New opportunities for grains

Incorporating research and development news from:

Department of Agriculture and Food

Summer 2011

AG in

F CUS

New opportunities for grains In this issue

Accelerating sheep flock growth

Demystifying soil carbon

National grains centre open for business

AG in Department of Agriculture and Food, WA Main office: 3 Baron-Hay Court, South Perth WA 6151 Mailing address: Locked Bag 4, Bentley Delivery Centre WA 6983 P: (08) 9368 3333 F: (08) 9474 2405 E: [email protected] W: www.agric.wa.gov.au

Grower Group Contacts Corrigin Farm Improvement Group Sandy Turton Representative PO Box 2, Corrigin WA 6375 E: [email protected] W: www.cfig.asn.au Evergreen Farming John Duff Executive Officer PO Box 645, Belmont WA 6984 P: (08) 6272 4545 F: (08) 6272 4555 W: www.evergreen.asn.au Facey Group Felicity Astbury Executive Officer PO Box 129, Wickepin WA 6370 P: (08) 9888 1223 F: (08) 9888 1295 W: www.faceygroup.asn.au Fitzgerald Biosphere Group PO Box 49, Jerramungup WA 6337 P: (08) 9835 1127 F: (08) 9835 1329 W: www.fbg.org.au Liebe Group Chris O’Callaghan Executive Officer PO Box 90, Wubin WA 6612 P: (08) 9664 2030 F: (08) 9664 2040 W: www.liebegroup.asn.au Mingenew-Irwin Group Jane Bradley Executive Officer PO Box 6, Mingenew WA 6522 P: (08) 9928 1645 F: (08) 9928 1540 W: www.mingenew-irwin.asn.au North East Farming Futures Chris Wheatcroft Executive Officer PO Box 151, Morawa WA 6623

Ravensthorpe Agricultural Initiative Network Rodger Walker Project Officer PO Box 292, Ravensthorpe WA 6346

F CUS

What is AG in Focus WA AG in Focus WA is a partnership publication between Kondinin Group and WA’s leading agricultural research bodies and industry experts. A unique publication, AG in Focus WA delivers the latest research and innovations that are of most relevance to agriculture, with the aim of helping you improve the productivity, profitability and sustainability of your farming operation.

Contents

P: (08) 9838 1018 F: (08) 9838 1635

Awards for department excellence

4

Saltland Pastures Association Linda Vernon Program Manager PO Box 47, Trayning WA 6488

AEGIC opens for business

6

What makes the top 25 tick?

7

Lupin genetic code unlocks production potential

8

M: 0427 902 126 W: crcsalinity.com.au/spa SEPWA Gemma Walker Executive Officer PO Box 365, Esperance WA 6450 P: (08) 9083 1134 W: www.sepwa.org.au Southern DIRT Erin Gorter Executive Officer M: 0429 833 752 E: [email protected] WA No Tillage Farmers Association David Minkey Executive Officer MO82, UWA, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 P: (08) 6488 1647 F: (08) 6488 7466 W: www.wantfa.com.au West Midlands Group Hellene McTaggart Executive Officer PO Box 100, Dandaragan WA 6507

Early breeding to boost flock size

10

Taking charge of climate change

12

The good oil on flies and lice

14

Soil testing a must before mouldboard ploughing

16

Hygienic grain storage

18

Grass roots mental health campaign

20

Barley provides grower flexibility

22

Murdoch University hosts nitrogen fixation congress 24

4

7

10

AG in Focus WA contribution partners Department of Agriculture and Food

P: (08) 9651 4008 F: (08) 9651 4107 W: www.wmgroup.org.au

P: (08) 9971 1471 F: (08) 9971 1284 W: www.neffgroup.com.au

AG in Focus WA is published by Kondinin Group Mailing address: PO Box 78, Leederville WA 6902 P: (08) 6316 1355 F: (08) 6263 9177 E: [email protected] W: www.kondiningroup.com.au

DISCLAIMER: This publication is for information purposes only. The publisher and its agents or employees shall not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by any person as a result of reliance on any of the contents hereof, whether such loss or damage arises from the negligence or misrepresentation or any act or omission of the publisher or its agents.

