Scanning and feeding – it’s time to manage for more lambs
You may be wondering “should I scan my sheep?”. Well, these are some of the things you should think about:
- Pregnancy scanning is a great management tool to help you improve your profits, particularly if you use the information to manage your flock differently.
- The more dry ewes there are in the mob, the more benefit there is from scanning.
- You may get extra value from scanning if feed quantity or quality is likely to be limiting over pregnancy.
- Scanning allows for better feed allocation to the ewes that need it most, especially those ewes bearing lambs.
- Scanning will give you a benchmark of the number of foetuses present, which you can use to gauge lamb survival and lambing marking potential.
- Scanning allows you to know likely lamb marking percentages; hence you can plan your CFA sale numbers.
Leading Sheep – Scanning and Feeding Newsletter – Jan 2013
It’s often good to hear from fellow producers who are actually adopting these management tools, to help get a better understanding. The following link is a case study prepared by ‘Bestprac’, they talk to a producer and his scanning operator about the benefits of scanning and how it is adopted.
Bestprac Case Study – Select twin bearing ewes for more lambs