The good weather so far this month has made keeping on top of surplus grass in the grazing rotations a pleasure if not a little busy.

We have over half the silage requirements made for the coming winter and with another few paddocks closed up for cutting in the coming weeks I should have most if not all reserves built up by the end of the month.

Grass growth is just below demand at present at 40kg DM/ha and maintaining grass quality is starting to become an issue as it is starting to head out in some of the fields that had not been dropped out previously for silage.

Creep gates

I have set up some creep gates so that lambs can forward graze the leafy grass ahead of the ewes. With these in place I can force the ewes to clean out the stemmier grass in the paddock without compromising how the lambs are performing up to weaning. It will also help when it comes to weaning as the lambs have gotten used to not having the ewes beside them all the time.

I am spreading a three-quarter bag of CAN after the ewes graze out fields to try to keep quality regrowth coming back. I have also topped a few fields that were gone too far for the sheep to clean out properly. I like to do this while the stock is still in the field as they will pick off the remainder of the leafy material and will also spread out the stemmy material on the field evenly.

This time last year I had my first draft of lambs going to the factory. Despite the lambs having a good response to the fine weather for the last while, I won’t have lambs ready for the factory for another few weeks. I will probably go through the lambs and draft any male lambs over 40kg with a good covering of flesh before I start to wean in another week or fortnight. Given that the lambs would be still suckling the ewes, I would be expecting a killout percentage of about 48% to 50%, which will equate to a 19kg to 20kg carcase.

I will start weaning the ewes here once the lambs are between 12 and 14 weeks of age as at this point the ewes and lambs will be competing for the same amount of grass DM per day. Allowing the lambs take the choice grass ahead of the ewes will enable them to grow to their potential.

I am allowing the ewes to clean out the fields after them as they only require maintenance at this point in time.

Lamb chops

With the beautiful weather, the barbecue is on the go. We had a family get-together recently and thankfully the lamb chops went down well. I was donning the chef’s hat and I have to say that lamb chops were the easiest of the meats to cook. Hopefully, if this fine weather continues, others too will make the choice to include Irish lamb on their grills.

Drew is my best ambassador for Irish lamb as he nearly starts drooling at the mere mention of it being on the menu for dinner. Long may this last!

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