Measure to Manage – Wyvern Weekend

Sally and Sam had the opportunity to present one of the training sessions at this year’s Wyvern Weekend run by the Peter Westblade Scholarship.

Now in it's third year, Wyvern Weekend provides an opportunity for industry professionals to mentor and educate young people in the Sheep and Wool Industry, as well as the chance to create valuable networks. The weekend covers topics including sheep selection, stockmanship, business skills, animal health and wool marketing.

Sally and Sam, alongside Elise Bowen presented the ‘Measure to Manage’ session focusing on utilising data to make more informed selection and management decisions for your commercial flock. The main points covered include:

The importance of planning

• Defining your profit drivers and breeding objective – where do you want to be in five and ten years’ time?

• Understanding what data you need to collect, how you will analyse the data and how you are going to use the information to make decisions

• Creating a data collection calendar – when and how are you going to collect the data

The fundamentals of data collection

• The equipment you need

• Industry standards and protocols to follow such as collecting measurements at the right age and curfews.

• General tips and tricks from personal experience

Data analysis, making decisions and putting the plan into action

• The tools available such as RamPower, Flock Profile, ASBV’s and RamSelect to make ram and replacement ewe selection decisions

• Simple data analysis using Microsoft Excel to make more informed management decisions

Sally Martin Consulting is a proud supporter of the Peter Westblade Scholarship and the Wyvern Weekend Initiative - we find we gain as much from the weekend as the participants!

This year we met so many keen young individuals, it is safe to say the future of the Australian sheep and wool industry is in capable hands!