Lambing has begun for most lowland flocks in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme, with start dates varying from the end of February to mid-March. The lambing dates for each flock are intended to match grass growth on-farm. Those farming on heavier soils and farms in the northwest tend to start later than farms in the east and south.

As people are all too aware, the weather in February brought record levels of rainfall and has left farmers facing a different challenge compared to this time last year. The average farm cover per hectare for the BETTER sheep farms was, on average, 547kg DM/ha at the end of February. This ranged from 304kg DM/ha to 686kgDM/ha with a target of 600kg DM/ha to 650kg DM/ha.

This left most of the farms on target for grass supplies. However, due to weather and soil conditions, none of the BETTER sheep farmers were able to spread any fertiliser until early March, and it was only the drier farms that were able to get out with fertiliser. The fertiliser plan will remain the same– once farmers can get to spread, they should go with half a bag of protected urea/ac now, and again after the first grazing.

The challenge is that time will be limited once lambing starts, but it is a vital job, as without this fertiliser going out, grass supplies on the farms will tighten very quickly and regrowth will be poor.

Grazing management

The temptation will be to spread ewes and lambs across the farm to reduce poaching and increase grass utilisation. However, long-term this will be counterproductive, as a large proportion of the farm will end up being grazed at the same time. This will reduce the benefits of grass growth and make it very difficult to build supplies.

At the moment, the plan on the farms is to increase the grazing area ewes are going into where necessary. Paddocks will not be sub-divided as normal and where possible, lighter covers will be grazed first. This will hopefully increase grass utilisation and reduce potential damage to land. Heavier covers can then hopefully be grazed when the weather gets better, which will improve utilisation.

Monitoring the situation

All the lowland flocks are using PastureBase Ireland to record grass covers and the covers measured prior to lambing are vital to assessing how grass is going to be managed during the first few weeks post-lambing. One of the key figures at the moment is grazing days ahead, which is calculated by dividing the farm cover (kg DM/ha) by the grass demand (kg DM/ha).

The target at the start of lambing for the early March lambing flocks stocked at 10 to 12 ewes/ha is a minimum of 25 days grazing ahead. If conditions remain difficult and no fertiliser is spread, then this target will have to be increased to 35 days ahead at the start of lambing to allow for poorer utilisation and lower grass growth rates.

Where grazing days ahead is below this at the start of lambing, then the decision to supplement with concentrates for a short time after lambing arises. Concentrate supplementation will help extend the grazing rotation and may be needed if poor weather conditions continue in order to prevent grass tetany in ewes.

Where grass supplies are tight, supplementation will be utilised to avoid a situation where the flocks run out of grass before grass growth rates improve. This comes at a cost and requires extra labour at an already busy time, but will be carried out where necessary.

It is important to monitor the situation regularly and be prepared to alter plans to give the farm the best chance of returning to normal management once weather improves.