With a relaxing of Covid-19 restrictions in early summer, the farmers participating in the Northern Ireland Sheep Programme met for an outdoor discussion group meeting on Thursday 19 August.

Hosting the evening was Clement Lynch, who runs an upland and hill unit at Park, Co Derry, with 150 Scottish Blackface and 350 Mule and Suffolk-cross ewes.

As well as an update on the progress on farm, the core of the discussion focused on the new paddock system Clement set up this year and preparation for the upcoming breeding season.

To facilitate discussion, there was a practical element to the evening with the farmers physically condition-scoring a range of ewes on farm and the options for flock management during autumn.

Clement records all aspects of flock performance, both physically and financially. This data is used to make breeding decisions that improve flock output and, ultimately, farm profit.

Two years ago, Clement undertook the process of condition-scoring crossbred ewes in autumn before going to the ram.

By handling ewes along the loin, hindquarter and ribs, animals were scored from one (very thin) to five (overfat).

When scoring was completed, all ewes ranged from a body condition score (BCS) of two to five. At the time, Clement wanted as many ewes at BCS 3 going to the ram, as this is regarded as the optimum condition.

EID recording

BCS was recorded on Clement’s EID recording system. All ewes were put to the ram and at scanning time, he was able to compare scanning percentages based on BCS before breeding started.

The ewes at BCS 2 scanned at 181%, with the ewes at BCS 3 scanning at 183%. Ewes at BCS 5 scanned 181%. The best results were for ewes at BCS 4 with 192%.

“Just by getting ewes in the right condition before breeding, I could increase lambing percentage with very little tweaking of the system,” said Clement.

Repeat results

Last autumn, the exercise was repeated and, again, the ewes in BCS 4 had significantly higher scanning rates than the thinner and overfat animals.

“The only downside was the scanning rate was slightly lower year on year at 185%. But the lower lamb crop links back to a problem with a sub-fertile ram, with his ewes scanning at 166%.

“A second group of dry hoggets ran with a ram lamb and scanning results were lower than I wanted at 166%.

“In contrast, crossbred ewe lambs that were weaned in late summer and given priority grazing to regain condition in time for their second breeding season scanned at 210%.”

Members of the Northern Ireland Sheep Programme held a discussion group meeting on Clement Lynch's farm, Co Derry. \ Houston Green

Current management

Ewes have now been condition-scored and animals carrying excessive flesh will go to the hill this week to slim down. A small number of ewes are BCS 2 and getting priority grazing.

“The aim is to have as many ewes around BCS 4 again this autumn.

“The rams will go out in nine weeks’ time at the start of November, so there is plenty of time to get ewes into the right condition.

“The plan is to start lambing around 20 March, which would be one week earlier than the spring just past, as I felt the later start has held up drafting lambs before the end of summer.”

Meal-finishing lambs

To date, Clement has 48 lambs drafted and sold direct for slaughter, which were all ram lambs.

“The last draft was at the weekend and there was a big run of ram lambs at 43kg to 45kg liveweight.

“Lambs are normally drafted for slaughter from 46kg to 49kg. When drafting and handling lambs, I noticed a lot of animals lacking fat cover.

“So to improve the finish of lambs, I will introduce some concentrate to get a better cover on the lambs,” said Clement.

While grassland management is good on the farm and lambs are getting priority grazing, wet weather during August will have affected dry matter energy intakes.

As energy is the most important aspect in any finishing diet, a limited period of concentrate feeding through early autumn will yield an economic return.

Higher kill-out

Last year, a similar situation transpired in getting lambs to the correct fat cover in late August and September.

A finishing blend was fed for two to three weeks prior to slaughter in troughs rather than an ad-lib feeder.

“Feeding lambs at grass was somewhat of a trial. From the kill sheets and weight records I had for lambs drafted for slaughter, the animals that got meal killed out better.

“Carcase weight was on average 1kg heavier than the lambs killed off grass without any concentrate being fed. A record of meal fed to lambs was kept and the cost averaged 83p/head,” said Clement.

Even allowing for the rise in ration price, demand for factory-fit lambs is extremely strong. At current deadweight prices, there is a return to feeding 250g to 500g per head on a daily basis over the next two to three weeks.

Hill lambs

Blackface lambs were also weighed and are typically 36kg to 37kg liveweight. These lambs will also be taken through to slaughter.

While hill ewes are generally Lanark-type animals, Clement has had issues with higher barren rates in his hill flock.

As such, a Swaledale ram was used to mate a percentage of ewes last year. These lambs are included in the current lamb crop at the outlined weights and the Blackface-cross-Swale have performed well this year.

Ewe lambs

Replacement ewe lambs have now been selected. In the crossbred flock that grazes upland ground, there are 80 Suffolk and Mule ewe lambs being retained.

In the pure hill flock, again, another 80 ewe lambs have been selected as replacements.

These animals are the first cross from the Swaledale ram and Blackface ewe and will hopefully address barren rates in mature ewes.