Nutrition EDGE offers great return on investment

Since taking over management of his family’s property in 2018, fifth-generation producer Ben Simpson has transformed the productivity and profitability of his cattle with a focus on nutrition.

Located 100km north of Aramac, Queensland, Ben runs 1,900 Simmental-cross commercial cattle and 4,000 goats on his 22,000ha property ‘Thistlebank’.

Earlier this year, Ben attended a three-day Nutrition EDGE workshop in Longreach, where he said he took home some great insights on implementing a well-planed and cost-effective nutritional strategy that’ll benefit the bottom line.

“Seasonal constraints and poor pasture conditions has meant that supplementation has become a necessity to our production system,” Ben said.

“Based on my herd’s responses to different lick blocks over the years, I knew heading into the workshop that I needed better insights on determining the best supplementation ratio for our herd groups, especially regarding how breeders and weaners might vary from other herd members.”

Implementing workshop learnings on-farm

Following the workshop, Ben’s first step towards improving his herd’s nutrition was sourcing the skills and knowledge of a local nutritionist.

“First thing I did was employ the help of Désirée Jackson, who’s not only one of the facilitators behind the Nutrition EDGE workshop but a Longreach-based livestock management consultant,” Ben said.

“The insights I gained from the workshop told me dung testing was the best way to determine what nutritional constraints my pasture was dealing with, so I completed that and asked Désirée to help interpret the best course of action from the results that came back.

“I even took things a step further and asked Désirée to visit us on-farm to look at our landscape, pastures and cattle, and act as a second set of eyes as I took the time to review how my current and previous supplementation ratios had performed over the past few years, looking at which combinations were well received, and which ones weren’t.”

According to Ben, the findings from the dung tests showed a large gap between what his cattle needed to what his current lick blocks had been supplying them with.

“Our nitrogen, sulphur and salt levels were way off, so I made use of the math formulas we covered in the workshop to make those required adjustments before beginning to monitor our herds intake,” he said.

“As the season progressed, we had to make some minor adjustments to suit changes in pastures and the status of our different herd groups, but the dung testing proved to be an excellent foundation for determining ratios.”

Seeing a return on investment

While there was a bit of trial and error to meet the needs of pregnant and lactating cows, as well as weaners during different points of the year, Ben said it was all worth it.

“Across the board, our cattle are holding condition and maintaining good weights,” he said.

“In our cows, this has been an important improvement as it’s allowed them to bounce back quicker after birth — something I hope will translate to improved pregnancy rates and weaner weights in the future.

“In our trade steers, improved body condition scores have increased their market value with body condition scores sitting at a 3 and an average daily weight gain of 0.2kg.”

Recently, Ben conducted a follow-up dung sampling test to confirm no further changes were needed to the current supplementation program.

“I was pleased to see a significant improvement in the quality of the dung, reinforcing the importance and benefits of supplementing,” Ben said.

“Looking back on the year, it’s been quite phenomenal to see not only the benefits this supplementation program has had on the cattle but also the benefits it’s had on the wallet.”

“My cattle are showing greater productivity, and their increased weights are more profitable, but I’m also no longer putting money into minerals my cattle don’t need.”

The next Nutrition EDGE workshop is in Longreach on 10 December 2024.

To get up to date on all upcoming MLA events and workshops, head to Events, sponsorship & speakers | Meat & Livestock Australia.