Herd management and livestock nutrition
Presenters at the Nutrient workshop, Ruminant Technical Officer Dr Stephanie Sammes, left, and Nutrien Ag Solutions Animal Production Specialist Bronte Lloyd. Between them, they covered topics including customised supplementation; diagnostic testing to understand your property and animals; pasture and dung samples; feed phosphate overview; importance of quality phosphate; and managing heat stress with nutrition.
Attendees paid close attention to the herd nutrient presentations while relaxing in the informal atmosphere of the Bowen River Hotel gardens.
Clayton Braden with three-year-old daughter Gracie, left, and Strathalbyn Station manager Jake Halstead.
Bowen graziers, Tim and Chantel Doualle, with Nutrien Ag’ s Josh Rodgers, right.
More producers are incorporating ultrasound on their properties to manage pregnancy checking. A workshop held at Mt Aberdeen Station offered graziers an opportunity to see the Repro Scan tool in action and learn about the many ways it could benefit herd management.
A breeder herd and pregnancy testing workshop at Mt Aberdeen Station, led by Dr Ian Braithwaite, a northern Australian cattle veterinarian, focused on the theoretical and practical skills of pregnancy testing and foetal ageing in cattle, and how to integrate skills and information to make decisions about livestock efficiency and performance. It also included discussions on managing the feed base to optimise carrying capacity, while managing land condition.
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