Persistent rain, coupled with bitter winds and poor feed quality are playing havoc with ewe health across major sheep producing regions.
And scanning rates are less than optimal, as evidence revealed joining rates in younger ewes in particular have dropped.
In fact, some industry specialists are saying stock are starving in the midst of plenty, where there looks to be an abundance of feed, but poor quality have affected joining rates.
Senior livestock production advisor at Elders Rob Inglis said during continual wet periods, feed starts to lack quality.
"We have had two consecutive wetter than usual seasons and there are some changes to the feed available," Mr Inglis said.
"With continual wet weather, the grasses load up with nitrate, and the nitrate is pumped into the leaves.
"When it's muggy and sultry, grasses also enter survival mode - they naturally think they have to store some carbohydrate in the roots to survive the next season to produce a seed.
"They sort of go into a vegetative mode and that's why the stock don't want to eat the feed, because it is bitter and tasteless."
He said the condition score of ewes had a lot to do with the weather.
"When it's wet and cold like it has been, stock lose weight.....as soon as the sun comes out and there is some better settled weather, they tend to pour it back on again," Mr Inglis said.
"But we have had more wet, dull weather than we have had good weather so they have spent more time losing condition than they have putting it on."
But we have had more wet, dull weather than we have had good weather so they have spent more time losing condition than they have putting it on
- Rob Inglis
Local Land Services central tablelands senior district vet Bruce Watt said he had observed stock generally aren't doing as well.
And he said there are remarkable challenges for sheep with parasites, which thrive in wet weather, while the quality of pastures have been impacted by the rainfall.
"In the miserable weather, Merino weaners can be seen standing with their backs to the wind and not grazing properly," Mr Watt said.
"You just need a week or so of that on top of everything else, it is going to be tough on them.
"You really have to try and stack on the weight when you can and at least try and get them out of that danger weight of under 25kg.
"When they are under 25kg and have no body fat, they can't handle a week of miserable weather."
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Andrew Scott from Scotts Scanning Coolac, in the Riverina region of NSW, said results for producers have been varied, with many not as successful as anticipated.
"There has been some disappointing results and there have been mobs of ewe lambs that haven't joined up well at all," Mr Scott said.
"There's been considerable variation between last year and this year's ewe lamb joining, yet if you look at the weather conditions, they were similar.......and the ewes have been similar weights, but yet they haven't joined up.
"During these cold and wet conditions, the stock have to use more energy to maintain their body weight, and that's maybe then effecting their performance in getting into lamb or raring lambs."
Results, he said, have varied from ewe lambs back 10 to 15 per cent on normal scanning rates and other mobs are back 30 to 40pc.
"The ewe lamb dry percentage is up, but there are also more dries in general age groups," Mr Scott said.
"There are people out there scratching their heads trying to work out what is going on.
"But as we enter further into the season, the results are not as bad. They are beginning to line up similar to last year."
In areas where there hasn't been as much rain, joining rates have been more positive.
Covering SA, VIC and pastural areas of NSW, Michelle Cousins from Cousins Merino Services in Burra SA said overall they has a successful scanning season.
"It's been very heavily promoted by industry bodies about lamb survival and ewe condition scoring. We have seen producers being proactive about these issues and their scanning rates reflect that," Ms Cousins said.
"We haven't had any disasters in scanning percentages, some areas are slightly better than others, but that is just nutrition, season related.
"But we are seeing 130 to 140pc scanned in lamb rate with some producers seeing results of 160pc and more.
"There has only been pockets of SA that haven't had a reasonable start to the season, so they were all in reasonable knick to be mated in the first place."
Mr Inglis said sheep evolved, for all intents and purposes, in a desert environment, not being suited to the constant green feed.
And he said to a certain extent it is out of producers control, although some mitigation is possible.
"Their appetite, as a rule, lessens. When the weather gets cold and wet, they hunker down, chase a bit of fibre, they are not out seeking feed because they are looking for shelter and somewhere to keep warm," Mr Inglis said.
"We also see a lot more feet issues, they haven't evolved to walk around in wet grass for 12 months of the year."
He said apart from the grass being wet, micronutrients like zinc and sulfur have been considerably diluted with the consistent rain.
Generally, sheep will attain the micronutrients they need from ingesting dirt. But for nearly two years, dirt has simply been unattainable to sheep.
"At the end of a tight summer - say at the end of February, early March - sheep are eating off the ground, eating burr, and that usually contain a lot of those trace minerals," Mr Inglis said.
"But in years like what we have been experiencing, they are not forced to eat dirt and the grass is so vast in quantity that a lot of those minerals are being diluted because they have been washed out.
"A lot of the minerals that sheep need for good health - zinc, sulfur, iodine, selenium and to a lesser extent, copper, have been diluted because of the quantity of feed, but also the rain has leached a lot of the minerals out of the soils."
