Herd & Flock Management

Paraway focuses on improving efficiency at Barton through a tight focus on maximising pasture and breeding practices for productivity. Paraway also continues to monitor updates in methane-reducing feed supplements in applicability to forage-crop operations.

Pasture Management

Barton Station is undertaking an extensive pasture development program. This includes addressing soil fertility, subdividing paddocks, increasing available shelter, and delivering reticulated water to paddocks. These measures enable higher quality pasture and better lamb survival rates, in turn raising animal productivity.

Additionally, pasture species are carefully managed at Barton. New pastures are predominately a holdfast phalaris and clover mix. Rotationally grazing cows enables the bulk of the carryover spring feed to be cleared over summer, opening up pasture sward and allowing sub clover germination during the autumn break, maximising feed quality and availability for the herd over the year.

Containment feeding using holding paddocks is also employed at Barton Station during seasonal feed gaps when silage is available. Silage forms the base containment ration and is harvested at peak nutritional content, best utilising excess pasture grown in spring. This helps to maximise weight-gain providing high-quality feed for livestock through differing weather conditions. Additionally, containment helps prevents overgrazing in dry summer periods, allowing pasture to recover to build the lambing platform.

Herd Management

Barton maximises herd productivity through fine-tuning breeding practices. Ewes are split joined in both January and February helping to mitigate the chance of bad weather at joining or lambing periods which can affect weight gain. A short joining and early weaning period are also designed to give ewes additional time post-weaning to feed in peak spring conditions and regain condition for joining.

Additionally, foetal aging is undertaken as part of the cattle breeding program at Barton. At 12 weeks, foetuses are aged using scanning to identify early and late joined cows based on their expected month of calving. On this basis, breeders are segregated for differential nutritional requirements to be managed more easily as well as planning for more efficient feed budgeting and agistment or sale decisions in the event of a dry autumn or spring.

Methane Reducing Feed Supplements and Pastures

Recent research has identified certain pasture species (such as lucerne, subterranean clover, chicory, plantain) and variants within species that have shown potential to directly reduce livestock enteric methane production. Further research is required, but this could provide opportunities to incorporate direct methane reductions into extensive pasture-based systems like Barton. Paraway will continue to monitor progress in this area.