Our cover: Mingenew’s Bob Preston is excited about new opportunities in the lupin market. See page 9

The opinions expressed in AG in FOCUS are not necessarily those of Kondinin Information Services. © Kondinin Information Services 2011. All material appearing in AG in FOCUS is the subject of copyright owned by Kondinin Group and is protected under the Australian Copyright Act (1968), international copyright and trademark law. No portion may be reproduced or duplicated by any process without the prior written permission of Kondinin Group.

Photo: DAFWA

AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

3

DAFWA: Awards

Awards for department excellence


Photos: DAFWA

Peter Metcalfe l Executive Director

Grains Industry

A long-running dairy project and efforts to help the State’s wheat industry transition to a deregulated market both received accolades at the recent 2011 Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Public Sector Management.

John Lucey l Senior Development Officer

At a glance

• The Department of Agriculture and

Food’s efforts to assist the WA wheat industry transition to a deregulated export market has received an award for excellence.

• DAFWA’s Greener Pastures project

with the WA dairy industry also won an award for efforts to protect the environment, while improving farm productivity and profitability.

• The awards follow on from the

department’s performance in the 2010 Premier’s Awards, when it won three categories and was a finalist in the overall award.

These two initiatives by the Department of Agriculture and Food earned each a finalist award, recognising their high standard and contribution to the State’s agricultural economy. The Greener Pastures project was a finalist in the Managing the Environment category for its endeavours to work with industry to reduce fertiliser run-off in South West waterways, which could cause algal blooms that affect local ecology. Greener Pastures addressed increasing community concern about the impact of intensive dairy farming on waterways, which in New Zealand and some European 4 AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

countries has led to strict land management regulations. Department hydrologists undertook extensive bore monitoring throughout the region to quantify the risk of the problem and determine strategies to minimise the risk to waterways and aquifers. They found there was no current risk to underground water supplies, which includes the metropolitan area, from nitrogen or phosphorous levels.

Greener Pastures then worked with dairy producers and the fertiliser industry to change traditional fertiliser application and grazing management practices to reduce on-farm nutrient run-off.

being used to underpin a new tool to help growers determine when it is profitable to apply nitrogen and how much throughout the season. Project leader John Lucey said while Greener Pastures was now concluding, the department would continue to build on its gains with research to develop more efficient feeding systems. “We aim to provide industry with options to improve their feed efficiency through improved feeding systems, so growers can use less inputs to make more milk,” Mr Lucey said. “That means using less feed, which is a producers’ most expensive input and making more efficient use of pastures to optimise production and profitability, while enhancing the sustainability and compatibility of the farming system with the environment.”

As a result, nitrogen and phosphorous run-off have both been reduced by up to 50 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. In doing so, farm fertiliser input costs have been reduced by over $50,000 on some farms. The practices have since been extended to the South West beef industry and sectors of the large Victorian industry. The Greener Pastures principles have also been used to underpin the State Fertiliser Action Plan. Five years of extensive data from the Greener Pastures farmlets, at the department’s Vasse Research Centre, is also

Reward for grains effort The department’s role in assisting the grains industry to adapt to a deregulated wheat export market was acknowledged as a finalist in the Developing the Economy category. As deregulation approached in October 2008, the department recognised that growers and the industry were ill-equipped to operate in a trading environment without a single desk exporter. Together with Curtin University, it developed and supported grain trading courses, which were attended by 800 growers and other industry stakeholders.

DAFWA: Awards

It was also instrumental in encouraging the formation of the Grains Industry Association of WA, which unified a fragmented industry. The department also stepped into the void created with the loss of the single desk, assuming a market intelligence and trade support role to maintain and expand market opportunities. As a result, the WA wheat industry has not only survived deregulation, but thrived. The culmination of these efforts has been the establishment of the national Australian Export Grain Innovation Centre (see page 6), based at the department’s South Perth site as part of its headquarters redevelopment.

Grains Industry executive director Peter Metcalfe said collaboration and creative thinking was critical to the success of the department’s endeavours. “This is what our role is all about,” Mr Metcalfe said. “We are working closely throughout the grains supply chain to identify the areas of agribusiness where we can make a difference by overcoming issues and searching out areas that add value. “The world grains arena is becoming increasingly competitive, so we need to work together to stay ahead of the game to secure long-term profitability.”

