About 20 percent of sheep in any flock are not great contributors to enterprise profitability, while another 20 percent have a higher requirement for management inputs such as drenching or nutrition than the rest of the flock, according to Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) extension officer Guy Newell.

Mr Newell said these differences in individual animal productivity and efficiency presented a huge opportunity for increasing total sheep enterprise profitability.

Precision Sheep Production tools and technologies developed through the Australian Sheep Cooperative Research Centre (Sheep CRC) enable sheep producers to tap into these differences, which will be outlined in a series of Leading Sheep workshops for Queensland producers in June.

Mr Newell said Precision Sheep Production was about selecting and running only those animals that best fitted the production goals based on market signals and managing key inputs such as genetics, nutrition and parasite control to match the needs and potential of each animal.

Sheep CRC has been collaboratively working on the development of systems for Precision Sheep Production since its inception in 2002. This has included work on systems for animal identification, data collection and storage matched to tools for assisting the decision-making processes involved with individual animal management. It has also included the development of automatic drafting technologies that will enable producers to segregate and manage individual animals without the need to yard them.

Further information on Precision Sheep Production and the decision-support tools developed by the Sheep CRC will be available at the following workshops:

• Australian Agricultural College, Dalby, 18 June 2007

• Goondiwindi Training Centre, 19 June 2007

• Cunnamulla Shire Hall, 20 June 2007

• DPI&F Rosebank Research Station Conference Room, Longreach, 22 June 2007.

All workshops are free and will run from 9.00am until 3.00pm with catering provided.

Please register by contacting Guy Newell on 07 4654 4217 or by email guy.newell@dpi.qld.gov.au by 15 June 2007.

Leading Sheep is an innovative, regionally-based project working to boost the profitability of the Queensland sheep and wool industry. The project was initiated by Australian Wool Innovation and operates in partnership with the DPI&F and AgForce.