It is hard to believe that it is the end of August already and the breeding season is fast approaching. There are less than six weeks before the rams will be let out.

In preparation for this, I am organising my ewes into their different breeding groups. My plan is to create four main breeding groups based on the breed of ram they will be matched with.

I aim to divide my ewes up into these smaller breeding groups this week, with any ewes that are still a body condition score of about 2.5 being let out with ewe lambs.

They will be mated at the same time as the ewe lambs and the extra couple of weeks should allow them to put on the desired condition for mating. The other smaller breeding groups will be monitored closely for the next six weeks and it should allow me to keep a closer eye on the ewes’ body condition and help quickly rectify any other problems that may arise.

I will prepare my ewes for the breeding season by flushing them with higher-quality pasture from now on. This increased level of nutrition encourages ewes to produce more eggs and thus results in a higher percentage of ewes producing twins.

Keeping good grass in front of ewes throughout the breeding timeframe should also help boost embryonic survival rates. Ewes in average to slightly thin body condition will have more of a response to the flushing.

At present, grass growth on the farm is averaging 50kg DM/ha. The last of the surplus silage has been removed from fields this week and as I am now turning my attention to building grass covers for the remainder of the year, I have started to apply my last round of fertilizer.

I plan to apply a half bag of urea per acre and to get the best results from this I am applying it to fields with a cover of grass when there is a prospect of light rain forecast.

I also plan on administering vaccines to my ewe lambs in the coming week. Last year, I debated as to whether I should give my ewes the vaccine for SBV (Schmallenberg virus) or not and, in the end, I decided against it. This year, there hasn’t been a word about the disease and I wonder has it burnt itself out or is it something that will show its ugly head again next spring with disastrous results.

For the moment, I will sit tight and hope that I have made the correct decision in not using that vaccine. I will, however, be vaccinating against toxoplasmosis and clostridal diseases.

I have also been busy filling the sheds with straw purchased for the coming winter and with Alison back to school next week I have been reminded that there are a number of other jobs on my summer to do list that haven’t been completed yet.

During the summer, we began the task of sprucing up the appearance of the place. It is a mammoth task and one that was put on the long finger over the last couple of summers when the children were babies, but not any more!

We have decided to tackle it on a phased basis. So over the next couple of summers, we will be concentrating on a section of the house and yard at a time. One of the tasks is my least favourite – painting an old pebble-dash wall (give me a nice smooth wall any day).

I have tried several different brushes and rollers but it is painstakingly slow. It is no wonder that this job still has to be done, as I would prefer to be doing anything else!