The department’s performance follows on from 2010, when its Indigenous Landholder Service won the Developing the Regions and the overall award. The Buy West Eat Best initiative and North East Agricultural Region Strategy also won their categories for the department. Contact Peter Metcalfe Executive Director, Grains Industry P: (08) 9368 3163 E: [email protected] John Lucey DAFWA Senior Development Officer P: (08) 9777 0124 E: [email protected]

Department looking ahead to future challenges businesses that are better able to manage the impact of seasonal variability. A major initiative has been the Drought Pilot joint venture with the Federal Government. More than 400 WA farm and pastoral businesses are now in better stead having participated in the Farm Business Planning workshops, with another 800 places now available as part of Phase II. This grass roots focus on the needs of business is typical of our new approach, working hand-in-hand with stakeholders throughout the supply chain to tackle obstacles and pursue opportunities. And 2011 wasn’t a year without challenges. Photo: DAFWA

Western Australia’s agriculture and food sector comes to the end of the year well placed to capture the opportunities and address the challenges of 2012 and beyond. This year brought with it a more positive season for most, allowing many in the sector to re-establish their operations, though the season continues to bring new challenges right to the end of the year. We have been working closely with industry through the difficulties of the past few seasons to build more resilient

The suspension of the live export trade to Indonesia generated a significant issue for our livestock sector. Our close links with industry enabled us to respond quickly to provide support to those affected and feed back valuable information and analysis to facilitate the resumption of the trade. Good, current economic and trade analysis is imperative to the way we focus the department and underpins all that we do across it to deliver value to businesses in the agri-food sector. Our new Strategic and Operational Plans give us better focus on where to target our investment opportunities to generate the biggest bang for our buck, while ensuring

the responsible use of our invaluable natural resources from which to build a sustainable future. This new approach is firmly in place and enables us to be a more agile, flexible, responsive and innovative economic development organisation, closely aligned to the needs of businesses and stakeholders throughout the sector. Together we will draw on the knowledge, expertise and experience of the world’s best innovators to pursue the latest advancements that will generate meaningful and measurable benefits for local businesses, the sector and the community. Our work with the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) epitomises our collaborative approach (see page 6). Next year will be an exciting year for the agriculture and food sector as we build on the foundations for success established in recent years. Our dedicated and talented staff across the State will be focussed on delivering both short and longer term value to the businesses of our diverse sector. I look forward to discussing our strategies and activities with industry participants and wish you a successful finish to 2011 and all the best for the year ahead. Contact Rob Delane Director General AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

5

DAFWA: Innovation

AEGIC opens for business

Dr Sumana Bell, CSIRO (second from left), has been working on developing bread products from non-bread wheat with her team Shuo Wang, CSIRO (left), Milan Patel, CSIRO, and Wayne Hawkins, DAFWA, with Jenny Ng from CSIRO.


Photo: DAFWA

Dr Mark Sweetingham l Director

The Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre (AEGIC) will be up and running next month with its first two programs coming online ahead of schedule.

Grains Industry Development Program

At a glance

• The Australian Export Grains

Innovation Centre (AEGIC), based at the Department of Agriculture and Food in Perth, will commence operation in January, 2012.

• AEGIC will be a national centre of

excellence for economics, science and innovation to improve the competitive advantage of the Australian grains industry in the international marketplace.

• Future updates on AEGIC will be

provided at the department’s 2012 Agribusiness Crop Updates in February.

AEGIC will be formally launched later in 2012, but the Grain Economic Analysis program and the Grain Processing and Product Functionality program are ready to go. The remaining six programs will be operational by July 2012. AEGIC was announced earlier this year to provide a focus for national grains research as part of the Grains Industry National Research, Development and Extension Strategy. A total of $85 million has been earmarked for investment in the first five years from the WA State Government ($30 million), the Grains Research and Development Corporation ($20 million), the Department of Agriculture and Food ($20 million) and universities and the CSIRO Food Futures National Research Flagship ($15 million). A chairperson is expected to be announced early in the new year, before a chief executive and the rest of the board is appointed. Department grains industry development director Mark Sweetingham said AEGIC’s programs would collectively improve the profitability of the grain value chain. 6 AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

“AEGIC will give the sector and researchers a better focus and more confidence in pursuing efforts that produce a more profitable and internationally competitive industry,” Dr Sweetingham said. The Grain Economic Analysis program will be an international economic think tank for grains industry policy and decision making, drawing on national and international experts.

