This is a subscriber-only article
The ease of outdoor lambing is greatly improved by having a sufficient supply of grass to carry ewes during lambing. This will limit the volume of supplementary feeding required and cut down on issues such as mis-mothering.
Grass growth has and continues to be positive over winter, and it is important that temptation is resisted to graze fields with a good cover of grass. Doing so may provide a short reprieve now, but it will greatly increase costs and labour down the line.
Ewes should be supplemented, on a restricted area outdoors or indoors, from now until the final weeks of pregnancy, with the switch to grass depending on available grass supplies.
SHARING OPTIONS: