Summer / Autumn liveweight gain from Tedera
| Project start date: | 18 May 2020 |
| Project end date: | 15 January 2024 |
| Project status: | In progress |
| Livestock species: | Sheep, Lamb |
| Relevant regions: | Western Australia |
| Site location: | Mid west Midlands WA: Wagin, Wickepin & Yealering |
Summary
This Producer demonstration site project aims to demonstrate that Tedera can increase the liveweight of sheep (ewes and/or lambs) and cattle over summer and autumn relative to currently used practices.
Objectives
By December 2023, in the Midlands region of Western Australia:
1. Demonstrate and assess the potential of Tedera (at 4 sites) to increase the liveweight of sheep (ewes and/or lambs) and cattle in summer and autumn (over 3 years).
2. Calculate the ROI from sowing Tedera (at 4 sites)
3. Conduct an annual field day and publish 4 case studies and videos (plus an active social media presence) to showcase the demonstration site results to 100 attending producers and 500 observing producers.
4. Improve the knowledge, attitude, skills and aspirations about Tedera of 100 local producers that enable them to make better informed decisions regarding the use of Tedera within their business.
5. 50% of core producers and 20% of observer producers adopt Tedera
Progress
This PDS, run by the Moora Miling Pasture Improvement Group, is evaluating animal performance from four commercial stands of the new perennial legume pasture Tedera in the Central Midlands of WA. The stands were sown in June 2020 and first grazed in May and June 2021.
The 12 hectare Strathmore (Dandaragan) Tedera site was grazed twice in 2022. The first grazing was with 166 lambing twin bearing Merino ewes from mid June to mid August. Lamb marking percentage (170 vs 164%) was similar to the Control pasture (Serradella and self sown Barley) but lambs marked per hectare was significantly greater (22.7 vs 4.5) for the Tedera due a significantly higher ewe stocking rate.
The second grazing was with 300 recently weaned Merino wether lambs from mid October to late November. The Tedera lambs had a slightly lower average daily live weight gain than the (annual pasture) Control lambs (114g/hd/day vs 125 g/hd/day) but because of the significantly higher stocking rate (25 lambs/ha vs 13 lambs/ha) the Tedera pasture produced significantly more lamb live weight (105 kg/ha vs 61 kg/ha) over the same 37 day period.
The 20 hectare Pankee (Walebing) site was grazed twice in 2022 but comparative livestock production data was only collected for the second grazing.
The site was grazed with 287 recently weaned Merino lambs from late October to early December. The Tedera lambs lost 0.5kg of weight over the 39 grazing period while the (annual pasture) Control lambs gained 2.3kg (giving an ADG of 59g/hd/day). There is a degree of doubt over these results as only 50% of the individual lambs weighed pre-grazing could be identified for the post grazing weight.
The 18 hectare Cranmore (Walebing) site was grazed twice in 2022 but comparative livestock production data was only collected for the first grazing.
The site was grazed with 90 lambing twin bearing Merino ewes from late June to early September. Both lamb marking percentage (131 vs 138%) and lambs marked per hectare (6.6 vs 7.8) were slightly lower in Tedera when compared to the Control pasture (a very impressive April sown Fodder Rape crop with 3,500 kg/ha of feed on offer).
Information about this PDS project was published in the Spring 2022 edition of MLA’s Feedback magazine (Meat & Livestock Australia : Feedback Magazine : Spring 2022 by Trisha Curtis - Flipsnack), the June 2022 edition of DPIRD’s Ovine Observer newsletter (Ovine Observer Issue number # 95 June 2022 | Agriculture and Food) and the 2022 MMPIG Annual Review (MMPIG – Moora Miling Pasture Improvement Group).