Program leader Ross Kingwell said four initial projects have been developed in addition to providing economic insight and support to other AEGIC programs. The first is the development of an online one-stop-shop for growers to compare the cost of inputs. “The vision is for growers to be able to go to a website or an app on their phone to check the commonly paid price and price range for key cropping inputs like fertilisers, chemicals, contract rates and machinery,” Professor Kingwell said. “A prototype will be developed and trialled in WA in 2012 before being later rolled out to other States to be a national service.” Another project will develop an appraisal tool to assess farm innovations and management strategies when season and price volatility occur. A separate project will assist policy makers and supply chain players by providing intelligence on the influence of a season on grains production and income prospects as it unfolds. A comprehensive economic analysis will also be undertaken of the grains supply chain to identify and pursue profit drivers and overcome impediments to profitability. “We will take a paddock to plate view looking at the opportunities and limitations,” Professor Kingwell said. The Grain Processing and Product Functionality program will encompass the

work being done at the Centre for Grain Food Innovation (CGFI) on food processing technology. Centre director Sumana Bell, from CSIRO, has been working on developing continuous dough sheeting techniques for processing APW wheat, using WA-grown Wyalkatchem to target the higher value export bread market. “Medium protein doughs made from APW wheat becomes too soft to handle in mixers when made in conventional bread making lines, which are set to process flour made from higher protein wheat. Sheeting methods provide an option to handle doughs from wheats that do not perform well in current baking applications,” Dr Bell said. “We are getting results that were not expected with the current base of knowledge. “In doing so, we are creating a different paradigm for flour quality that can increase the value of APW to end-users in our target markets.” A laboratory scale sheeting line is now being constructed at the centre, which also has the potential to be applied to noodles made from lower protein wheat. The program will also include the work of the department and Edith Cowan University’s Pilot Malting Australia joint venture. The pilot facility is helping to improve and shorten the pathway to commercialise new Australian malting barley varieties. Interested industry stakeholders will be able to get a further update on the progress of AEGIC at the Agribusiness Crop Updates in Perth on February 29. For more 2012 Crop Updates information visit www.agric.wa.gov.au or for AEGIC visit www.aegic.org.au in January. Contact Dr Mark Sweetingham Director Grains Industry Development Program P: (08) 9368 3785 E: [email protected]

DAFWA: Business

What makes the top 25 tick? Department of Agriculture and Food

Photo: DAFWA

Dr Peter White l Project Leader Bridging the Yield Gap

At a glance

• The ingredients of successful crop

production in medium to high rainfall areas have been identified as part of a survey for the Department of Agriculture and Food’s Bridging the Yield Gap program.

•

The results will be used to develop training, tools and support material to assist other growers to improve their production potential.

• Bridging the Yield Gap aims to

increase yields in medium to high rainfall areas by overcoming obstacles to yield potential.

The Highly Profitable Farmer Survey was produced for the Department of Agriculture and Food’s Bridging the Yield Gap (BYG) project by consultants Planfarm, using their top 25 performing clients in medium and high rainfall areas. The report provides a profile of what has made these growers consistently successful over the past six growing seasons (2005–2011). BYG project leader Peter White said the report identifies the profit drivers required for success. This valuable information will be used for department benchmarking, as well as training and support. Dr White said the big difference between successful farmers and average farmers is their profitability. “Surprisingly, the highly profitable farmers didn’t have bigger farms, better soils, more rainfall or less debt than other farmers, but they were significantly more profitable,” he said. “On average these farmers produced an operating surplus that was $226,000 more than other farmers every year for the past six years and their outstanding performance

The secrets of success of the State’s top performing broadacre producers have been revealed in a report that will be used to assist growers in medium to high rainfall areas.

was consistent even through the relative tough seasons we’ve been through recently.” Dr White said other farmers could attain these levels of profitability by employing the strategies used by successful farmers. “The Bridging the Yield Gap project will use this information to help farmers build relationships to drive the profitability of their business, with the support of their peers and specialists, in the industry,” he said. “The information will be used to develop business management workshops to be held next year, support tools and in our work with Innovation Partnership grower groups, which are being established now.” The Highly Profitable Farmer Survey identified several fundamental foundations for success across the board (see graphic).

