It was for this reason that the Maldon Bestwool/Bestlamb group recently called on University of New England ruminant nutritionist Lewis Khan to discuss improving animal production from stubble and poor quality pastures.

Mr Khan said the stubbles and dry feed vary greatly in their quality and were hard to test reliably but in general they all lost digestibility at the rate of about one per cent a week.

“Initially stock on dry feed will maintain weight, but as the season progresses weight losses are expected,” Mr Khan said.

“If stock were in good condition some weight loss may be acceptable and while supplementation while giving improved animal performance, may not be profitable.”

The bottom line Mr Khan gave was to monitor the weight of stock closely as this was the best measure of whether extra feeding was required.

“The rate of weight loss will also indicate if and when a minimum target weight will be reached and if this occurs a complete supplement is the best.”

He added that while commercially available products were convenient they were generally more expensive than homemade mixtures.