The favourable weather conditions in the latter half of 2014 has set many farmers up to at least match, or build upon, the positive lambing in spring 2014. Eddie Fallon is in a similar position, with his 120-ewe mid-season lambing flock recently scanning approximately 1.8 lambs per ewe to the ram, a significant increase on 1.65 lambs per ewe in 2014.

Lambing from 17 March onwards, the flock has entered the final two months of pregnancy, a critical time to get feeding right and prevent issues such as ewes lambing with insufficient colostrum or underweight/weak lambs. Ewes were housed two days after Christmas and put on a diet of good quality silage. They were shorn about two weeks ago with scanning taking place post-shearing.

Housing management

Following scanning, ewes were grouped on litter size and body condition score. Ewes are generally in better condition than previous years, with the exception of a small number of older ewes with multiple litter sizes. These ewes have been penned with five triplet-bearing ewes with supplementary concentrate feeding introduced after scanning at a rate of about 0.25lb (0.1kg). This will be increased on a weekly basis to between 1.5lb and 2lb (0.7kg to 0.9kg).

While wetter than Eddie would have liked, silage quality is described as very good. As a result, the plan is to introduce concentrate supplementation to twin-bearing ewes six weeks pre-lambing, starting at 0.25lb and building up to 1.5lb (0.1kg to 0.7kg) in the final week before lambing. Eddie says that single-bearing ewes only receive 0.25lb in the final weeks and 0.5lb (0.22kg) in the final two weeks of lambing, more so to keep ewes contented and ensure that ewes have sufficient colostrum if cross-fostering needs to be carried out. Ewes are being fed a high energy nut with a protein content of 18%. Because volumes fed in late pregnancy are small, the same concentrate will be fed right through late pregnancy.

Benefits of shearing

Eddie is a big advocate of winter shearing ewes. “I have been doing it for years and I suppose it’s now part and parcel of the system. Ewes are easier to monitor on condition and at lambing. I can fit more in each pen and ewes are cleaner on concrete slats.

‘‘I think lambs also suckle faster. It also saves work when ewes and lambs are let to grass – I have a fragmented farm, so it means I don’t have to be transporting ewes and lambs over and back to the yard or be as fearful of ewes going on their backs.”

Commenting on the suitability of concrete slats for housing ewes, Eddie says they work excellently but cautions that the one downside is when ewes lamb. “When the shed was built, the only concrete slats available were purpose-built for pigs. They offer the advantage of being dual-purpose for sheep and weanlings but the gaps are slightly too wide in places and, if you’re not careful, lambs’ legs will quickly slip through. It means that we have to be on guard 24 hours a day during lambing.”

Post-lambing

Once fit to be released outdoors, ewes and lambs are let to sheltered paddocks around the yard before being grouped into larger group sizes. Although early to gauge, grass supplies for March look good with a number of fields earmarked for early grazing and closed in the first two weeks of November. Eddie says that this is not always easy to achieve, especially on fragmented blocks but he believes that it is one of the most important tasks to complete.

“Having grass in spring makes life so much easier. In the past, I often found myself with no grass after lambing and struggling with extra work and costs of feeding ewes and lambs at grass. I took a decision to invest in grass rather than meal and have done a good bit of reseeding in the last few years. It doesn’t always go exactly to plan as we saw with the fodder crisis in 2013 but I have found that if you close early enough, there will be a good chance of having enough grass.”

Lambing is also planned to coincide with a normal increase in grass growth. An added reason for this is the fact that cows also calve in March and April, meaning demand for grass is greatest at this time of the year.

The farm capitalises on the benefits of mixed grazing with the two systems working well together.

Ewes are tightened up in summer and used to clean out paddocks, which also helps to manage grass supplies and build a reserve of grass heading into the latter part of the year when demand from weanlings is on the up.

The majority of the farm comprises dry, free-draining soils, with a problem in years of low rainfall of restricted grass growth during the summer.

Future plans

The farm is at a bit of a crossroads in terms of the future direction it will take. Eddie says that a big factor in making him think more about this is partaking in his local Sheep Technology Adoption Programme (STAP) run by ACA consultant Noel Feeney and the loss of revenue from the finishing of REPS, as well as cuts to the Single Farm Payment.

On the sheep side, Eddie would like to get more output from the flock. Breeding is a criss-cross programme with Texel and Suffolk ewes and sires and a terminal Charollais sire for hoggets entering the flock, as well as a selection of smaller-framed ewes. He is considering a more prolific breed such as the Bluefaced Leicester or scaling back on the percentage of Texel and Suffolk breeding in the ewe flock to improve hybrid vigour.

He is reluctant to go down the route of introducing Belclare breeding due to previous experience with a prolific strain and the unsuitability of a number of triplet-bearing ewes with his off-farm job as a Bord Bia Quality Assurance Scheme auditor.

Suckler enterprise

The suckler herd has traditionally been based on Limousin cross cows mated with a terminal Charolais sire.

Progeny were retained and sold at store stage when demand was highest for summer grazing systems in spring.

In the last two years, a Limousin sire was used on cows for ease of calving to suit off-farm employment and to breed replacements from within the herd.

However, Eddie is reconsidering changing the sire to reintroduce a source of hybrid vigour and improve progeny performance.

The shed was constructed in a manner that there are 10 permanent lambing pens and a straw-bedded group pen. Each lambing pen, along with a slatted pen, has a number which allows instructions to be readily given or left for anybody carrying out supervision or feeding of animals.

The lambing pens are a permanent structure made out of tubular steel and galvanised sheeting. A number of the pens were also constructed with a cross-fostering headgate, which doubles up as a fostering crate or normal lambing pen. The pens measure about 4ft by 4ft. Eddie says they are a godsend in reducing labour at lambing but if there was one thing he would change if he was installing them again, it would be to make the pens 3ft high, as opposed to 4ft, to allow animals be checked quicker and lambs put standing without having to open the gate of the pen.

Ewes and lambs spend about a day in each pen. They are then moved to a group straw-bedded pen or straight outdoors, if lambs are hardy enough and weather conditions allow. In poor weather conditions, extra penning can be constructed in passageways, or a practice that has been done in the past is bedding a slatted pen and using it as a group pen for ewes and lambs. This works successfully as long as a deep layer (4in to 6in) of straw is laid at the outset.

Eddie recently purchased small hay/silage racks that fit down over the penning and this will allow forage to be fed much quicker. The racks cost about €18, plus VAT, and will serve two pens.

Another aspect of the sheep shed that greatly reduces labour is a piped water source to an old sink, which serves to allow more lambing – associated feeding to be undertaken in the shed.