Projects

S3 Project Public Field Day - 18th April 2008

Lincoln University - Union Lounge - Canterbury
10am to 4pm

NZSAP S3 Project Brief June 2006
S3 Invite Program Flyer
S3 Project invite card
S3 Media Advisory

S3 - Sheep Sustainability Strategy

Project Title - S3 - Improving farm profitability through sustainable best practise breeding and parasite management initiatives.

Applicant Group

• Mid Micron Wool NZ Incorporated
• The Corriedale Breed Society
• Merino NZ Incorporated
• Merino Breed Society

Project Committee

Chairman

Alistair Campbell - Chairman of Merino Breed Society

Project Manager

John Bates - Director of JBT Consulting

Committee

• Dr Jon Hickford - Senior Lecturer Animal Science Lincoln University
• John Booker - Corridale Breeder and SAMM Breeder and Committee Member
• Greg Mirams - Managing Director, FECPAK International Limited
• Robin Wilson - Corridale Breeder and Committee Member
• Dianne Rawlinson - Chairman of Corridale Breed Society

Management Committee

• John Bates (Project Manager)
• Greg Mirams (Technical Manager)
• Dr Jon Hickford

Project Funding Group

• MAF - Sustainable Farming Fund
• Principle Corporate Partner - Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative
• Merino Inc
• Merino Ram Breeders
• Mid Micron Ram Breeders
• Equipment suppliers

Project Providers

• Lincoln University
• FECPAK International Ltd
• SIL
• Lambplan

Project Timeframe

• Start date November 2004
• Project funded for 3 years

The S3 Project

The core goals and outcomes of the S3 Project at farm level are:

• Identify the level of parasitism on approximately 40 properties in stud lambs at weaning and again at approximately 7-8 months of age.
• Identify and quantify the species mix of parasites at weaning and 7-8 months of age across all of the project properties (South Island).
• Undertake full FECRT and larval cultures on all properties using standardised controlled protocol.
• Identify parasite resistant sire lines across the flocks and record these results on the SIL and Lambplan databases.
• Develop best practice quarantine and drench usage strategies on the project properties.
• Benchmark drenching practices and costs across all project properties.
• Summarise each properties findings and include them as an individual report.
• Disseminate best practice protocols developed within the project initially to the S3 project farmers and to their commercial ram clients.
• Examine the relationship (if any) between parasite levels, sire line, weaning weight, weight at 7-8 months, dag score, DNA footrot status.
• Report to industry the drench and parasite species resistance status across the project properties.
• Develop a code of recommendations and protocols from the S3 findings for adoption across the wider industry.
• By using the project data and exisiting epidemiological knowledge, model the financial benefits of selecting a resistant sire line to a commercial farmer.

What is involved for an S3 Project Farmer

Each farmer is required to make available all the current crop of ram lambs, firstly at weaning and then again at 7-8 months of age. The S3 team will visit each of the project properties with the mobile data collection unit. Each lamb is then processed through the unit and has the following information collected:

• Weight (Tru-Test weigh systems)
• Lamb fitted with a Zeetag EID tag (matched to brass)
• Dag score
• Blood sample
• Individual FEC sample
• Composite FEC sample is collected
• A controlled drench treatment is undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of each of the drenches on the the property

In order to complete the FECRT each project farmer is required to submit 10 samples from each treatment group 10 days after the S3 team has visited.

Each project farmer also supplies the project with historical drench usage data for the property.

S3 Project - Recent News

Browse the latest S3 Project news and latest press on FECPAK.