An investigation of pathways for rebuilding Australia’s sheep flock

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorBrien, F.D.
dc.contributor.authorPitchford, R.L.
dc.contributor.authorVogt, S.P.
dc.contributor.authorKoopman, D.J.
dc.contributor.editorHatcher, S.
dc.date.issued2023
dc.descriptionPublished online: 26 May 2023l
dc.description.abstractContext. A significant opportunity remains to further increase the supply of premium sheepmeat products to Australia’s customers, which requires a more rapid rebuilding of the national sheep flock. To help meet this challenge, developing relevant information for sheep producers to assist them to achieve a profitable flock-rebuilding outcome is viewed as highly desirable. Aims. (1) Develop flock-rebuild scenarios that track inventory, cashflow, profit and loss, and the overall balance sheet over a 5-year projection. (2) Model the impact on flock-rebuilding pathways of exposure to variation in supplementary-feed costs, purchase of stock and price received for sale animals and flock structure. (3) Model variation in benefits and costs for a range of production zones, enterprise types and flock-age profiles. Methods. Fourteen flock-rebuilding pathways were assessed for up to nine flock types, using a spreadsheet model that tracked inventory, cashflow, profit and loss, and the overall balance sheet over 5 years. Key results. The top four pathways for profitability and capacity to rapidly rebuild flock numbers include retention of more older ewes, purchasing young ewes, purchasing older ewes (mostly 5–6-year olds) in Merino and Merino-cross flock types only and joining ewe lambs in Maternal and Cleanskin flock types only. These pathways were not sensitive to variation in the cost of supplementary feed, stock prices or flock structure, although joining Merino ewe lambs became one of the top four pathways when feed costs were lower. Conclusions and implications. The well established practices of retaining ewes for longer and purchasing ewes, especially young ewes, have the most potential to both rapidly and profitably rebuild flock numbers. However, joining ewe lambs, particularly in Maternal and Cleanskin flocks, can also profitably contribute to rapid flock rebuilding. While reducing reproductive wastage or increasing reproductive potential were mostly profitable, they could not rapidly rebuild flock numbers. In contrast, accelerated lambing systems can rapidly rebuild flock numbers, but are only marginally profitable.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityF. D. Brien, R. L. Pitchford, S. P. Vogt and D. J. Koopman
dc.identifier.citationAnimal Production Science, 2023; 63(13):1310-1323
dc.identifier.doi10.1071/an22121
dc.identifier.issn1836-0939
dc.identifier.issn1836-5787
dc.identifier.orcidBrien, F.D. [0000-0002-4758-4862]
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2440/138712
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherCSIRO Publishing
dc.rights© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND). OPEN ACCESS
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1071/an22121
dc.subjectDrought; joining; modelling; profitability; rebuilding; reproduction; restocking; sheep
dc.titleAn investigation of pathways for rebuilding Australia’s sheep flock
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
hdl_138712.pdf
Size:
1.56 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version
Download

Collections

Animal and Veterinary Sciences publications