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Calcium and magnesium deficiencies in pregnant and lactating ewes
Clinical calcium deficiency (hypocalcaemia or milk fever) can result in ewe deaths either during the last six weeks of pregnancy or during the first month after lambing. Symptoms include muscle tremors, being unable to rise and subsequent death. Clinical magnesium deficiency (hypomagnesaemia or grass tetany) can result in ewe deaths, typically when ewes are grazing grass-dominant pastures or cereal crops in winter and early spring. Symptoms include staggering, incoordination and sudden death. Hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia can cause ewe mortalities, and lambs from affected ewes will usually die. Lambing difficulty and complications from birth may also be increased, reducing survival.
Articles That Might Interest You
The WA woolgrower’s guide to containment feeding
Containment feeding has become a vital tool for WA woolgrowers to protect soils and maintain or increase stock condition through the increasingly long summer-autumn feed gap. This guide provides practical steps on site selection, nutrition and infrastructure, featuring expert insights from Esperance woolgrower Simon Fowler on how to lift flock performance while reducing costs through containment feeding.
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Improving conception, scanning results and lamb survival
Improving conception, scanning, and lamb survival is a multi-faceted game that begins months before the rams go out. This guide outlines the critical links between pre-joining nutrition, mating duration, and pregnancy management, providing Western Australian woolgrowers with a roadmap to optimise ewe energy reserves and lift whole-flock productivity through the challenging summer-autumn period.
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Mastering Sheep Breeding Values and Selection Indexes
Getting started with ASBVs and Selection Indexes can help woolgrowers make faster, smarter breeding decisions and improve flock profitability. It’s not just about chasing numbers — understanding an animal’s genetic merit helps you select sheep that fit your system and drive profit. This article breaks down the basics, including how ASBVs work, what Selection Indexes do and practical steps stud and commercial breeders are taking to make these tools work for you.
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