When do I let sheep out of containment in a dry season?

If you have livestock in containment ahead of the season break, what do you do if the rain doesn’t come?

This episode of the SA Drought Hub podcast explores the considerations around keeping sheep in containment in a dry season, how to decide when to let them out before lambing, and what you need to do if you don’t have any green pasture ready for their release.

Host Drew Radford speaks to Deb Scammell from Talking Livestock, an agricultural consultancy focused on ruminant nutrition and production, and Josh Hancock, a sheep producer at RL Hancock & Sons in Reedy Creek, near Lucindale.

Deb has been involved the SA Drought Hub project Containment feeding to boost business performance and resilience and has advised producers on containment feeding across the state. Josh offers first-hand experience, having run a containment lot for three seasons on his 3000-acre enterprise producing cross-bred lambs.

Producers can also access dry season information via the hub’s Knowledge Bank, including resources on containment feeding, feed budgeting and managing a winter feed gap.