Agricultural
22 August, 2024
Toora Prime Lamb’s industry day
Tooraweenah Prime Livestock (TPL) is set to host an Information Day on lamb and sheep meat products.
Tooraweenah Prime Livestock (TPL) is set to host an Information Day on lamb and sheep meat products available to both members and the public on Thursday, August 29 at the Gilgandra Showground.
The event will inform how to “meat your lamb market specs,” with guest speakers Geoff Duddy, Jillian Kelly, and James Ingrey present to share their expertise within their respective fields.
Morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea will also be provided on the day, for $40 tickets per person, or free entry for TPL members.
Geoff Duddy is a private consultant at Sheep Solutions based in southern Queensland with more than 35 years’ experience in sheep product markets.
He spent 27 years with NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in both sheep and wool research and extension roles before he established Sheep Solutions in 2013, offering advice covering all aspects of sheep production.
Mr Duddy will speak on live animal assessment, how to fat and condition score lambs, and estimating carcass values to meet market requirements.
“My focus is on how to meet specifications for optimising your returns,” Mr Duddy said.
“[Those being] carcass weight and fat scoring, and where those [factors] should be when you sell your product.”
Mr Duddy will also speak on new methods of assessing product quality, primarily genetics.
“In a nutshell, [what] tools are available for producers to produce quality good eating lamb and getting paid for it,” said Mr Duddy.
Dr Jillian Kelly is a ruminant nutritionist, veterinarian, and director and founder of Animal Health and Nutrition Consulting (AHN).
She has worked as a production animal veterinarian in both the private and government sectors for over 20 years, doing a lot of her work in the central west and for TPL clients.
Dr Kelly will focus on assessing animal health and nutrition milestones before sending lambs to market.
This will include ruminant nutrition, lamb growth needs, how that fits with the feed base available in the region and how to identify and address gaps in the feed.
“[We want] to get more lambs and make lambs meet market standards fast,” said Dr Kelly.
According to Dr Kelly, lambs have to gain 140 grams a day from birth until they are 12 months old so they can be at slaughtering weight while still a lamb.
“Genetics plays a big part of it, and after that lots of places are quite variable with their climate.
“There are good seasons and dry seasons, it’s up to producers to do something while the feed is bad.”
James Ingrey is an agronomist at Delta Ag in Grenfell and has 31 years’ experience providing agricultural advice to his clients.
He also runs a 1700 hectare mixed farming production which includes prime lamb production.
Mr Ingrey will be the final guest speaker of the day, speaking on the ideal pastures for finishing lambs, different pasture mixes, and how to fill the feed gap.
“[I’ll be] covering off on what we are doing on our pastures – our combinations and varieties of crops - and the role our pastures play in achieving the end goal of turning lambs as fast as we can,” said Mr Ingrey.
“Secondly, the use of fodder crops to fill the feed gaps, mostly during the autumn and winter months.”
Mr Ingrey will be followed by a presentation from Max Laurie on behalf of Optiweigh.
