The upturn in weather since the end of last week is improving ground conditions on more marginal soils which received recent heavy rainfall, while grass growth is increasing significantly on drier soils.
The experience of recent years has shown us that grass supplies can quickly change from a comfortable position to a deficit in April.
But as Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme adviser Frank Campion highlights, we have to play with the hand we are dealt and plan to implement practices that leave us in the best possible situation to overcome any significant weather changes.
Thankfully, we are in a much better position than 12 months ago.
Teagasc BETTER Farm sheep programme adviser Frank Campion.
While all the farms have ended up in a pretty good position with meeting their target grass cover at the start of lambing (approximately 600kg+ DM/ha), this looked less certain on farms which grazed later into the year.
Higher than normal winter grass growth brought these farms back on track while others that closed in good time have witnessed a surplus develop.
How these farms are managed in the coming weeks will have a profound effect on animal performance for the coming months.
Grazing management
Frank says the differences among farms will dictate management decisions taken.
Farms which lambed in late February/early March are witnessing a sharp rise in grass demand and, irrespective of current grass supplies, the focus is on maximising grass growth.
These farms are better able to contend with heavier covers as ewes and lambs are being grouped into larger grazing groups and, with the use of temporary fencing, can be used to better graze out paddocks without affecting performance.
Quality is generally reported as being good and is facilitating grazing to 3.5cm to 4cm.
The situation is a little trickier for flocks lambing from mid-March onwards as ewes and lambs are still likely to be grazing in smaller groups.
In such a scenario, it will be more difficult to graze out heavy covers (greater than 10cm to 12cm) without punishing ewes by forcing them to graze lower-quality swards which, in turn, will hit lamb performance as ewes will struggle to reach peak milk yield.
Grass supplies have picked up after favourable performance over the winter and are providing farmers with a good opportunity to start the grazing season off on a solid footing.
Frank advises farmers to try to achieve the best balance and move ewes and lambs on before intake is compromised.
These covers can be grazed tighter in the next rotation when the grazing group is likely to be bigger and there is not as much pressure on ewes to increase milk yield.
Other farmers who are not lambing yearling hoggets or who have a group of dry hoggets will use these to graze out paddocks after ewes and lambs.
Fertiliser application
There is also much discussion surrounding whether less fertiliser should be applied and if savings can be made in this area.
As mentioned earlier, conditions can quickly change in April and therefore Frank’s advice is to keep the foot down while grass growth is good.
The majority of programme farms are going with another application of fertiliser in the coming week.
Some are going with a straight nitrogen product while others addressing soil fertility deficits are starting to look towards compound fertilisers.
There is a particular focus on the merit of applying fertiliser on heavy covers.
As well as keeping growth on track, Frank explains that applying fertiliser on heavier covers will deliver a number of benefits. It will help to maintain grass quality by keeping the plant actively growing.
There is also a risk if skipping heavier covers with fertiliser that growth will be poor once grazed off with even a small allocation of nitrogen helping sward recovery.
If growth continues in a positive manner and allows some heavier covers to be skipped, there will be benefits to be achieved in saving high-quality silage to reduce supplementation costs next winter and bringing top-quality grass back into the rotation.
Where demand is running well behind supplies and lambing is only taking place now, then a lower application of 15 to 20 units per acre can be considered
This has been a focus on all programme farms and Frank says it is being made possible by implementing a rotational grazing system and splitting paddocks. The rate of fertiliser applied will depend on farm grass supplies and nutrients applied to date.
Where no fertiliser has been applied, the advice is to apply 25 to 30 units per acre on highly stocked farms to kickstart growth.
Where demand is running well behind supplies and lambing is only taking place now, then a lower application of 15 to 20 units per acre can be considered, but it is important not to allow the farm to creep into a position of being short on grass at a later stage.
This should be fresh in the minds of farmers given the late spring followed by drought in 2018.
To supplement or not?
Where grass supplies are adequate (4cm or more) then there will be no need to supplement single- and twin-bearing ewes in good body condition at grass in current weather.
However, it is important to provide ewes with access to magnesium supplementation (lick buckets, water supply, bolus, etc) to guard against grass tetany, which will be a greater risk where grazing lush, fast-growing swards.
The exception to this is yearling hoggets rearing twin lambs.
Experience through the programme shows that these hoggets should be managed as triplet-suckling ewes – that is receive supplementation of at least 500g daily for the first five weeks of lactation with lambs offered creep feeding.
Hill flocks well set for lambing
Lambing is commencing or due to start in the coming weeks for hill farm participants in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme.
Frank says that, in general, flocks are well set, with the kind winter leaving ewes in better body condition while helping forage supplies.
This allowed ewes to be retained on hill grazing for longer, with one participant utilising a lower part of the hill for longer to build grass supplies for carrying ewes through lambing.
Farmers have also been aiming, where possible, to take advantage of the weather to apply fertiliser and lift growth rates.
While the pregnancy rate across flocks was lower (ranging from 86% to 95%), for one reason or another the scanned litter size is running ahead of previous years with an average scanning rate of 1.36 lambs per ewe in lamb.
As such, enhancing grass supplies is an important focal point with these twin-suckling ewes requiring preferential treatment.
Better recording programme
Farmers have also been focusing in recent years on implementing a better recording programme to identify ewes that are performing on the hill – rearing a good lamb(s) while holding body condition.
Replacements are being selected from these animals to try to improve overall performance while breeding the most suitable ewes for the terrain in which they are farmed.
Lambs are being tagged at birth to allow subsequent performance to be recorded, while single-sire mating has also been utilised to allow parentage identification and selection of optimum ram breeding lines.
