With state governments and local councils having the power of veto over both small and large feedlots, it is feared the finishing sector of the lamb industry has little power, facts and best practice to defend itself in the face of future challenges.

The new lamb code of practice, presently being developed, aims to gather the facts and figures surrounding the growing industry, but unfortunately they are few and far between when compared to the beef finishing sector.

Fears for the lamb finishing sector come from an unusual source.

Facilitator of recent workshops looking into the development of the code, Bruce Knee says little is known about lamb feedlotting and much of the code uses facts and experiences from the beef feedlot industry.

“This is not often relevant, for example sheep produce dry dung that floats on water and so a settling pond doesn’t make a lot of sense but under current proposals, pondage is required for feedlots housing as little as 500 lambs and just may not be required.”

Mr Knee added some parts of the present code are simply not practical or flexible enough and do not take into account the seasonal nature of many lamb feedlots, the soil structure or topography.

“One issue that has caused plenty of discussion is heat stress and shading.

"It can be a very expensive cost to a business and in the south of the country, heat stress may not be a big issue.”

He added the industry needs a code that is practical and not based on the cattle industry.

It is for this reason that Mr Knee is asking as many lamb producers as possible to take part in the development of the code.

“Now is your chance to shape the future of this industry and if you don’t, the industry may have its future shaped by others, with less understanding of what is required,” he added.

So far, meetings in West Australia, South Australia and Victoria have only had a modest response from producers, with meetings presently taking place in New South Wales and Queensland, with Tasmania to come.

“The final draft of this code comes out in 2010 so there is plenty of time to get it right but we need more input, because otherwise producers may well be given something they don’t want.”

* Producers are encouraged to access the code on www.productivenutrition.com.au or on www.mla.com.au