Which set up? Implementing confinement feeding

Summary

The purpose of this Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) is to define and demonstrate the financial outcomes, set up design and overall management required by those adopting confinement feeding while maximizing animal welfare, supporting producers interested in and implementing confinement feeding, with attention to:  

• Site selection criteria 

• Optimum mob sizes  

• Joining and management of pregnant ewes and cows  

• Monitoring and management of animal health and nutritional status  

• Decision making on when confinement feeding is justified (under drought conditions; extreme weather events; other) 

• Mineral supplementation 

Objectives

By July 2024 in Western Australia, across at least three demonstration sites:

1. Demonstrate the potential of confinement feeding sheep at the break of the pasture growing season in two different confinement systems (including pen and small paddock), compared to a traditional paddock feeding regime:
   • To increase quality and quantity of pasture available due to being deferred (FOO)
   • To impact potential stocking rate and carrying capacity of pasture (DSE/ha)
2. Conduct a cost benefit analysis to determine the relative economic performance of confinement feeding compared to regular paddock feeding as demonstrated in Objective 1. This will include:
   • Feed costs
   • Labour efficiency and cost
   • Condition score advantage (measure by CS at start and end of confinement period)
   • Ability to increase stocking rate through higher carrying capacity
3. Conduct a series of extension activities to showcase the demonstration sites, and increase knowledge, skills and confidence of 60% of core producers and 30% of observer producers and wider community producers in confinement feeding techniques:
   • Condition score
   • Feed budgeting
   • Pasture assessment of deferred pastures
   • Health and welfare management
   • Best practice management of confinement feeding (stocking density, pen design as well as the above measurements such as condition scoring)
4. By the end of the project, 50% of core producers will have adopted confinement feeding and 30% of observers intend to.

Progress

The confinement feeding Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project ran from 2022 to 2024 with the main target audience being producers in the northern wheatbelt area in WA. Producers who participated in this project were wanting to learn more about confinement feeding of sheep and lambs and the different setups that can be used whilst also gaining further understanding of when to use it in their system. The project aimed to demonstrate different confinement feeding systems and set ups and support producers in understanding WHY they are using confinement feeding and WHEN to best implement it. This was done by engaging producers that were wanting setup or had already setup different confinement feeding systems as well as those that were looking at getting into it.

One-on-one support to core producers as well as extension and communication were key. The project found that no one confinement feeding set up was the same. The need for flexibility and understanding of each individual enterprise was crucial in supporting producers to identify WHY and WHEN to use the confinement feeding. The project found that confinement feeding doesn’t need to be used every year and depends largely on when the break of the season occurs and summer rainfall.

The project increased producer knowledge, skills and confidence in establishing and implementing a confinement feeding system, as well as feed budgeting, condition scoring and different setups. Producers involved are now more aware of the different setups that can be used for confinement feeding and have the decision-making tools to identify if confinement feeding suits their situation.