Sheep and Goat Science Commons^™

Control Strategies For Annual Ryegrass Toxicity, W J. Burdass

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In 982-83, annual ryegrass tocicity (ARGT) was estimated to have cost Western Australian sheep farmers between $7 and $8 million in total economic losses.

The disease can severely disrupt farming operations. Sheep must be checked daily and if affected moved to a 'safe' paddock. The availability of paddock feed is reduced, as is stock carrying capacity. Worry about the possibility of dramatic stock losses, and uncertainty about what decisions to make, are all stressful.

Stock losses from ARGT can be minimised by the use of selective herbicides to control ryegrass in pastures and crops. This breaks the disease cycle - …

Protein Enrichment Of Cereal Grains For Livestock, Andrew C. Dunlop, C. L. Mcdonald

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Every year Western Australian farmers feed about 759,000 tonnes of cereal grain to livestock, mostly to sheep but also to dairy and beef cattle. These grains are fed as drought feeds, as supplements to augment poor quality or scarce paddock feed or in growth rations to attain higher levels of production. Many grains fed, however, have a low protien content and are therefore used inefficiently by animals.

Several methods of improving the low protien content of feed grains have been tested. They include the addition of lupin seed, spraying oats with urea and gassing oats with ammonia.

Facing A Drought, J A C Smith

Bulletins 4000 -

This booklet is aimed at helping you decide on strategies, in this and future droughts, in relation to money flow, animal management and cropping. It highlights the technical problems associated with different strategies and how to combat them.

Bulletin Ma 20 - Sheep Yard Plans - Flocks Up To 500, D. Bicknell

Animal production and livestock published reports

Manjimup Regional Office

Owners of small flocks often use much more labour per sheep than do owners of large flocks. Most of the difference in labour use is the design of sheep sheds and sheep yards, and a smaller affect from the mob size and experience in handling sheep.

This booklet gives some detail on design and construction of yards and a number of yard plans to handle up to 500 or so sheep. Many of the plans are from an Australian Wool Corporation publicatiot1 "Wool Harvesting Notes".

The Agriculture And Land Description Of The Midlands, Wongan Hills And Dalwallinu Districts Of W.A., D N. Sawkins

Agriculture reports

This report deals with the area of responsibility of the Moora District Office of the W.A. Department of Agriculture. The Moora advisory district consists of seven shires which cover 2,811,400 hectares. Agriculture in the advisory district varies according to climate and soil type, Sheep and cattle production are the main enterprises in the high rainfall (coastal) areas. Mixed cereal sheep production is the main system in the medium and low rainfall areas with cereals increasing in importance as annual rainfall diminishes.

Some Morphological And Chemical Responses Of Blackbrush (Coleogyne Ramosissima) To Goat Browsing: Influences On Dietary Blackbrush Selection By Goats And Cattle, Frederick D. Provenza

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Domestic goats were used to modify the growth form of blackbrush, a spinescent shrub occurring in nearly monospecific stands on several million hectares of rangeland in the southwestern United States. The objective of this research was to evaluate goat browsing as a means of improving these rangelands for cattle. Winter goat browsing stimulated spring twig growth from basal and axillary buds which resulted in increased production.

Twig production by heavily browsed plants (>95 percent removal of current season's twigs) was a function of precipitation, soil depth, branch location on the plant, and period of rest after browsing. As precipitation …

Bulletin 3967 - Cyanogenetic Plants Of Western Australia, T E H Aplin

Bulletins - 3000 - 3999

This article deals with those native, naturalized and cultivated plants, which by virtue of contained cyanogenetic glycosides, are known to be poisonous or potentially poisonous to livestock in Western Australia.

Cyanogenetic glycosides are chemical compounds which contain a cyanogen (cyanide) radical combined with a sugar molecule. The sugar moiety may differ in glycosides obtained from different plants, and as a consequence glycosides from different plants, containing different sugar moieties, may be given different names.

When a cyanogenetic glycoside is broken down by enzyme action, through injury to the plant or by microbial action in the digestive system of the animal, …

Erosion Risks With High Stocking Rates At Kojonup Trial, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A pasture grazing trial at Kojonup dramatically illustrated the effects of Cyclone Alby. Severe erosion was evident on the heavily stocked plots while the more lightly stocked plots showed little damage.

Doublegee Control In Pasture : What Is It Worth, D J. Gilbey, R. J. Lightfoot

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A recent study showed that the cost of spraying to control a heavy doublegee infestation can be recovered in the first year of the spraying.

