Grass growth rates continue to perform poorly and are struggling to get into high single-digit figures. At this stage, many flocks which lambed from mid-February onwards have eaten well into grass reserves, with supplies becoming particularly tight on some farms. The focus on most farms is trying to best balance grass supply and demand without compromising on performance.

Table 1 details grass demand guidelines for ewes during lactation. The requirement is significant and becomes harder to satisfy once ewes are five to six weeks into lactation. The amount of grass a ewe consumes in a day will be dictated by the height of available grass and the amount consumed in each bite. Where grass height is 6cm or greater, ewes will generally be in a position to easily maximise intake and meet their nutritional requirement. Where the height of grass ranges from 4cm to 6cm, a ewe will have the ability to consume enough grass to meet demand, but this will also be influenced by utilisation and grass quality. Where the height of grass falls below 4cm, then a ewe will not be physically able to consume enough grass to meet demand.

Supplementation

Where grass height is below 4cm or utilisation is poor, then one of two scenarios will occur. Ewes will milk off their back to maintain yield; or where this is not possible milk yield will drop and in turn hit lamb performance. The only option here to maintain performance is to introduce supplementation to bridge the nutritional gap.

Table 2 details options for a range of circumstances for single- and twin-bearing ewes. Where ewes are suckling triplet ewes then it is vital that ewes receive access to the best quality grass, while concentrate supplementation at a rate of 0.5kg/head is also recommended for at least the first five weeks of lactation to boost energy intake. Lambs should also be offered creep feeding.

Creep feeding

Where ewes are five to six weeks lambed then it is more beneficial to offer concentrates directly to lambs via creep feeding. At this stage ewes will have reached their peak milk yield and feeding higher levels of concentrates to ewes will deliver a poorer return on investment than feeding the lamb directly. If there is no grass available then ewes will still need access to a source of forage and, depending on quality, possibly a lower level of concentrate supplementation.