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“Buy a ram from someone you trust or buy one six weeks before you need him” – that was the recommendation of Michael Gottstein, head of Teagasc’s sheep programme, to attendees at the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep breeding event on the farm of Denis O’Riordan, Borlin, Bantry, Co Cork.
More than 60 farmers braved the rain on another miserable west Cork afternoon on Wednesday. Two outdoor stands focused on giving breeding sheep a quick examination before the breeding season, a sheep NCT as it were. This included Frank Hynes and Michael Gottstein giving examinations of some ewes and rams present to show what to look out for with teeth, feet and body condition score.
A blocker ram can’t block two rams from mating a ewe
When questioned on how many ewes a ram should run with, Gottstein said one ram to 45 ewes is a safe bet but recommended having at least three rams if you wanted to be bulletproof. He added: “If you only have one and he is infertile you are in trouble. If you have two and one is infertile he may act as a blocker ram. If you have three a blocker ram can’t block two rams from mating a ewe.”
Anything that negatively affects a ram such as lameness or illness or a chill can have a dramatic knock-on effect on next year’s lamb flock. Gottstein recommended feeding rams a balanced ration rather than straight oats as oats is an energy feed. He also recommended feeding in advance of the breeding season, adding that two weeks beforehand is too late.
As well as a physical examination, Frank Hynes recommended keeping good records of ewes to see who is doing a good job. He also said ewes should be selected for breeding at least 10 weeks prior to joining.
Host farm
Denis operates a Blackface hill flock of 285 ewes on a mixture of commonage and enclosed land and joined the BETTER farm programme in 2014.
On the Cork and Kerry border and in proximity of Cnoc Buí, the highest point of Cork, sheep had access to land over 1,700ft above sea level, with the yard located at an altitude of over 600ft.
The farm consists of 271ha, 60ha of which is fenced off. There are 8ha enclosed, with the rest being open mountain. This year, 95% of the ewes lambed, rearing 1.09 lambs/ewe. Mating policy is to put the bottom 25% of ewes to a Suffolk ram, with the majority going to Blackface, with some Swaledale or Lanark being used this season.
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