2018 was a year many farmers were glad to see the back of.
It was no different for John Brady, who farms one of the country’s largest sheep flocks of 1,120 ewes and 260 ewe lambs outside Kells in Co Meath.
John told a large attendance of close to 200 farmers that the farm got no reprieve from the weather challenges in 2018, with heavy snowfall via the Beast from the East, poor spring grass growth rates and a prolonged summer drought all combining to significantly dent the farm’s physical and financial performance.
Strain
Heavy snowfall put a huge strain on the farm and the area was particularly hard hit with drifts rising to more than 10ft and leaving parts of the farm inaccessible.
Thankfully the farm avoided any major damage to housing or livestock.
The consequences of poor spring growth were harder to avoid, however. Tight grass supplies led to ewes requiring supplementation post-lambing and feeding continued until late May. Lost performance through reduced lamb growth rates was harder to quantify. The kind start to 2019 highlights the additional costs faced – 10t less meal has been fed to date.
Drought
The greatest impact on costs was a prolonged period of drought. John said he had no option but to introduce ad-lib meal to higher than normal numbers of lambs to sustain performance. He highlighted a situation of 400 male lambs being fed ad-lib creep in one field that looked like it had been sprayed off.
The higher feed costs were reflected by John’s Teagasc adviser Edward Egan. Variable costs were listed as €934/ha in 2018.
Positive
The farm has a positive output figure of €1,824/ha, however, which despite all the additional costs left the farm generating a gross margin of €890/ha.
John attributes the high level of output to attention to detail around lambing and keeping lamb mortality to a minimum.
He estimates it was in the region of 12% in 2018, which was slightly higher than normal given the weather challenges.
Another area he feels is helping his output is getting the most out of every lamb finished. The average carcase weight in 2018 was 21.3kg. Lambs are drafted regularly and John explained that this allows him to push carcase weights without carcases going overweight.
The top left section of this board shows the farm's drafting pattern. There is over 1,500 lambs sold over the year with three lambing dates giving rise to steady throughput.
The lamb sales pattern is outlined in the photo, with sales in December and January including a high percentage of progeny from ewe lambs.
Read more
Take a peek into one of Ireland’s largest sheep flocks
2018 was a year many farmers were glad to see the back of.
It was no different for John Brady, who farms one of the country’s largest sheep flocks of 1,120 ewes and 260 ewe lambs outside Kells in Co Meath.
John told a large attendance of close to 200 farmers that the farm got no reprieve from the weather challenges in 2018, with heavy snowfall via the Beast from the East, poor spring grass growth rates and a prolonged summer drought all combining to significantly dent the farm’s physical and financial performance.
Strain
Heavy snowfall put a huge strain on the farm and the area was particularly hard hit with drifts rising to more than 10ft and leaving parts of the farm inaccessible.
Thankfully the farm avoided any major damage to housing or livestock.
The consequences of poor spring growth were harder to avoid, however. Tight grass supplies led to ewes requiring supplementation post-lambing and feeding continued until late May. Lost performance through reduced lamb growth rates was harder to quantify. The kind start to 2019 highlights the additional costs faced – 10t less meal has been fed to date.
Drought
The greatest impact on costs was a prolonged period of drought. John said he had no option but to introduce ad-lib meal to higher than normal numbers of lambs to sustain performance. He highlighted a situation of 400 male lambs being fed ad-lib creep in one field that looked like it had been sprayed off.
The higher feed costs were reflected by John’s Teagasc adviser Edward Egan. Variable costs were listed as €934/ha in 2018.
Positive
The farm has a positive output figure of €1,824/ha, however, which despite all the additional costs left the farm generating a gross margin of €890/ha.
John attributes the high level of output to attention to detail around lambing and keeping lamb mortality to a minimum.
He estimates it was in the region of 12% in 2018, which was slightly higher than normal given the weather challenges.
Another area he feels is helping his output is getting the most out of every lamb finished. The average carcase weight in 2018 was 21.3kg. Lambs are drafted regularly and John explained that this allows him to push carcase weights without carcases going overweight.
The top left section of this board shows the farm's drafting pattern. There is over 1,500 lambs sold over the year with three lambing dates giving rise to steady throughput.
The lamb sales pattern is outlined in the photo, with sales in December and January including a high percentage of progeny from ewe lambs.
Read more
Take a peek into one of Ireland’s largest sheep flocks
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