Several other pivotal focus areas also emerged. One was getting the basic production factors right and not being distracted by other issues. All the top performing growers had a very integrated approach to production, characterised by a ‘depth of thought’ to all of their farming systems. Many in the group considered a ‘phased’ approach to crop rotations worked best, taking 4–10 years to assess the value of bringing in a new system. Dry seeding was a noticeable focus, with most devoting around 35 per cent of their program to dry sowing. The report identified those in the group were adept at judging how hard to chase the season and matching responsiveness to long-term planning. The survey respondents were also committed to actively managing their production constraints, such as soil acidity and weed seed banks as part of an integrated system.

Ingredients of better farm businesses • Passion • Planning • Preparation • K nowing and focusing on what drives profit • Timeliness • Getting the job done • Attention to detail • Positive about the future

The top performers all nominated good communication as a key ingredient to success and 69 per cent of the group used a mentor or close friend to help them in their decision-making process. Training and succession planning was another key investment, with most businesses bringing their children into the business. On the business side, most had a conservative attitude to risk and were not necessarily early adopters of new technology or crop varieties. However, they were more likely to assess the potential returns and were more aggressive in purchasing land and assets or pursuing alternative rotations where they could see the financial returns. The details of the report will be discussed at the 2012 Agribusiness Crop Updates on February 28, 2012. For more details about Crop Updates visit www.agric.wa.gov.au Contact Dr Peter White Project Leader, Bridging the Yield Gap P: (08) 9368 3508 E: (08) [email protected] AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

7

DAFWA: Lupins

Lupin genetic code unlocks production potential DAFWA research officers Dr Chengdao Li (left), Dr Bevan Buirchell and Dr Hua’an Yang have been instrumental in cracking the lupin genetic code, which will help to develop new and improved varieties.


Photo: DAFWA

Dr Hua’an Yang and Dr Bevan Buirchell

Lupin growers can look forward to more robust, higher yielding crops thanks to a new map that unlocks the plant’s genetic code.

Senior Research Officers

At a glance

• A new genetic map has been developed for lupins.

• The map will enable conventional

plant breeding to significantly increase the efficiency of genetic improvements to produce more robust varieties.

• As a result of the map, yield potential from genetic gains could increase by up to four per cent year-on-year.

• While the map won’t accelerate new

lupin varieties, those produced will be more complex and include a range of new traits.

In a world first, researchers from the Department of Agriculture and Food and Murdoch University have developed and mapped 9000 high quality genetic markers on lupin — nine times more than previously known. This breakthrough is an outstanding achievement and more detailed than any barley or wheat map. It enables marker discovery tagging agronomic traits controlled either by single genes or complex genes, such as yield and high protein content.

The map will now be used by lupin breeders to develop varieties that deliver greater results to growers. Department senior research officer and lupin breeder, Bevan Buirchell, said the new lupin map was far more ‘breeder friendly’. “The previous lupin maps were very difficult to use in a breeding program,” Dr Buirchell said. “Our challenge now is to make the association between traits of interest through phenotyping and the markers in the map. This way we can identify markers associated with a particular trait and develop a useful marker. “Once we have that we can apply the markers in the lupin breeding program to fast-track desirable genes and we can select the desirable plants, which is referred to as marker-assisted selection.” Department colleague Hua’an Yang said while the new map may not shorten the

8 AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

breeding cycle, it would help to improve breeding efficiency and target more complex traits. “We will potentially have the markers for every trait we need,” he said. “The information we now have is much more detailed, right down to the chromosome and gene level, which gives us more confidence in producing better performing lines.” Dr Buirchell already has seven traits that he intends to pursue in his plant breeding work, including yield, grey leaf spot resistance, low alkaloid levels, metribuzin tolerance, bean yellow mosaic virus resistance, cucumber mosaic virus seed transmission resistance and protein quality. In doing so he believes lupin growers genetic gain can be doubled to four per cent year-on-year. “With this genetic map we have a greater probability of producing higher yielding lines with a lot of other traits,” Dr Buirchell said. “It really has opened up a new world to us.” This work has been funded by the department, while the Grains Research and Development Corporation is a funding partner in the national lupin breeding program through Pulse Breeding Australia. Contact Dr Bevan Buirchell Senior Research Officer P: (08) 9368 3653 E: [email protected]

