Sheep auto drafters are relatively new devices that reduce labour costs at the same time as monitoring liveweight gain and streamlining the drafting process.

Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries extension officer Ian McConnel said the auto drafters were used in the Rosebank Research Station trials where sheep have an electronic tag and liveweight and production data is collected against that tag.

"Each weight and date is recorded automatically, which removes the chance of human error in recording our trial data," Mr McConnel said.

The device also saves labour because drafting can be done by one person and not two, as is the case with manual drafting where you need one person penning up and another operating the drafting gate.

And because the sheep are not distracted by a human presence in front of them, the sheep run better through the race and drafting gate which saves time and stress.

"The auto drafters cost about $15,500 but they basically replace the wages of one person, which helps producers improve profitability by reducing costs."

"They are suitable to be used in all production monitoring situations. Out here in western Queensland, the likely usage would be for a couple of producers to share the one machine."

"Precision sheep management enables producers to identify their best performing animals and select and improve on them."

Mr McConnel said an alternate automatic weighing device for production monitoring is the remote walk-through weigher. This device is set up so that when sheep make their way to watering points, they walk over a weighing platform that reads their tag and records their weight.

The auto drafter was on display at a recent Leading Sheep Feedlot Day held in Longreach.

Leading Sheep is an Australian Wool Innovation Limited initiative in partnership with the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries and supported by AgForce that targets the adoption of new technologies and practices to increase the productivity and profitability of the Queensland sheep and wool industry.

For more information, contact Ian McConnel on 07 4658 4425.