“An expert is an ordinary fellow from another town”.
This famous saying, commonly attributed to Mark Twain, highlights the human tendency to overvalue advice from outsiders, while ignoring local wisdom.
Why is it that when we look for expertise in a given area, we assume that the distance travelled by a guest speaker is an indicator of that person’s aptitude and ability?
Fortunately, Dr Chelsea Hair (pictured) from Herd Solutions is no “ordinary fellow”.
Chelsea Hair is a proud local representing a local business that punches well above its weight. For years Herd Solutions principal Dr Alison Gunn has been in high demand across Australia for her extension work with sheep and cattle producers, and that was what attracted Chelsea to work for the business. And she brings her local wisdom to the table.
Now well-entrenched in the business, Chelsea oversees an MLA project called ‘Focus on Weighty Weaners’.
This three-year project investigates what management practices lead to the most economical weight gains in post weaned calves. Seven Gippsland farms with vastly different locations, climates, pasture bases and production systems have been enrolled in the project. The first year of the project (2025) sought to establish baseline post weaning growth rates whilst investigating the existing management practices on each farm regarding parasite management, nutrition and trace element supplementation.
For years two and three (2026 and 2027) each farm will then host a demonstration and control group to investigate what management changes may lead to faster growing, healthier calves, and the cost-effectiveness of those changes.
Amy Rogers and Alfred Hackett joined the Focus on Weighty Weaners group and found their weaners were losing nearly a kilogram a day during winter last year, so this year have planted crops to get the heifers to joining weight quicker.
The result has been a spectacular success, with this year’s autumn heifers 75kg heavier than last year’s.
“The Focus on Weighty Weaners course has been invaluable”, Amy says, after initially being sceptical of the work involved in weighing weaners every six weeks.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure”, she says “and when we realised the potential we were losing with our heifers last year, we were really motivated to improve things this year.
“This year, we’ve actually had to scale back access to crops for our weaner heifers, as they were putting on too much weight, so we purchased some trade steers to put on the crop as well. Currently the heifers are gaining about 500grammes a day, and that is just where we want them to be.”
Dr Chelsea Hair agrees with Amy about measuring and monitoring.
“It’s just not practical to estimate whether weaners are holding or losing weight without actually measuring, and feed tests will show you if the pasture your mob is grazing has sufficient nutrition for their needs. Weaners are limited in the quantity of feed they can consume, and if there is not sufficient energy for their requirements, they are likely to lose weight, which impacts your bottom line.
“You don’t know what you don’t test. Weaner calves need attention to detail to enable them to thrive. Collecting weight data, parasite monitoring and feed tests can provide valuable information for managing these calves. Data collected means good decisions made.”
Dr Chelsea Hair will present a session entitled Weighty Weaners: Practical Strategies for Better Returns at the Gippsland Red Meat Conference on Tuesday August 25th at the Sale Baptist Church.
Theme for this year’s conference is Every Decision Counts.
Bookings through Trybooking or via the Gippsland Agricultural Group website
Gippsland Agricultural Group acknowledges the support of our event partners – MLA, Agriculture Victoria, East Gippsland Shire, Wellington Shire and Food & Fibre Gippsland.