DAFWA: Lupins

Case study: Best year ever for Mingenew lupins Farmer information Farmer: Kerry and Bob, Sharon and Murray, Glenyse and Graeme Location: Muranda Plains, 35km northwest of Mingenew Property size: 7000ha, 6800ha arable Average annual rainfall: 350mm Enterprises: Wheat, lupins, barley

Lupin road map to the future A road map is being developed for the Australian lupin industry to explore new opportunities for a more productive future. Lupins are an essential ingredient in the fabric of many Western Australian cropping systems and an important element in some other Australian States, but the industry has stagnated. While lupins are still valued for their nitrogen fixation and as a cereal disease break, the crop is often dogged by issues such as weed control. Together with flat market prices in recent years, many growers have turned to alternative break crops such as canola. As a result, exports from WA have declined from around 750,000 tonnes in 2001 to 250,000 tonnes in 2010. This year the WA crop has increased slightly on the back of a good season, with more than 620,000 tonnes expected this harvest. Department of Agriculture and Food Grains Industry executive director Peter Metcalfe said the time had come to assess where the industry was at and where it was going to ensure a robust future. “Together with industry we will ‘ground truth’ the state of the lupin industry over coming months to develop a productive pathway forward,” Mr Metcalfe said. “The investigation will consider obstacles and opportunities throughout the supply chain and will identify where we can help to add value to lupins in both the domestic and export markets. “It will also assist the department’s and the Grains Research and Development Corporation’s investment in lupin breeding.”

WA is the largest lupin producing State in Australia (75 per cent) and is responsible for 80 per cent of world production. South Korea has traditionally been the major customer for WA lupins, taking about 200,000 tonnes per annum. The department’s analysis will also consider evolving markets for lupins to be used in foods for human consumption, including research on health benefits. This will include work on the positive health benefits from lupins by the department/CSIRO Centre for Grain Food Innovation joint venture and the Centre for Food and Genomic Medicine. “As part of our ‘ground truthing’ analysis, we’ve commissioned the CSIRO do to an independent review of the potential health benefits of lupins,” Mr Metcalfe said. “This will help identify and quantify potential food opportunities for lupins. “The department is also interested in generating industry discussion about new branding opportunities for lupins for the human consumption and other markets.” New opportunities for lupins are evolving such as the market for feed lupins created recently, when the Saudi Arabian government included lupins on its animal feed subsidy list. The opportunity was made possible as a result of several years of effort and liaison between the WA Government trade office and the Saudi government. Contact Peter Metcalfe Executive Director, Grains Industry P: (08) 9368 3163 E: [email protected]

Bob and Kerry Preston and son Finn, 3, in a lupin paddock, one of 3000ha harvested on the family’s Mingenew property.

Mingenew farmer Bob Preston is looking forward to new market opportunities for lupins to ensure the crop has a future in his rotations. The Preston family is having their best year ever with lupins, which were expected to yield around three tonnes per hectare sown over 3000 hectares. While Coromup lupins play an important part in the family’s cropping program as both a cash and break crop, the Prestons have been considering replacing them on the back of current soft prices. Mr Preston says any new market is good news right now. “There’s a new player in the market, which is more good news, and the size of the Saudi deal sounds fantastic. Any growth in the lupin market has to be good,” he said. “Five years ago things looked exciting for lupins but since deregulation it has slipped away a bit as no one seems to have taken the marketing seriously.” At the time of publication, the Prestons had harvested a small part of their lupin crop due to the fickle weather. “We use lupins as part of a rotation with wheat, which also helps break the chemical rotation as we have trouble with ryegrass and wild radish,” he said “And although our good season will see a much greater yield, if the money doesn’t start improving we will have to think about changing, maybe to canola like a lot of other people. “The way canola is going, with GM and other research, it will start to take lupins out of a lot of rotations unless something happens.”

AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

9

DAFWA: Sheep

Early breeding to boost flock size

New research is investigating whether lambs can be cost-effectively produced from Merino ewes as young as 12–14 months of age.


Research into whether lambs can be produced from ewes as young as 12 months of age could help accelerate the resurrection of the State’s sheep flock. Photo: DAWA

At a glance

• Merino ewes at 12–14 months of age

can successfully produce lambs under suitable conditions.

• New research in WA and Victoria is

examining the interactions between genetics, age at joining and liveweight at joining and during pregnancy on ewe fertility and the number of lambs weaned.

