Reproduction performance is a main driver of profit for many breeding operations, so understanding where further gains can be made is fundamental to increasing farm profitability.
Tony and Pattie O’Boyle are self-made, hardworking farmers with an outcome-focused attitude and once had a life-long goal of owning a sheep and beef farm. In 2008, Tony and Pattie achieved this goal when they purchased Marangai, a 1,091ha (800ha effective) farm where they typically winter between 6,500 to 7,000 stock units. The management group focus on sheep performance as the main profit driver, hence Marangai runs a 73:27 sheep to cattle ratio.
When revisiting their profit drivers, Marangai identified reproductive performance as an opportunity for their business and FarmIQ as an integral tool in this process.
Often farmers know their scanning and lambing percentages as key performance indicators, however, several other reproductive indicators can be measured and analysed to help improve performance, and the O'Boyles are keen to uncover these. Marangai plans to use FarmIQ to pinpoint these areas to help make more informed decisions from their data - specifically, they plan to target strategic ewe weights (mating, scanning and post-weaning), tail end ewes, scanning and set stocking information. This type of analysis has become so much easier for Marangai as FarmIQ allows for smooth, fast simple access to all farm information.
|Prior to being involved in FarmIQ, all reproductive events in the farming calendar such as mating, scanning, weaning, etc. were recorded in classic, tattered notebooks.
Tony recognised that staffing challenges can be a constraint around data entry, but he found that the training and support provided by FarmIQ helped smooth this process. Having already achieved a 2kg/lamb improvement when monitoring paddock performance at docking, the O’Boyles are optimistic that tackling reproductive performance will be their next big driver in profitability.
Ultimately, for the O’Boyles and their team, FarmIQ is most valuable as a recording and reporting system that can help establish a sustainable farming system that meets the needs of them, their staff, their animals and the environment.
You can read more about Tony and Pattie's case study here.
