$5.55/ewe profit from pregnancy scanning
AWI and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) have produced new extension material that clearly demonstrates the value of pregnancy scanning to increase farm profitability. The material also explains what’s involved with pregnancy scanning and how to best manage ewes once they have been scanned.
BENEFIT-COST ANALYSIS SUMMARY
- Scanning for multiples increased profit by an average of $5.55 per ewe scanned, with an average return on investment of 400%.
- Scanning for multiples provided more than twice the average profit of scanning for only pregnancy status (pregnant or empty).
- Capturing the potential profit requires implementing some management changes to utilise the information provided from scanning.
A benefit-cost analysis (BCA) funded by AWI and MLA shows that pregnancy scanning for multiples and implementing optimal management to ewes based on their reproductive status provides sheep and wool producers with a 400% return on investment, with the profit averaging $5.55 per ewe scanned.
The BCA showed that scanning for multiples is profitable in all Australian regions and flock types studied.
AWI National Extension Manager Emily King says determining a ewe’s pregnancy status and the number of lambs she is carrying allows producers to provide optimal nutrition and conditions for the ewe.
“Managing ewes based on whether they are carrying single or multiples, by adjusting feeding or paddock allocation at lambing, can lead to increased marking rates. In addition, identifying and excluding passenger ewes from the breeding flock allows precious feed resources to be prioritised to those ewes that are pregnant,” Emily said.
“The greatest improvement in profit from investing in pregnancy scanning comes from scanning for multiples, removing the passenger ewes and managing the needs of single- and multiple-bearing ewes based on the number of lambs they are carrying.”
Emily King, AWI Extension Manager
Pregnancy scanning for multiples is vital to understand where the biggest opportunity is to reduce reproductive wastage in a flock. For example, scanning percentage and lamb marking rates may be very different, indicating that lamb survival should be prioritised to increase marking rate.
Pregnancy scanning also enables producers to be more proactive in animal welfare, improving the survival of not only the lambs but also the ewes, particularly multiple-bearing ewes, by reducing difficult births and risks of disease.
The BCA showed that scanning for only pregnancy status (pregnant or empty) returned an average profit of $2.65 per ewe scanned.
“While this is less than half the profit achieved compared to scanning for multiples, it is still a good start. It’s common for producers who scan for only pregnancy status to progress to scanning for multiples in future years as they become comfortable with the process,” Emily said.
Increasing adoption of pregnancy scanning
The latest AWI and MLA National Producer Survey reveals that 55% of producers do not scan their ewes. Past research has indicated that the main reason for producers not scanning is because they ‘see no benefit’.
“However, now we have the BCA, we have the evidence that pregnancy scanning is a valuable tool for increasing reproductive efficiency and farm profitability,” Emily said.
“Our new extension material communicates the strong case for scanning, especially for multiples, including economic, productivity and welfare benefits, and aims to encourage its adoption by many more producers.”
The new extension resources comprise a set of five booklets and fact sheets:
- Pregnancy scanning: an ultra-sound investment – This booklet is the primary, ‘go to’ extension resource. It is a comprehensive publication that not only explains pregnancy scanning and how it works, but also includes the three resources listed 2–4 below.
- The value of pregnancy scanning fact sheet – This two-page fact sheet summarises the results of the BCA, highlighting the economic benefit of pregnancy scanning and which management interventions provide the greatest return on investment.
- Ewe scanning and management checklist – A handy two-page checklist, this is designed to go on the fridge and be a reminder of the key dates, actions and activities for getting the most out of pregnancy scanning.
- AWI and MLA resource guide for sheep reproduction – This is a comprehensive listing of AWI and MLA sheep reproduction resources with information on how to access them. The resources are grouped into four categories: Reproduction; Sheep health; Feedbase & nutrition; and Breeding & selection.
- The value of pregnancy scanning: A benefit-cost analysis – If you’re interested in more detail, this five-page extract from the full BCA report includes the assumptions and growing season length for each scenario modelled in the BCA and includes a link to the full BCA report.
More information: Download the new extension material at www.wool.com/pregscanning
Photo credit: Cousins Merino Services
This article appeared in the December 2024 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.