• High fertility rates can be achieved from 8–10 month old Merino ewes that weigh more than 45kg when joining begins and which gain more than 100g/day during the joining period.

Sheep producers are keen to join as many ewes as possible this summer to capitalise on record high prices for slaughter lambs and shippers. The response has arrested the decline of the State’s sheep flock, which fell to 1950s levels in 2011 due to poor wool prices, high grain prices, high labour requirements for sheep and adverse weather conditions. Analysis by the Department of Agriculture and Food has shown that it is not possible to meet the current requirements of processors and live exporters without further liquidation of the flock. The main short-term challenge for the industry is to increase both the number of ewes mated and their reproductive performance. One option to increase the total number of ewes mated in the short-term is mating 10 AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

Merino ewes at 8–10 months of age, rather than the traditional 18 months of age. The practise is more common with crossbred ewes in south eastern Australia and New Zealand, but not widely adopted by Merino producers. The potential to produce lambs from younger ewes is the focus of a research project that commenced in 2009, funded by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Meat and Livestock Australia and the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation. The project also involves Murdoch University and the University of WA. Sheep CRC postgraduate student Cesar Rosales Nieto said preliminary results from joining Merino ewe lambs at 8–10 months of age from both research and commercial flocks were variable, but fertility rates above 75 per cent were possible. Mr Rosales Nieto said his research aimed to better understand the basis for this variability and to develop guidelines to achieve consistent and cost-effective reproductive performance from Merino ewes joined at 8–10 months. “At this stage we don’t have all the answers, but preliminary results suggest that to achieve these high fertility rates Merino ewe lambs need to be at least eight months of age and more than 45 kilograms at the start of joining and also gaining more than 100 grams per day during the joining period,” Mr Rosales Nieto said. “Fertility rates of about 75% were achieved in the first experiment at the Medina Research Station when the ewes were about 45 kilograms at the start of joining and feed ad libitum during the mating period.” An economic analysis has found the cost effectiveness of joining ewe lambs depends

on seasonal conditions, the cost of supplementary feeding to achieve liveweight targets and the reproductive performance achieved. “With the good season in 2011 and lower feed grain prices the cost of extra feed is likely to be in the order of $15 per ewe lamb,” Mr Rosales Nieto said. Economic modelling for MLA suggests that these extra feeding costs could be recouped if weaning rates from Merino ewe lambs exceeded 30 per cent. “To reduce feeding costs, producers could consider drafting off the heavier lambs at/or soon after weaning and only feeding these lambs to achieve about 45 kilograms by joining,” Mr Rosales Nieto said. “The remaining lambs could be fed as normal to achieve growth rates of about 50 grams per day, which are needed to minimise weaner mortality rates.

“Achieving these liveweight targets at and during joining at 8–10 months of age is also far more achievable for sheep producers using high growth Merino genetics.” Across three experiments, ewe lambs with Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVS) for post-weaning weight (PWT) of +6 kg achieved fertility rates 25–30 per cent higher than those with ASBVS for PWT of +1kg (see Figure 1). “This indicates that mating ewe lambs at 8–10 months of age will be a more realistic and cost effective proposition for producers with high growth, large mature size ewes, so this is not an option for everybody,” Mr Rosales Nieto said.

DAFWA: Sheep

“In 2012 our focus will be to confirm from measuring hormone profiles that ewes are indeed reaching puberty by eight months and also establish if they are getting pregnant, but then losing their embryos,” he said.

Figure 1 T he effects of post-weaning weight (PWT) ASBVs on the fertility of Merino ewe lambs mated at 8 to 9 months of age in three experiments in WA 100

Exp 1 Exp 2 Exp 3

Fertility (%)

80

Further research outcomes will be delivered to producers as the project progresses.

60 40

The department will also be providing extension support to growers over coming months about management strategies to cost-effectively increase the reproductive performance from adult ewes to help rebuild the State’s sheep flock.

20 0

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Post weaning weight (PWT) ASBV (kg)

Contact Dr Steve Gherardi Lamb Quality and Supply initiative leader P: (08) 9368 3130 E: [email protected]

Source: DAFWA

Another unanswered question contributing to the different results between experiments is why many Merino ewe lambs appear to be reaching puberty by eight months, but then not getting pregnant.

