The Irish Farmers Journal teamed up with UCD Lyons Research Farm and Cormac Tagging to host LambingLive2019. The event took place on Monday, with live coverage of the farm’s intensive lambing programme posted on the Irish Farmers Journal social media channels. Panel discussions and lambing videos are available to view on www.farmersjournal.ie.

The visit provided a good opportunity to gain an insight into the new sheep programme at Lyons Farm, which commenced in 2018, and current research taking place.

The programme is assessing the performance of three maternal ewe breeds, namely Belclare-cross, Lleyn-cross and Mule ewes.

Explaining the rationale behind the programme, associate professor Tommy Boland said these breeds have been shown to be capable of producing high levels of lamb output, which is a key component of a profitable sheep production system.

However, they have not been put to the test in a similar environment and the five-year study in place at Lyons Farm aims to evaluate the breeds on a wide range of criteria.

This includes ewe aspects such as litter size, lambing and mothering ability, milk yield, their ability to maintain body condition and longevity, while progeny records include liveweight gain and slaughter performance.

Early days in trial

The weather challenges of 2018, with a delayed spring followed by a prolonged drought, interfered with the first production cycle, but the flock is now in prime position for the year ahead.

The 360-head flock (includes 80 ewe lambs) was synchronised to lamb in an intensive 10-day period followed by repeats a couple of weeks later. Ewe lambs scanned 1.43 lambs per ewe joined with a barren rate of 15% over a 24-day breeding period.

Darren Carty, Irish Farmers Journal; Ursula Kelly, Cormac Tagging; and Tommy Boland, UCD. \ Philip Doyle

The hoggets achieved a scanned litter size of 2.04 lambs per ewe joined (14% singles, 55% twins and 26% triplets), with a pregnancy rate of 96% after a 35-day breeding season, while mature ewes scanned 2.22 lambs per ewe joined (12% singles, 42% twins and 40% triplets/quads).

This translates to in the region of 90 to 100 ewes carrying triplet or quad lambs, so, as can be expected, precise management is needed in late pregnancy and during lambing.

Positive potential

Tommy explains that the mild winter has been a major benefit in setting ewes up for lambing.

The grazing season was extended for four to five weeks and this tied in nicely with flock targets of holding condition in mid-pregnancy and minimising loss in late pregnancy to ensure twin-bearing ewes lamb down in a body condition score (BCS) of slightly over 3, with triplet- and quad-bearing ewes entering late pregnancy at a BCS of 3.25-plus.

Favourable grass supplies allowed ewes to be retained outdoors until four weeks pre-lambing, while the majority of triplet-bearing ewes were grazed on redstart until four weeks pre-lambing.

This excluded a batch of 90 ewes which are on a colostrum trial and were housed earlier plus a batch of triplet-bearing ewes which were slightly lower in condition and housed a week earlier to allow supplementation to begin earlier. Quad-bearing ewes were housed eight weeks pre-lambing.

Late-pregnancy feeding

As the lambing videos show, ewes are lambing in excellent form with good-sized lambs with good vigour, while colostrum yield is also described as being first-rate.

Chief livestock supervisor Stephen Lott says this is testament to the late-pregnancy feeding programme.

Chief livestock supervisor Stephen Lott lambing a ewe in UCD Lyons Farm. \ Philip Doyle

Ewes are offered ad-lib grass silage containing red clover, which tested at 11.2 MJ ME per kg DM and a crude protein value just shy of 16%.

This year’s concentrate supplementation programme for triplet-bearing ewes was 0.5kg four weeks pre-lambing, rising to 0.8kg two weeks pre-lambing and 1kg on the point of lambing.

A maximum of 0.5kg is fed in any one feed, with a small batch of quad ewes receiving 1.2kg in three feeds in the final stages of gestation. The concentrate is a high-energy ration comprising maize, rolled and whole barley, soya bean meal, soya hulls and distillers with a 19% crude protein content.

Trial work

Along with evaluating ewe breed performance, there are also a number of other trials or studies taking place.

As mentioned above, there are 90 ewes on a colostrum trial being undertaken by PhD student Jonathan Higgins.

Ewes are fed different forages and supplemented with two varying levels of concentrate supplementation in late pregnancy to analyse the effect of this on colostrum yield and quality.

This requires the 90 ewes on trial to be milked three times post-lambing – one hour, 10 hours and 18 hours post-lambing.

Ewes are fitted with an apron to prevent suckling while lambs are stomach tubed with the colostrum. The research will have long-term benefits for the industry in assessing the most appropriate feeding levels for high-prolificacy flocks.

The fact that there are in the region of 100 ewes delivering triplet and quad lambs has also opened up an opportunity to look into an alternative method of ewes rearing triplet lambs.

Ewes that are deemed capable of rearing triplet lambs will be turned to grass as soon as weather permits, with the level of concentrate supplementation determined depending on weather and grass dry matter content.

Lambs will receive access to creep and the plan is to wean lambs at eight weeks of age and then transfer on to redstart for finishing.

Tommy Boland explains that at eight weeks, lambs will be receiving little in the way of milk yield, with early weaning allowing lambs to be transferred on to a high feed-value crop, while taking the pressure off ewes.

It will investigate if this method of finishing is a better alternative to rearing lambs intensively indoors, firstly on artificial milk and then a high level of concentrates.

See management notes for more on lambing advice and recording practices in Lyons Research Farm.

PhD researcher Jonathan Higgins. \ Philip Doyle

Panel discussions

There were seven panel discussions held during the event, all of which can be viewed at here. These were:

Panel 1

Colostrum management/research and stomach tubing with PhD student Jonathan Higgins and associate professor Tommy Boland.

Panel 2

The importance of flock health with associate professor Marijke Beltman, UCD school of veterinary medicine, and professor Michael Doherty, dean and head of school of veterinary medicine.

Panel 3

The role of multispecies swards with post-doctoral student Cornelia Grace, associate professors Bridget Lynch and Tommy Boland, school of agriculture and food science.

Panel 4

Protecting the integrity of agriculture with Odile Evans, Irish Farmers Journal, in conversation with Agri Aware chair Alan Jagoe, professor Alex Evans, head of school of agriculture and food science, and professor Michael Doherty, dean and head of school of veterinary medicine.

Panel 5

Life as a student in the school of agriculture and food science with students Michael Geary and Aaron Kealy, alongside associate professor Tommy Boland. This panel also touched on the important role UCD Lyons Farm plays in educating students and undertaking research which benefits the wider agri-food industry.

Panel 6

Running a family-owned tagging company with Ursula Kelly and TJ Gormley.

Panel 7

The future opportunities and challenges of sheep farming with professor Paddy Wall, school of public health and population sciences and associate professor Tommy Boland.