Download PRE-LAMB - 4 Season Company

PRE-LAMB
Nutritional Supplement for Ewes
Dr Sarah Thompson B.Sc. B.V.Sc.
The 4 Season Company Pty Ltd
 Background
 Ruminant Nutrition
 Nutritional Requirements of Ewes
 Lamb Survival
 Maximising Farm Returns
Prime lamb production
 Producing prime lambs to make
money
 Ewes are “engine room” of the
sheep enterprise
 Optimal nutrition of ewes to fulfil
genetic potential
Protein Supplements can
 Improve conception rates
 Increase birth weights
 Improve colostrum production
 Improve lamb survival rates
 Increase ewe resistance to internal
parasites
Ruminant Nutrition
 Ruminants utilize feeds that
monogastrics cannot digest
 Digestion by mechanical (chewing)
and microbial fermentation
 Bacteria produce volatile fatty
acids – energy source for sheep
 Dead bacteria – protein source
Bacteria in the rumen
 Require a range of nutrients to
function and multiply
 Deficiency or imbalance reduces
microbial efficiency
 Excess roughage slows down
digestion
 High quality diet – rumen empties
faster, sheep can eat more
Bypass Protein
 Not all protein broken down in
rumen – passes through to small
intestine
 Provides essential amino acid
building blocks that bacteria
cannot provide
 Need balance between microbial
protein and bypass protein for
optimal digestive efficiency
Protein Balance
 Excess high quality protein
deleterious – toxic and expensive
 Feeding some bypass protein
better than excess poor quality
protein (urea)
Bypass Protein promotes
feed intake and weight gain
Get the balance right
 Balance between energy and
protein
 Balance between microbial and
bypass protein
Cottonseed meal – better
bypass protein than lupins
Nutritional Requirements of
Ewes
 Essential to produce at genetic
potential
 Target supplementation for times
of greatest need
 Needs lowest during maintenance
and early gestation
 Greatest needs late pregnancy and
lactation
Perils of over-feeding ewes in
mid-pregnancy
 Leads to reduced lamb birth
weights due to stunted placental
development
 If adequate forage, no need to
supplement after joining through
to mid-pregnancy
Birthweights reduced when
ewes over-fed
Over 80% foetal growth
occurs in the last 6 weeks of
pregnancy
Colostrum production
responds to protein
supplementation
Bypass protein essential for
high performing ewes
 Rumenal bacteria alone unable to
meet protein needs of late
pregnant and lactating ewes
 Need high quality bypass protein
 Greater need for protein then
energy
 Pre-Lamb meets the needs of ewes
under stress
Bodyweight
recommendations
 Run ewes at BCS 3 out of 5 at
joining
 Maintain this weight for first 50
days
 Gain weight slowly over days 50100
 Increase body weight by up to
20% over last 50 days
Feeding recommendations
 Over-feeding and over-
supplementing ewes will reduce
production
 Equals reduced farm profits
 If adequate forage – only need a
bypass protein supplement to
achieve a 20% liveweight gain
over last trimester
What’s in Pre-Lamb?
 Cottonseed meal – safe by-product
of cotton industry
 Contains 40% crude protein
 Molasses – source of phosphorous
and sulphur for bacteria, improves
palatability
 Molasses – source of glucose
needed for lactation
 Salt – stimulates voluntary intake
Trace elements in Pre-Lamb
 “White muscle” disease due to
deficiency of vitamin E and
selenium
 High levels vitamin E in green
feed, acquired by lamb in
colostrum
 Selenium passed to foetus in utero
Maximizing the benefits of
Pre-lamb
 Joining ewes BCS 3.5 or less –
increase conception rates by
supplementing with Pre-lamb
 Supplement pregnant ewes last
trimester
 Supplement lactating ewes for at
least 8 weeks
 Adequate forage must be available
Benefits of Pre-lamb
 Improved conception rates
 Improved lamb birth weights
 Improved colostrum production
 Improved lamb survival
 Increased ewe resistance to
internal parasites
 Increased number wool follicles
Feeding rates for Pre-Lamb
 4 blocks of Pre-lamb per 100 ewes
per 20 days
 Daily intake approximately 40
grams/ewe/day
 Pre-Lamb does not contain urea –
safe for lambs to eat
Pre-lamb
 Easy to administer
 A supplement when adequate forage
available
 Will improve ewe production if a protein
deficiency exists
 Improved animal husbandry – less
supportive care for lambs and ewes
 Improved production results in greater
farm returns
Pre-Lamb
 Consumers want ethically
produced products
 Pre-Lamb compatible with
sustainable agricultural practice
 Clever use of by-products from
other primary products
 Benefits to sheep, sheep producers
and the environment
Pre-lamb for prime lamb!