Mr Rosales Nieto said he used teaser wethers with crayon harnesses to measure onset of puberty and between 10–60 per cent of ewe lambs appeared to reach puberty, but were not pregnant when scanned about 60–70 days after start of joining.

Dr Mark Ferguson Project Leader P: (08) 9368 3662 E: [email protected]

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11

DAFWA: Carbon

Taking charge of climate change DAFWA researchers Justin Laycock (left) taking water samples, while Dr Dan Carter takes soil samples in the Perth hills. The department is working on a range of fronts to provide credible information about soil carbon. Photo: DAFWA

Dr Melanie Strawbridge


The complexities of a changing climate, soil organic carbon, carbon farming and greenhouse gas emissions are being explored by the Department of Agriculture and Food and its partners as the Federal Government rolls out its Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI) in 2012.

Director Resource Risk Policy

At a glance

• DAFWA aims to provide landholders

and stakeholders with clear, credible information about the science and economics of climate change, soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.

• Under the Federal Government’s

Carbon Farming Initiative, a carbon trading scheme will be established from July 2012, which will enable landholders who have implemented management practises that sequester carbon to generate income.

well equipped to operate in a new world of carbon trading. “The department is taking a crossdisciplinary approach drawing on the expertise of its staff, who are working with a range of partners to contribute to our understanding of this issue,” Dr Strawbridge said. “In doing so we are identifying where the gaps in the knowledge are and focusing our efforts to address them to provide reliable information to stakeholders.”

• Land management practices that

The department’s efforts span soil science, animal emissions, farming systems analysis, forestry and economics.

The Commonwealth’s CFI has created a flurry of interest in agricultural circles. However, uncertainty remains about how the program will work and benefit the sector. Researchers across the country are building a better understanding of how to measure and benchmark soil organic carbon content, the science behind it and how it is influenced by different land management practises to help landholders engage with the initiative. The department has long been involved in soil carbon research as part of its endeavours to improve soil health and increase productivity and profitability. These programs will now link with new initiatives to address soil carbon and associated climate change issues under a coordinated effort to provide clear, credible information to stakeholders. Resource Risk Policy director Melanie Strawbridge said the department was working on a range of fronts to ensure landholders and other stakeholders were

Under the CFI, a carbon trading scheme will be established from July 2012 whereby businesses that emit significant quantities of greenhouse gasses will be able to compensate for their emissions by purchasing ‘off-sets’ from a landholder who has changed to management practices that mitigate or sequester carbon. That is, by implementing management practices that either avoid or remove and store carbon from the atmosphere in carbon sinks, such as soil (known as soil carbon) or vegetation (tree planting) for 100 years. A large proportion of soil organic carbon is stored in the top five centimetres of soil and is linked to annual organic inputs and increased microbial activity. Due to its top soil location, soil organic carbon is also at risk of loss from wind and water erosion. The higher the clay content the higher the soil organic carbon potential — making it difficult for many of Western Australia’s sandier soils to sequester organic carbon. The department has been working closely with a number of leading researchers for a decade, including Dr Daniel Murphy from the University of Western Australia,

promote soil organic carbon stores can also improve soil health, which underpins productivity and profitability.

12 AG in Focus Summer 2011 www.kondiningroup.com.au

pursuing a better understanding of WA soils in the agricultural sphere. About 1000 sites from the South Coast, Great Southern, Avon and Northern agricultural areas are being monitored and measured for soil organic carbon to identify regions with greater carbon storage capacity, as part of an ongoing national collaboration funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) in collaboration with the department and UWA. Department scientists have also contributed to collaborative research projects funded by the GRDC and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research to ascertain the benefits and implications of claying and biochar applications on low fertility soils in the grains industry. Livestock specialists are also looking at the methane output from sheep as part of a Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) project. Meanwhile, economists are examining the role and value of environmental plantings in WA’s broadacre farming systems, linking to research by WA’s Department of Environment and Conservation and the Future Farm Industries CRC. Department chief economist Professor Ross Kingwell has also been invited to serve on the Federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry expert panel that advises on the allocation of $201 million of research funds from the Carbon Farming Futures program. For more information about the department’s climate change activities visit www.agric.wa.gov.au Details of the Federal Government’s Carbon Farming Initiative can be found at www.daff.gov.au/climatechange/cfi Contact Dr Melanie Strawbridge