Lifetime Ewe Management gets new lease on life
SIBI is excited to again support the nationally renowned Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) program, now with a renewed Western Australian focus to better suit local sheep producers.
To be delivered by accredited sheep specialists through Rural Industries Skills Training (RIST), LTEM is designed for small groups of 5-6 producers to get hands-on with condition scoring (CS) and assessing feed on offer so that they can calculate a CS budget and set targets to more efficiently ration pasture and supplementary feed.
It also allows producers to make more informed decisions about managing their ewes while optimising stocking rates and managing risks.
Already over 2000 producers that manage over 7.6 million breeding ewes have taken part in the program nationally.
SIBI Development Officer Steve Tunbridge is coordinating the activity in Western Australia on behalf of RIST.
“The department has been involved with the program before and while it’s worked well, we recognised the need to adapt the program to more closely reflect WA conditions and the needs of WA farm businesses – including those that run sheep as a secondary income stream” Steve said.
“Another key change made is to keep the program to six sessions however stagger them over two years instead of one, to reduce the yearly commitment in a busy mixed farming schedule and to really see the results pay off over a longer term.”
“Previous participants have reported huge success – stocking rates up by 15%, weaning rate increases of around 15%, plus ewe mortality down by 50% on average. We can’t wait to see how well this WA-focused program performs.”
LTEM is run by expert facilitators from Victorian-based RIST, and is subsidised to bring the participant cost down to $865 for the two year course.
For more information about LTEM contact Steve on +61 (0)8 9821 3221 or email stephen.tunbridge@agric.wa.gov.au. You can also read more about Steve in the next article.