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Lifetime Ewe Management
The Lifetime Ewe Management (LTEM) training program was developed by the AWI-funded Lifetime Wool project and Rural Industry Skills Training (RIST) and commenced in 2005/06.
The content of LTEM is based largely on scientific outcomes from the Lifetime Wool project which quantified the impacts of nutrition throughout the reproductive cycle on ewe and progeny performance over their lifetime.
Around 4000 sheep producers across Australia have joined or completed LTEM. AWI currently supports woolgrower participation by offering levy payers a $1,000 subsidy on the LTEM course fee.
About Lifetime Ewe Management
The course is delivered in small groups of five to seven sheep producers that meet six times per year with a professional facilitator. During these hands-on sessions, the group visits each participating farm and learn skills in condition scoring, pasture assessment and best practice ewe and lamb management to increase reproduction efficiency and wool production, mainly through reducing ewe and lamb mortality.
The course focuses on practice change in key areas:
- Weaning and preparing ewes for next year's joining.
- When and what to feed ewes to optimise ewe condition at joining.
- Linking ewe condition at joining with lambing potential.
- Managing nutrition mid-pregnancy for single and twin lamb survival.
- Managing nutrition during late pregnancy to optimise lamb survival and future wool production of progeny.
- The economics of different feeding strategies.
Feed on Offer Library
Central to the skills developed through LTEM is the estimation of the quantity and quality of paddock Feed On Offer (FOO). Through AWI funding a standardised web based database of 650 FOO images is now available for producers and extension agents to better assess FOO in pastures in southern Australia.
The FOO digital gallery has been built across a wide range of production zones, including cool climate, Mediterranean and pastoral species.
Find out more on the Feed On Offer Library
Lifetime Ewe Management
To set up a LTEM group in your local area or to join a group Call RIST on (03) 5573 0956 or visit the website below.
Lifetime Ewe Management Application App
The popular LTEM course has an iPhone Application, putting millions of dollars of research and extension into the palm of woolgrower's hands.
The development gives producers a mobile decision making tool to optimise the energy requirements of their flock. Whilst not a replacement for the on farm course, the App is a digital extension of it and requires the essential skills of the course such as condition scoring of animals and accurate Feed On Offer (FOO) assessments.
This App was largely created in house at AWI with assistance from RIST together with many who helped road test the App in paddocks and sheep yards across the country. Within the App there are various tutorials taking users through the various functions it contains.
The Lifetime Ewe Management Application is free and available at the App store and the Google Play store.
It’s been very beneficial to understand the benefits to our bottom line of increasing conception rates, and the importance of feed management and ewe body condition scores.
- Peter Luberda, 2018 LTEM participant and Esperance woolgrower
