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The dry weather during April was well received here and I took full advantage of the improvement in ground conditions to carry out field work.
Along with getting fertiliser and slurry out, I was busy installing new water piping to supply drinking water to grazing and silage fields.
Previously, livestock could access a river to get drinking water. However, I applied to the Environmental Farming Scheme in Northern Ireland for grant funding to install a dedicated water system.
Approval was granted in February and work began in late April. I have installed 500 metres of water piping using a vibrating mole plough machine, owned by a local contractor.
Pipe laying
The machine is normally used to install duct pipes for electric cables, but it has been a big help in getting water pipe laid.
The plough is pulled through the ground, cutting a channel about 700mm deep. Water pipe is installed as soon as the channel is cut and closed again. This is a much faster method of laying the pipe than using a digger.
Cost
Under the scheme, there is a grant payment of £4/metre (€4.50) which covers the cost of installing the piping, but excludes my own time.
The next step is to install seven new drinking troughs, along with fittings and tap joints to the main pipe line.
I am doing this work myself to cut down on the costs. The drinkers will most likely be concrete troughs suitable for sheep, rather than plastic models.
Once finished, drinking water will be supplied from a borehole that is already on-farm.
Hopefully, having a dedicated water supply to each field will allow some of the grazing areas to be broken up and better managed by sheep.
Fencing
Along with the water piping, I have to fence off the river to be eligible for the grant funding. The fencing required consists of stock-proof wire and three strands of barb. As we have a post driver on-farm, this is another job we will complete ourselves.
Thankfully, lambing is coming to an end, so we will have more time to spend on fencing over the next month.
The lambing season is almost finished for another year, with just six ewes left to lamb as of last weekend.
We run around 280 ewes on-farm, 140 of which are purebred Scottish Blackface and the remainder being a cross between Texel and Blackface.
The flock was scanned back in early January and from 140 ewes put to the ram, scanning results showed a lambing percentage of 160%
Our hill sheep are mainly Lanark-type ewes.
While the hill ewes run with Blackface rams, the crossbred ewes are mated to a Texel ram and the replacement hoggets are bred to Charollais rams.
Lambing started around 17 March with the crossbred ewes. The flock was scanned back in early January and from 140 ewes put to the ram, scanning results showed a lambing percentage of 160%.
Housing
Crossbred ewes were housed in mid-January. Our sheep house has plastic slats installed to keep ewes clean and comfortable when inside.
Baled silage was fed to ewes and concentrate was introduced around five weeks before the start of lambing. Ewes were fed a standard 20% protein nut.
Hill ewes
The hill ewes were scanned on the same date as the crossbred flock, with lambing percentage at 120%.
After scanning, I put 100 Blackface ewes back to the hill. These animals consisted of the youngest and fittest animals in the flock.
The other 40 ewes were older and slightly leaner than I would have liked, so they were housed.
I felt housing was the best thing for these animals, as I had more control over the daily diet and could manage body condition better.
Post-lambing
Ewes lamb on the slats and then move to individual mothering pens for 24 hours, after which they were turned outside. Thankfully, the weather has been ideal for lambing this year.
While it was cold at night and grass growth was limited, it has also been dry and lambs were much healthier outside.
Being able to turn lambs outside as early as possible cuts down on the workload. As grass growth has been slower to come than I would like, ewes have been supplemented with concentrate at grass.
Ewes suckling twins are being fed 1kg/day, while singles are getting 0.5kg/day. As grass growth picks up, meal feeding will stop.
Fertiliser spread
Urea was applied on the grazing ground in early April and slurry went out last week.
The soils on our farm are naturally heavy and hold moisture, so although many farmers needed rain, we were managing OK without it.
Silage ground
Around 10ac of grassland will be closed off for first-cut silage in early to mid-June, depending on what weather conditions are like at the time.
To make up any shortfall in first cut, I will close off more ground for second-cut silage in August
Slurry was spread at 2,000 gallons/ac and this has been topped up with 27:4:4 plus sulphur. There are still sheep grazing some of our silage ground.
At this stage, ewes will probably stay on these fields, as grass is tight. This should help take the pressure off the grazing area.
To make up any shortfall in first cut, I will close off more ground for second-cut silage in August.
First worm dose
I have noticed some of the oldest lambs showing signs of dirty back ends, so I am keeping a close eye for nematodirus.
If more lambs show symptoms, I will go with a white drench for the first worm treatment. At the same time as dosing, all sheep will run through the foot bath.
Ewes should be covered for internal parasites, having been treated with Closamectin two weeks prior to lambing.
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