Only once in the past six years have the 600 or so Wapiti-cross weaners sold by Awakino Station in late March averaged 70kg liveweight. But station manager Lindsay Paton believes that’s set to change, helping secure deer’s future on the farm.
“It’s now a target, not just a hope and we have plans to get us there,” he says.
Those plans are thanks to his involvement in the Mackenzie Basin Advance Party, which has inspired him to increase focus on hind condition and feeding.
“With the Advance Party the full focus is on deer farming – that’s what I enjoy about it. We put the rest of our businesses aside and concentrate on the deer and because of that we really make some progress.”
As a small group – there are eight in the Mackenzie Basin Advance Party – they can drill down to the detail needed to be confident when making management changes, Paton says.
“It’s not like most field days where all you get is the big picture. They’re often little more than a day out.
“We’ve got to know each other well and each other’s farms and we all report on our operations at each meeting. That’s what gives the group teeth. You have to do what you say you’re going to do and trust each other’s judgment.”
A facilitator at the meetings also keeps them on topic without leading the discussion one way or the other.
Achieving 70kg weaners was a target identified with the group to help the station retain and make the most of a reliable and strongly-priced weaner market for all but 250 of the 850 fawns produced each year. They’re sold on truck-weight direct to Mountain River’s Northbank Station, an integrated finishing-processing-marketing operation in mid Canterbury, Paton says.
“If we let our weaner weights slip we might find we’re in the saleyards and at the mercy of the market on the day.”
One step towards securing that 70kg target has been introducing Advantage Feeders.
“They were intended to be used as a trial to help get weaners through the weaning period but it got so dry last autumn we ended up feeding the whole lot.”
Initially flaps on the feeders were left open so hinds had access to the feed, showing the fawns the way. After three weeks restrictors were put in so only fawns could access the grain. The benefit was seen in weaners, which despite a desperately dry season and severe feed shortage, were only back 0.9kg on the previous year. However, hinds were back 9kg.
The lesson learnt in the dry of last autumn was the cost of leaving the weaners out on the hill because of lack of feed on the flats for finishing. With the feeders out weaner weights weren’t compromised but, as the hind weight loss figures suggest, condition of the breeding herd suffered substantially. Despite a subsequent increase in feeding there was a knock-on impact on scanning.
“We normally scan in the mid-90s but this year it’s back 8% at 88% due to the dry.”
The dry also stymied an Advance Party-inspired plan to carry dry hinds through from scanning to spring when the schedule lifts.
“Instead of selling at $6/kg, with a minimal amount of feed we could take them through to October and get $7-plus. But we couldn’t do it this year because there just wasn’t the feed available. We’ve not been as dry as North Canterbury but it’s been very dry all the same.”
As of late September just 240mm of rain had fallen at the homestead so there’s a long way to go if the annual total is to get into the recent range of 460-560mm a year, Paton says.
“But longer term, the average for here is in the lower 400s [mm] so maybe this is going to be one of those years that drags that average down.”
Farm facts
Gravity fed: Up to 210ha can be irrigated on Awakino’s main station but flow restrictions kick in early most years.
Hand to eye co-ordination
Awakino Station manager Lindsay Paton is now body condition scoring (BCS) hinds by hand on their twice-yearly visits to the yards, another Mackenzie Basin Advance Party-inspired management change.
“It’s just the same as condition scoring sheep and it’s giving us a much better assessment of how the herd’s faring than we got just by eye and weight. By eye you only pick up the really obvious stuff and you can make mistakes.
“There might be a light animal with a rough-looking coat but when you put a hand on them you can find that they’re fine – they’re just a naturally smaller animal. Similarly, you can miss a big animal that’s an average weight but is actually in light condition. It’s much more accurate and nothing slips through.”
The recorded figures will in time provide a reference database as well as inform and fine-tune future management decisions. For example, the difference between an average hind condition of BCS 3 at weaning – they normally wean mixed-age hinds pre-rut – and BCS 3.4 or 3.5 might mean putting the grain trailer out or not.
- To read more see: Taking stock of conditions