Super And Stocking Rates At Kojonup After 10 Years, J W. Bowden, B. Scurr, R. Glencross, K. Longbottom

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A Department of Agriculture trial on old land at Kojonup has been comparing rates of superphosphate and stocking of sheep for 10 years.

Controlling Annual Ryegrass Toxicity, C H. Trotman

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Eight years of intensive work has changed annual ryegrass toxicity from an unknown killer to a manageable problem.

Ryegrass Disease Could Spread, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The disease annual ryegrass toxicity kills sheep and cattle grazing pastures which contain infected annual ryegrass. In Western Australia the first confirmed outbreak was in 1968 in the Gnowangerup area.

The disease has noe spread over a range of 450 kilometres and with a total area of perhaps 100 000 hectares. because annual ryegrass is the major sown pasture grass in W.A. the disease could spread throughout the South-West.

There are some precautions that can be taken.

A Survey Of Shearing Times, B R. Beetson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

When do farmers in W.A. shear their sheep, and why do they selest the times they do?

A Department of Agriculture survey attempted to answer these questions, which have important implications for the wool industry.

Bulletin No 3966 - Vitamin A And Animal Health, J. Johnson

Bulletins - 3000 - 3999

Vitamin A is one of the essential vitamins for animal health. Grazing animals obtain their vitamin A requirements mostly from the carotene in green feed. This carotene is converted to Vitamin A in the intestinal wall and is passed to the liver and to a less extent the kidneys for storage. Some carotene also passes direct to the liver where it is stored before it is converted to vitamin A.

When dry pastures, hay and grains (except maize) are low in carotene content this ability of the animals to store vitamin A means that they usually have enough when there …

Lupinosis, M R. Gardiner

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In spite of many years of intensive investigation lupinosis remains a remarkably complex and baffling problem. Current research is throwing new light on the disease and it is now much better understood— although far from beaten.

Lupinosis research is co-ordinated by the Department of Agriculture's Lupinosis Committee, on which are represented all groups working on the disease. These include veterinary surgeons and pathologists, chemists, plant pathologists and animal husbandry specialists.

Chairman of the Committee is Dr M. R. Gardiner, Chief of the Department's Animal Division and a veteran of lupinosis research.

In this article Dr Gardiner summarises the current state …

Lupinosis And Rates Of Stocking Of Lupin Stubbles, K P. Croker, J. G. Allen, C. R. Lester, R. B. Guthrie

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Lupin stubbles provide valuable summer sheep feed but under some conditions the fungus Phomopsis rossiana (for which lupins are the host plant) produces a toxin that causes lupinosis. Results from research at Badaingarra Research Station over the 1973-74 and 1974- 75 summers have shown that sheep liver damage associated with lupin stubble grazing is likely to be more severe at high than low stocking rates.

Extracts From The Department Of Agriculture's Annual Report, 1974-75, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The Department of Agriculture's Annual Report for the year ended June 30, 1975, took the form of short reviews of selected activities of the Department during the year.

Some of these reviews are reprinted below to give an idea of the range of activities undertaken by the Department. A limited number of copies of the full report are available to interested organisations from the Department of Agriculture, Jarrah Road, South Perth, 6151.

In past years the Department's report has taken the form of a relatively detailed technical summary of the work of each Division. Because of the large volume of …

Nutrition Of Sheep Grazing Foothill Big Game Range In Spring, Kurt J. Kotter

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Sheep with esophageal fistulas were used to determine the daily intake, nutritive content and digestibility of forage at three periods and two stocking intensities during the spring of 1972 on a typical foothill range in northern Utah.

Heavy grazing under a season-long regime did not influence the concentrations of dietary chemical components when compared to moderate grazing; however, it did depress the digestibility of cellulose and organic matter. There was a significant decline in the dietary chemical components due to forage maturation. Digestibility of organic matter and cellulose were significantly higher in the early spring as compared to late spring. …

Annual ('Wimmera') Ryegrass Toxicity, Geoffrey A. Pearce, O. M. Goss, P. H. Berry, J. L. Wise

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Because annual ryegrass is one of the most widespread pasture plants in Western Australia, annual ryegrass toxicity is a threat to livestock in many agricultural areas—even though the area now affected is small.

The problem is being intensively studied by the Department of Agriculture and a working group has been set up to investigate potential control measures.

