Grazing management: Grazing conditions are hugely variable. Torrential rainfall in many parts of the country over the weekend and again on Tuesday morning has reduced grass utilisation, especially on heavier soils. This has added to grass shortage issues on many farms, with growth rates under most pressure in the northern half of the country or on more marginal lands.

Poor trafficability is limiting an opportunity to get fertiliser applied to boost growth rates. Steps will need to be taken in the intervening period to maintain grass supplies. Where lambs are aged six to seven weeks or more, it will be more beneficial to feed meals directly to lambs through creep feeding rather than to ewes.

The exception to this is where grass supplies are totally depleted and, in this case, supplementation will also be required to ewes. The best response will be achieved by feeding 0.3kg to 0.4kg per head per day. Levels can be reduced once grass growth recovers to a level to sustain ewes and their lambs.

On the other hand, grass supplies are relatively good on drier farms, with some parts of the southeast looking for rain, although more rain has now fallen than wanted. The focus here should be to balance grass utilisation with maintaining high levels of lamb performance.

Achieving this may require moving ewes and lambs quicker, as opposed to forcing animals to graze down to 4cm. These areas can be topped later in the season or grazed down tighter with dry ewe hoggets or weaned ewes to improve sward quality.

Lactating hoggets: Difficult weather is also taking its toll on ewes, with body condition falling fast. Lactating ewe hoggets are especially at risk, with a high percentage in early lactation. It is important to continue supplementation to twin-suckling hoggets in particular, as these will be under the greatest nutritional pressure. Recommended supplementation rates range from 0.5kg on good-quality grass to 0.7kg to 0.8kg on poor-quality swards or tight grass supplies (3.5cm to 4.5cm). Single-suckling hoggets will generally perform satisfactorily on good-quality grass, but will benefit from 0.3kg concentrate supplementation in current difficult weather conditions or poor grass utilisation.

Drafting lambs: Demand for spring lambs is rising as factories get closer to a switchover, with supplies of hoggets falling fast. It is important to weigh up your target market and draft lambs at the appropriate time frame. Most plants are paying to 20kg to 20.5kg carcase weight, although some have increased in a small number of cases to 21kg to secure sales. Lambs coming directly off the ewe and consuming high levels of creep feeding are likely to kill-out at 49% to 50%, with aged lambs short of flesh killing on average at 48% kill-out. The mart trade may be a better avenue for lambs likely to deliver carcases exceeding 21kg carcase weight, with butchers reported as relatively active in the last few days. Page 46 covers a report from Athenry’s sheep sale on Monday and gives a good range of the prices paid for lambs of varying liveweights. It is important to draft regularly as there is little point in delivering free meat to plants that is costing a lot to achieve.