Big benefits behind scanning joined ewes

Last week, an ag teacher tour across the Fleurieu Peninsula was told pregnancy scanning was the "cheapest and most productive" dollar a farmer could spend.

The tech not only identified dry ewes, it also enabled better management of pregnant ewes, with more nutrition provided to multiple-bearing mothers and smaller mob sizes considered for multiple births.

Tour host and Hillstream farm owner Sammy McIntyre said scanning her joined ewes had been "the biggest driver in productivity change" at her family's Parawa property, where they ran 1100 breeding ewes.

"(Pregnancy scanning) enables us to allocate our resources to where they are most needed - we better manage our drys, singles and twins, and use that information when considering our replacement ewes," she said.

"It's really important to scan for condition score and get ewe nutrition right.

"In a good year, singles can get overfat and have issues birthing large lambs, while in a dry year, you can focus feed on where it is needed, which is your twin ewes. The aim is to also get rid of dry ewes - scanning is the cheapest dollar (per head) you can spend on sheep."

Dayna Grey, Marrabel, was also at Hillstream, showcasing her sheep pregnancy scanner to attendees.

She said ewes cost about $45 to run from day of joining through to lambing, so it was important to weed out those not in-lamb.

Ms Grey established her preg scanning business NextGen Ag Services in 2019.

In her first year, she scanned 8000 sheep, but by 2020 had 80,000 sheep on her books. Today, she scans between 110,000 and 150,000 sheep and 30,000 cattle.

She could do more as demand was there, but she was wary of burnout. She was also keen to build relationships with her clients and help them make better use of their data.

"I was lucky when I got into the industry, as I had family connections, a good mentor and a few people left the industry at that time," she said. "But there is definitely an opportunity for anyone wanting to get into the industry.

"SA doesn't have the greatest scanning take-up. All the clients I've received this year have all scanned previously. And with the recent drop in sheep price, some who scanned last year to sell drys at an opportune time, may not see the value this year.

"But numbers are expected to grow, especially with the push into eID and even with some of the new sheep handler technology, there are many next generation farmers looking to make better use of their data."

She did caveat that it wasn't full-time year-round work, and she was lucky to have plenty of other labour contracting opportunities.

"Only 40-50pc of the national flock is scanned, so there is a real need to get people doing this to help improve those figures and the flock in general," she said.

Cousins Merino Services scanner Josh Cousins agreed take-up numbers weren't increasing dramatically, as there was a lot of "extra effort" involved, but the technology was useful in fine-tuning production systems.

He said their scanning business, which runs a team of six or seven covering SA and into Vic and NSW, was always looking for workers, as it "took a long time" to train them up to be accurate and confident.

"There is also a lot of travel, and some people don't want to work with sheep, so it's not for everyone," he said.

"But there is plenty of work there, if people are considering getting into the industry."

Sheep industry researcher Forbes Brien, University of Adelaide, led a recent study into scanning of Australian sheep, and said there was profitability in scanning for litter size.

"It's about $1/head to scan a ewe for litter size, but it's about a four to one, or 400pc, return on investment," he said.

"Scanning for litter size is important. Twin/multiple bearing ewes are under a lot more nutritional demand for energy and protein than single-bearers or dry ewes, so targeting them for better nutrition improves both lamb and ewe survival and the early growth of lambs."

Dr Brien said their work also looked into scanning accuracy to help address expectations.

"There's much more error associated with recording the number of lambs born than people may realise," he said.

"Often people blame the scanners for not being accurate, but they're also not seeing all the lambs born, or understand late abortions, etc.

"We know that on average, there's about 20pc lamb loss between birth and marking time, so there's initially some uncertainty about what the results mean and how that information can be used.

"But pregnancy scanning is a valuable tool for increasing reproductive efficiency, and lamb and ewe survival rates, so it's hard to understand why it's not being more widely adopted."

He said there was about 166 scanners active nationally, highlighting considerable demand for the technology.

"But in some states and regions, it is hard to get a scanner, particularly if you are a new client," he said.

"We advise people to book scanners well ahead if you want a timely scanning with the well trained scanners."