In this article the group reviews the problem and reports progress in its investigations to the end of 1973.

Partial Budgeting For Sheep Farmers, J W. Malcolm

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

A Programmed Text.

A Programmed instruction workbook.

*The first 11 pages are adapted from J.B. Bardsley's "How to make more profit on dairy farms".

This book is designed to show you how to draw up partial budgets.

If you are like most farmers you are probably searching for different ways of running your farm to increase farm income. Choices between alternatives are very difficult, and require a great deal of careful thought and planning, especially where large cash outlays are involved. But to decide how, where and what to produce with any confidence you need to consider all the physical …

Clover Disease : What Do We Know And What Can We Do, T Marshall

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A review of 30 years' study and practical experience of clover disease in Western Australia—and a summary of current recommendations for reducing problems in sheep grazing pastures based on oestrogenic subterranean clover.

Farm Operations Management, H E. Fels, A. W. Hogstrom

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The main defence of Australian farmers against the cost-price squeeze has been to increase productivity. The tendency is to run more and more stock per man and to grow more crop per man.

Some farmers run unusually large numbers of animal units per man-year.

The operations of 16 such farmers over one year were examined to find out whether it had been profitable for them to reduce labour inputs to such an extent.

Reproductive Wastage In Sheep On Clover Areas, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia's 67 per cent lambing for 1970 compares poorly with that of other Australian States, and other countries. From the 12.3 million ewes mated in this State's agricultural areas in 1970, only 8.2 million lambs were marked.

This low 77.7 per cent conception rate sparked the present series of reproductive wastage investigations by the Department's Sheep and Wool Branch.

This report describes the first year's results of the project in W.A.'s "clover disease" areas.

Wimmera Ryegrass Toxicity, Department Of Agriculture, Western Australia

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Wimmera ryegrass toxicity has been reported for many years to affect sheep and occasionally cattle in New Zealand, South Australia and the United States of America.

In Western Australia, occasional reports since 1959 and severe outbreaks of staggers in the Katanning- Gnowangerup areas over the last two years prompted the investigation reported below.

Pasture Legume Varieties And Ewe Fertility, T Marshall, H. E. Fels, H. G. Neil, R. C. Rossiter

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

ALTHOUGH it was first thought that all varieties of subterranean clover would cause ewe infertility, research in the last 10 to 15 years has shown that varieties differ in potency.

The relative level of potency has also been shown to remain consistent for any one variety under normal conditions.

Poison Sedge Can Kill Stock, M E. Nairn, T. E. H. Aplin, D. S. Petterson, A. J. Brighton

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

POISON SEDGE was first suspected of being toxic to livestock in Western Australia nearly 80 years ago.

Sudden deaths of sheep grazing areas on which poison sedge grew have been reported from many regions from Geraldton to Scott River.

This article reports a case of poisoning in the field, and the experimental reproduction of poison sedge toxicity in pen-fed sheep.

Phosphate Applications Affect The Coumestrol Level Of Medics, T Marshall, R. J. Parkin

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Western Australia has a million acres of medics including various cultivars of barrel medic, Medicago truncatula, and strand medic, M. littoralis. Both species contain coumestrol, a chemical thought to have caused delayed conception and reduced twinning rates among grazing ewes in New Zealand.

No infertility has been reported among ewes grazing medic pastures in Western Australia, but coumestrol levels in both species have often been high enough to suggest the possibility of oestrogenic responses among sheep grazing them.

Rationing Standing Crops To Sheep, H E. Fels

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

This experiment was done at Merredin Research Station to develop and test a method of rationing standing crops to sheep, and also to find whether rationing would reduce the sheep's water consumption.

The experiment involved 60 sheep on 12 one-acre plots of drought affected Gamenya wheat.

Surplus Cereal Crops For Sheep Feed, H E. Fels

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

SINCE the introduction of wheat quotas many farmers have considered feeding unsaleable grain to sheep.

The three alternative methods of feeding this grain to sheep are

• as standing crops

• as grain supplements, fed in the paddock

• as grain plus hay, in a feedlot.

Crop Rationing : A Useful Drought Feeding Technique, H E. Fels

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

A TRIAL carried out during the 1969 drought demonstrated that rationing standing crop is a practical method of feeding it to sheep when feed is scarce.

Rationing will be mainly a drought feeding technique for that part of the crop which will definitely be used as sheep feed. Crop that may or may not be needed for sheep would normally be harvested and the grain kept as a contingency allowance.