Shawn McGrath

Effective supplementation of ewes grazing dual purpose wheat.

Grazing of dual purpose wheat can provide a useful feed source to fill the annual winter feed gap in the higher rainfall mixed farming zone of southern NSW. However the mineral profile of wheat forage suggests that potential deficiencies exist for sheep grazing on dual purpose wheat. This project aims to identify the potential problems for grazing pregnant and lactating ewes on dual purpose wheat and investigate supplementation to overcome any metabolic issues. It is hypothesised that unsupplemented ewes grazing dual purpose wheat will be more susceptible to either clinical or subclinical forms of hypocalcaemia and hypomagnesaemia, both of which have an impact on the production of the animal.

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