminate it).
Reducing the risk involves reducing grazing intensity, active abattoir monitoring, flock observation, vaccinating, low-risk paddock preparation, a high flock turnover and open communication with neighbours and sheep suppliers.
He also explored the option of weaning Merino lambs at 12-13 weeks of age to reduce worm burden risks, drenching early in summer and taking advantage of faecal worm egg count results.
Icon Agriculture farm management consultant Mark Allington discussed management decisions to drive profitability in a typical Merino sheep business.
Some of the opportunities include running ewes at an optimal condition score of three; timing the feeding sheep to impart the most amount of energy possible in an efficient manner; using long-acting products and utilising worm eggs counts rather than a 'drench anyway' mentality when it comes to worms; predicting fly activity, breeding plain-bodied sheep and calculating time of shearing to reduce flystrike; manipulating the environment and genetics to better manage weaner survival and benchmarking operations for better outcomes.
Landgate senior remote sensing officer Norm Santich looked into the recently updated mapping program Pastures from Space Plus which can help sheep producers determine feed on offer, NDVI (or green matter) and pasture growth.
The low and high resolution imagery can assist with decisions to do with fertiliser application needs, preferential grazing areas, patches of germination and moisture penetration issues and planning for the building of infrastructure on poorer soils (such as sheds, yards and laneways).
Mr Santich said the tool was invaluable when it came to tracking paddock performance history year-on-year.
TSB co-ordinator Ed Riggall looked at the use of technology in sheep enterprises and the move away from the bygone mantra of 'sub, super and stocking rate' into profit-driving technologies like Twitter, sheep handling equipment (auto drafters, scales, immobilisers and EID readers), chaff carts as a feed source, management apps, remote water monitoring and drones to take the fight out of sheep work and keep occupational health and safety issues at bay.
He said buoyant sheep meat and wool prices and plenty of confidence in the industry made for a very fruitful day.
"I made the same presentation four or five years ago when sheep gross margins were around $25 per DSE and now they're potentially at $40-$50 this year," he said.
"When growers perceive they're going to be making more money from their sheep enterprise they're more inclined to re-invest in it.
"All the feedback has been very positive and we'll now plan to take the workshops to some northern towns early in the autumn.
"In terms of sheep production it's a great year -very rarely do we see the price and the season align at the same time."
TSB is an initiative of AWI and is funded by WA woolgrower levies.
The Spring Optimiser workshops are funded by TSB.