Friday, March 29, 2024

Seizing the day

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Isn’t it great when a mineral drench solves everything? When all else fails, give a mineral drench. Throughout New Zealand a shot of vitamin B12 – which I put into the “mineral supplement” category – is the standard solution to low growth rates, looking poorly, low lamb survival, rough coat and scaley ears (of sheep). So the solution being suggested in the media for the fungal challenges that our livestock get in summer is a mineral drench. The particular fungal challenge that has been getting attention lately is zearalenone. This fungal toxin is an oestrogen look-alike that interferes with ovulation and has been blamed for poor scanning results for years. Both excess dry ewes and low twinning have been laid at the feet of zearalenone. A mineral drench before mating may well help each of those if the sheep are selenium deficient and the drench contains selenium.
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There is variable evidence that iodine in the drench could help as well. But as a counter to a fungal toxin challenge, the feel-good outcome is the best that could be expected.

Although zearalenone has been blamed for poor ewe performance for many years, just how much it is to blame is vague. There are many common factors that affect these reproductive failures.

Too many ewes with low body condition and poor feeding levels pre-mating are the big ones and are largely to blame for poor outcomes on countless farms.

To diagnose if there has been any effect of zearalenone once the reproductive failure is evident is a waste of time. What is found in May or June can’t be extrapolated to what was present in March or April.

So maybe the impact of zearalenone is bigger than we think.

I doubt it because flocks throughout 
the country, in every corner, that have genetically backed good fecundity and are supported by good management consistently scan well.

At most, zearalenone is a complication and may be one of those factors that exaggerate the impact of other factors. Selenium deficiency in ewes is much more common as a cause of fewer multiples than zearalenone.

For a country with low selenium levels and where the effect of low selenium on stock performance is well-recognised, it always surprises me how many farms are not supplementing in some way.

Applying with fertiliser is the most cost-effective way, much cheaper than feeding Brazil nuts to stock. We all like simple solutions – that’s why genetic solutions are so popular.

The same genetic claims are going strong in the herbage world – this ryegrass does so much more than others, that brassica crop delivers more weight gain. The same caution needs to be associated with theseassertions as for livestock genetic claims.

Converting plants into profit depends on a multitude of factors, with the genetics of the plant setting the potential. There is a cost with these claimed superior cultivars, so the pathway to profit needs to be very clear.

The list of things that the best farmers do, as beng touted by ANZ Bank’s Red Meat Insights survey, suggests that 84% of them engage in renewing pasture. This in most cases will involve some forage cropping.

I am not against upgrading pasture and forage cropping but, as for livestock genetics this has to be done as part of a plan.

However, this survey does not expose the percentage of farmers who do exactly that but are not classified as being in the top group.

It is interesting that two discussion groups I’m involved with in the top group, based on profit, are farmers who do no cropping or pature renewal. Even when compared to a wider benchmark group they are still up there.

I am not against upgrading pasture and forage cropping but, as for livestock genetics this has to be done as part of a plan. The production system wrapped around any of these inputs needs to be capable of converting the costs into profit.

In the ANZ report the bit that probably offered the best advice was the power of planning. Their suggested sequence of plan, activate, monitor, evaluate and analyse is valid yet was a sequence most farmers could not identify with.

There is no doubt such planning is valuable, but what that planning looks like could be very different for different people.

While there may be many farmers who don’t engage in any planning, there are also many who do. It is just not as formal as the bankers would like.

Despite this there is a big opportunity for many to bring more certainty to what they are doing and be more able to cpture opportunities by engaging in more planning. That could mean investing in more planning.

• Trevor Cook is a Manawatu veterinarian.

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