Labour Efficient Sheep Systems

September, 2023

The average sheep producer is around 64 years old and often struggles to find enough help on the farm.

When we look at the facts on declining sheep numbers, it highlights why many producers are rethinking their operations. For some, sheep are too labour-intensive, and the current lack of strong economic returns may drive them to switch enterprises. The lure of simpler operations, such as beef, is real – especially in regions like New England, where many producers have shifted away from sheep over the past two decades.

However, lamb still has more potential than other major proteins (beef, pork, and chicken) because it faces less competition, but the manner in which we produce them needs to change.

Wool needs to go on a large percentage of Australia’s sheep.

Wool is now a significant cost for sheep producers. The number of available shearers is unlikely to increase, sheep are getting bigger and stronger, and there is no sign that shearing costs will go down.

However, the cost of wool is not just about shearing. Crutching, dagging, and blowfly prevention also take a lot of time each year. We rarely discuss the production losses linked to shearing and other wool-based tasks.

Moving to shedding sheep is appealing, but it requires substantial investment to match the production (growth, fertility) of the Primeline Maternal flock and to reach similar ease of management for drenching and foot health. In our experience, the best shedding sheep still lag behind Primeline Maternal sheep, though we are seeing promising outliers in all traits.

With focused selection pressure and new technologies – such as sexed semen, embryo transfer, and genomics – performance will improve rapidly. We estimate that by 2027, half of our maternal rams will be shedding. Over time, a shedding flock will likely lower production costs significantly.

Many husbandry costs can be removed in seedstock.

‘Training should be so hard the game should be easy’ – from my former rugby days.

The process of testing and selecting seedstock must be relevant to commercial operations, with a focus on reducing labor and costs in lamb production. Unfortunately, much of the past century’s selection happened in “perfect” environments (like show sheds), which did not reflect the real-world conditions faced by most producers.

From the beginning, we aimed to produce seedstock under commercial conditions, at higher stocking rates than many of our clients. Over time, we have experimented with ways to reduce costs by adjusting husbandry processes. Since 2003, we have only summer-drenched mature maternal ewes once (for barber’s pole). In 2023, we decided not to drench any mature ewes at all unless their worm egg count exceeds 1000 during late pregnancy. We recognize this may lower production on average and that some ewes will fall behind, but many others in the same group will maintain strong weaning weights, even with high worm counts. By collecting data in these challenging conditions, we can identify and reward high-performing, low-cost sheep.

A major priority is maintaining single contemporary groups wherever possible. In many stud programs, ewes in poor condition are often given extra feed, leading to artificially high performance results and more expensive sheep. Similarly, simply culling ewes with poor foot structure or lameness helps reduce production losses linked to foot problems.

Ultimately, the seedstock sector needs a rapid shift in thinking because producers bear the cost of inefficient or non-commercial breeding practices. Selecting sheep that thrive in low-cost environments benefits commercial flocks and will be a key factor in driving down the cost of production industry-wide.