Primary lamb producers are heading into their busiest period, with mid-season lambing just around the corner. Positive litter sizes, influenced by favourable breeding conditions last autumn, have set up the potential for another good lambing season.

Unfortunately, difficult weather in recent months is making management much more challenging. This has the potential, in the absence of tailored feeding programmes (featured on sheep pages in recent weeks), to unravel much of the good work done to date. Preparation is key and this focus is reflected across the supplement.

Preparation is a crucial component of artificial rearing in the systems discussed on pages two,threeand four with adequate feeding of ewes, with a high litter size essential to ensure ewes give birth to strong lambs with a good birth weight, along with ewes having sufficient colostrum.

While on the subject of colostrum, ensuring lambs receive sufficient volumes (50ml/kg in first four to six hours) promptly is vital to putting them on the right track. Colostrum supplements are a useful aid but, as Tommy Boland’s research shows (see here) supplements should be used as an aid and not as a replacement if possible with the focus for optimum performance balancing intake of ewe colostrum with supplements.

The theme of preparation continues on pages four and five where William Fitzgerald from the DAFM Regional Veterinary Laboratory in Limerick outlines the importance of a planned vaccination protocol for clostridial diseases and pasteurella.

On pages eight and nine, Teagasc B&T adviser John Noonan gives top tips and advice, along with a farmer case study, to put hill flocks in the frame for a successful lambing.

As scanners report even higher litter sizes, page 10 looks at management of in-lamb ewe lambs in late pregnancy, while page 11 gives timely advice on dealing with the inclement persistent weather. It also details supplementation guidelines in early lactation to help ewes reach their peak milk yield potential.

Cormac Sheep Equipment’s lamb carousel received widespread attention after its debut viewing on RTE’s The Late Late Show, and this has created a waiting list for its purchase, as Peter Varley reports on page 12 a number of other new products and lambing aids are outlined on page 13.