Grazing conditions have been good throughout spring and early summer and all sheep have benefitted from the dry weather.

Lamb performance has been excellent and I am well ahead of other years in getting lambs drafted for slaughter.

The first lambs were sold back on 15 June, which is at least a week earlier than last year.

The group consisted of nine animals, which averaged 78 days of age when sold, or 11 weeks.

In other years, when there was a wet spring, I would have fed small levels of concentrate to lambs to help with fat cover

Carcase weights averaged 21.36kg and the group had an average daily liveweight gain of 0.45kg/day from birth to slaughter, with kill-out percentage up on 49%.

No concentrates were fed to the lambs or ewes at grass. In other years, when there was a wet spring, I would have fed small levels of concentrate to lambs to help with fat cover.

Feed rates were typically 25kg/day across 100 lambs, which works out at 0.25kg/head.

Second draft

The second group of lambs were sold for slaughter on 2 July, with 24 animals drafted, most of which were Texel cross with a few Suffolk-bred animals.

At the last draft, I marked all lambs that weighed 38kg to 42kg, just to make it easier to pull out animals for weighing next time.

All weights are captured and used to identify the best ewes in the flock

But with lambs thriving, I had additional animals to add in to this group. Again, these animals are being finished without any concentrate feeding.

I have a good mobile handling unit, so it is relatively easy to run lambs over the bridge and pull animals out as they come fit.

All weights are captured and used to identify the best ewes in the flock, and those at the other end of the scale that can be marked for culling.

Weekly weighing

All lambs in the 38kg to 42kg weight range this week have been marked for easy identification at the next weighing.

With higher kill-out percentages, lambs will have to be watched carefully so they don’t run overweight.

My plan is to start drafting lambs on a weekly basis over the next few weeks, to get as many as possible away before weaning starts.

Normally, I would started weaning the crossbred lambs around mid-July, at which time I would usually go in with a spray-on product for fly control.

As well as splitting lambs on gender, they will also be grouped according to weight

I don’t treat any earlier, as I am conscious of withdrawal dates for slaughter lambs.

At the same time, I will weigh all lambs and split them into separate grazing groups based on whether they are male or female.

As well as splitting lambs on gender, they will also be grouped according to weight.

For example, I will group the lambs weighing over 40kg liveweight together, then the lambs weighing 38kg to 40kg and a group weighing 35kg to 38kg.

Again, this makes it much easier when drafting lambs in late summer, as the groups with the heaviest lambs only have to come in for weighing, with lighter lambs left alone.

Post-weaning management

Once weaned, the lambs stay on the best grass on-farm, while dry ewes are put to the hill. Depending on the weather in late summer to early autumn, I will make the call on concentrate feeding.

If conditions are dry, I’ll try and finish as many lambs as possible from a grass-only diet.

But if it is wet, or conditions are mixed, I’ll most likely offer the ram lambs a small level of supplementary concentrate, just to keep them gaining condition on wet grass.

Cull ewes

Once lambs are weaned, cull ewes are pulled out from the main flock. With records kept on breeding animals every year, there is plenty of solid performance information for culling out problem sheep.

Cull ewes carrying flesh are sold more or less straight away through the live ring.

Any cull ewes that are thin are given a three to four week period to put on condition before they are offloaded.

The trade for cull ewes is usually good, so it pays to give animals a chance to regain condition after weaning.

Clipping

The crossbred ewes were clipped last week on Friday 26 June, with 400 animals shorn. This leaves the Blackface ewes still to clip.

Crossbred ewes were shorn on 26 June with 400 animals clipped.

I have always clipped sheep in late June and with animals grazing on the hill, I find that they are not bothered by flies as much as sheep grazing on lower lying ground.

Grass growth

There is plenty of grass on-farm at present, so I have held off on sowing fertiliser in recent weeks, just to keep swards from getting too far in front of ewes.

I have 3ac of grazing closed off and it is earmarked for baling as soon as the weather allows.

However, I will probably sow a half bag per acre of nitrogen next week across the grazing fields, just to give grass growth a boost. This should help build covers of lush grass on the better grazing areas for lambs post-weaning.

Farm facts:

  • Clement Lynch, Park, Co Derry.
  • 500 breeding ewes.
  • 209ha hill and upland grazing.
  • Mid-season lambing.
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