The upturn in weather since the end of last week is improving ground conditions on more marginal soils which received recent heavy rainfall, while grass growth is increasing significantly on drier soils.
The experience of recent years has shown us that grass supplies can quickly change from a comfortable position to a deficit in April.
But as Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme adviser Frank Campion highlights, we have to play with the hand we are dealt and plan to implement practices that leave us in the best possible situation to overcome any significant weather changes.
Thankfully, we are in a much better position than 12 months ago.
Teagasc BETTER Farm sheep programme adviser Frank Campion.
While all the farms have ended up in a pretty good position with meeting their target grass cover at the start of lambing (approximately 600kg+ DM/ha), this looked less certain on farms which grazed later into the year.
Higher than normal winter grass growth brought these farms back on track while others that closed in good time have witnessed a surplus develop.
How these farms are managed in the coming weeks will have a profound effect on animal performance for the coming months.
Grazing management
Frank says the differences among farms will dictate management decisions taken.
Farms which lambed in late February/early March are witnessing a sharp rise in grass demand and, irrespective of current grass supplies, the focus is on maximising grass growth.
These farms are better able to contend with heavier covers as ewes and lambs are being grouped into larger grazing groups and, with the use of temporary fencing, can be used to better graze out paddocks without affecting performance.
Quality is generally reported as being good and is facilitating grazing to 3.5cm to 4cm.
The situation is a little trickier for flocks lambing from mid-March onwards as ewes and lambs are still likely to be grazing in smaller groups.
In such a scenario, it will be more difficult to graze out heavy covers (greater than 10cm to 12cm) without punishing ewes by forcing them to graze lower-quality swards which, in turn, will hit lamb performance as ewes will struggle to reach peak milk yield.
Grass supplies have picked up after favourable performance over the winter and are providing farmers with a good opportunity to start the grazing season off on a solid footing.
Frank advises farmers to try to achieve the best balance and move ewes and lambs on before intake is compromised.
These covers can be grazed tighter in the next rotation when the grazing group is likely to be bigger and there is not as much pressure on ewes to increase milk yield.
Other farmers who are not lambing yearling hoggets or who have a group of dry hoggets will use these to graze out paddocks after ewes and lambs.
Fertiliser application
There is also much discussion surrounding whether less fertiliser should be applied and if savings can be made in this area.
As mentioned earlier, conditions can quickly change in April and therefore Frank’s advice is to keep the foot down while grass growth is good.
The majority of programme farms are going with another application of fertiliser in the coming week.
Some are going with a straight nitrogen product while others addressing soil fertility deficits are starting to look towards compound fertilisers.
There is a particular focus on the merit of applying fertiliser on heavy covers.
As well as keeping growth on track, Frank explains that applying fertiliser on heavier covers will deliver a number of benefits. It will help to maintain grass quality by keeping the plant actively growing.
There is also a risk if skipping heavier covers with fertiliser that growth will be poor once grazed off with even a small allocation of nitrogen helping sward recovery.
If growth continues in a positive manner and allows some heavier covers to be skipped, there will be benefits to be achieved in saving high-quality silage to reduce supplementation costs next winter and bringing top-quality grass back into the rotation.
Where demand is running well behind supplies and lambing is only taking place now, then a lower application of 15 to 20 units per acre can be considered
This has been a focus on all programme farms and Frank says it is being made possible by implementing a rotational grazing system and splitting paddocks. The rate of fertiliser applied will depend on farm grass supplies and nutrients applied to date.
Where no fertiliser has been applied, the advice is to apply 25 to 30 units per acre on highly stocked farms to kickstart growth.
Where demand is running well behind supplies and lambing is only taking place now, then a lower application of 15 to 20 units per acre can be considered, but it is important not to allow the farm to creep into a position of being short on grass at a later stage.
This should be fresh in the minds of farmers given the late spring followed by drought in 2018.
To supplement or not?
Where grass supplies are adequate (4cm or more) then there will be no need to supplement single- and twin-bearing ewes in good body condition at grass in current weather.
However, it is important to provide ewes with access to magnesium supplementation (lick buckets, water supply, bolus, etc) to guard against grass tetany, which will be a greater risk where grazing lush, fast-growing swards.
The exception to this is yearling hoggets rearing twin lambs.
Experience through the programme shows that these hoggets should be managed as triplet-suckling ewes – that is receive supplementation of at least 500g daily for the first five weeks of lactation with lambs offered creep feeding.
Hill flocks well set for lambing
Lambing is commencing or due to start in the coming weeks for hill farm participants in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme.
Frank says that, in general, flocks are well set, with the kind winter leaving ewes in better body condition while helping forage supplies.
This allowed ewes to be retained on hill grazing for longer, with one participant utilising a lower part of the hill for longer to build grass supplies for carrying ewes through lambing.
Farmers have also been aiming, where possible, to take advantage of the weather to apply fertiliser and lift growth rates.
While the pregnancy rate across flocks was lower (ranging from 86% to 95%), for one reason or another the scanned litter size is running ahead of previous years with an average scanning rate of 1.36 lambs per ewe in lamb.
As such, enhancing grass supplies is an important focal point with these twin-suckling ewes requiring preferential treatment.
Better recording programme
Farmers have also been focusing in recent years on implementing a better recording programme to identify ewes that are performing on the hill – rearing a good lamb(s) while holding body condition.
Replacements are being selected from these animals to try to improve overall performance while breeding the most suitable ewes for the terrain in which they are farmed.
Lambs are being tagged at birth to allow subsequent performance to be recorded, while single-sire mating has also been utilised to allow parentage identification and selection of optimum ram breeding lines.
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