ON FARM SHEEP Ewe containment SNAPSHOT: Derk Meurs, ‘The serves up benefits Wagga, NSW Pinnacles’, WaggaS With two summers of joining up to 13,000 Merino ewes in containment behind him, NSW producer Derk Meurs is confident his approach Area: is maintaining the 5,000ha reproductive efficiency of his flock. Enterprise: First‑cross lambs and wool Derk manages the prime lamb‑focused property, Livestock: ‘The Pinnacles’, at Wagga 13,000 Merino ewes Wagga for Moulamein‑based Derk Meurs and his daughter Sabrina in their containment yard at Merino producers Ian and ‘The Pinnacles’. Pasture: Camilla Shippen. 1,200ha of lucerne and Pen design was based around Derk fed ewes early in the 3,800ha of native pasture Along with his wife Fiona, tree placement, so each pen morning when it was cool, daughters Sabrina, Nicole had adequate shade. as he suspects afternoon Soil: and Kristina and two casual feeding may have contributed Granite to red loam staff members, Derk oversees Derk took slope into to increased acidosis. consideration and also Rainfall: 13,000 Merino ewes. Maiden 580mm ewes are joined to White incorporated a laneway “If you feed later in the day Suffolk rams and mature for easy feeding and 4m when it’s hot, they won’t Sabrina Meurs ewes to Poll Dorsets. concrete water troughs, which come and eat until it cools E: sabrinameurs@gmail. are cleaned every third day. down, at which point they They introduced containment gorge themselves,” he said. com feeding in December 2018, Feeding following three years of Last summer, ewes were Ewe management LESSONS below‑average rainfall and shorn, vaccinated with Derk condition‑scored the LEARNED minimal ground cover. 6‑in‑1 and drenched in ewes every two weeks. The September/early October, tail was drafted out and fed “We decided then fed in containment from in grazing paddocks. > Avoid using too containment feeding early December 2019 to Last year, mature ewes in many rams in was the best option March 2020. containment were joined on containment yards. The induction ration was 1 December and maiden ewes > Remove the tail end to save our country, 200g/day/head of barley, were joined a month later. of ewes regularly to reduce labour costs trailed on the ground. This maintain flock welfare was steadily increased over Rams were used at 1% for and health. and maintain ewe both groups of ewes, with > Feed early in the condition,” Derk said. two weeks. A small amount fresh rams swapped in every of bentonite was also added morning before it at the start of feeding, to two weeks. gets hot. Derk uses 1.6–2ha pens and manage acidosis. Industry best practice is recommends a maximum of 2% rams for maiden ewes, 700 ewes/pen. While he has The full ration was 4kg/week/ a month before lambing to fed as many as 1,500 ewes head, increasing to around however when Derk used minimise the risk of nutritional in a pen, he said large mobs 6kg/week/head pre‑lambing. this rate in 2018 he found issues causing pregnancy can increase the occurrence there was too much fighting toxaemia,” Derk said. of shy feeders. Grain was fed six days a among the rams. week, with cereal straw, At scanning, mobs were “This year the ewes from Before constructing the lot, salt and lime provided separated and fed as singles the drought lot recorded Derk attended an information adlib. A magnesium and twins, and ewes were a slightly higher lambing day on drought lotting and supplement (Causmag) and vaccinated again. percentage, ranging from spoke to other producers for protein‑rich canola pellets 112–130%, compared to their insights on constructing were included as ewes “We removed the ewes from ewes in the paddock at drought lots. approached lambing. the containment lot at least 110–125%.” ■ 15