Precision nutrition for Merino ewes

Automatic monitoring of liveweight and weight change is now possible with walk–through weighing systems. Computer–based drafting can incorporate a range of measurements such as pregnancy status, past performance, value–for–wool and value–for–meat to implement decisions on supplementary feeding. The combination of these technologies will provide the option of allocating animals likely to give the best response to improved nutrition to supplementary feeding regimes or of giving them priority in rotational grazing systems. The advent of new walk–through–weighing equipment and improved automated drafting systems makes it imperative that we initiate research into the new era of sheep nutrition that has been facilitated by this new technology. Potential effects of precision nutrition in the sheep industry include improved lifetime productivity, better reproductive performance, production to specification, reduced death rates and improved parasite management.