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September has been a quieter month in terms of farm management for Kate Kingan and Peter Mant, with silage finished up in August and the majority of lambs already sold.
Like many livestock farms, the weather has presented the greatest challenge in recent weeks. Grass growth has been good and the farm is carrying strong covers into the autumn.
However, ground has become harder to manage and grass utilisation is lower compared to early and mid-summer.
The last round of fertiliser was applied to grazing ground on 5 September with 35 acres dressed with one bag/acre of Sweetgrass (23% nitrogen).
This should help build covers to carry ewes through the breeding season this autumn. Grass supplies will also be increased once cattle are housed, which may well take place earlier this year, unless there is a big improvement in ground conditions.
Split lambing
The sheep flock at Tynan Abbey lamb down in two groups, as limited housing space prevents all ewes from lambing in February.
While the first group lambs indoors, the second group is lambed outdoors in April. To take the further pressure off housing facilities, as well as easing demand from grass in early spring, more ewes will be lambing down in April next year.
“We are planning on running 200 ewes in our early lambing flock. The group breaks down to 70 Dorset ewes which will run with a Suffolk ram,” said Kate.
“There are 40 Suffolk ewes which will be mated to a Cheviot ram as an experiment. Normally, this cross works the other way around, with the Cheviot ewes running with a Suffolk ram, so it will be interesting to see how it works out.
“The remaining ewes are mainly Suffolk x Cheviot ewes and a mix of crossbred hoggets running with Suffolk rams.
“The plan is to run five rams with the early lambing ewes. Rams will go out with ewes next week and run for four weeks.
“Rams are raddled as they go to the ewes, which gives a good handle on breeding activity and lambing dates.”
Outdoor lambing
The outdoor lambing flock will consist of 350 ewes, up from 150 ewes in the spring just past. “The rams are set to go out with these ewes from November onwards,” said Peter.
“The April-lambing flock consists of 150 Romney ewes and we purchased another 50 Romney ewe lambs this year direct from farm.
“We have purchased off this farm before and are pleased with how these animals have performed. There is also a group of 50 homebred ewe lambs joining this flock.
“Ewe lambs will be bred to Ile De France and Belclare rams, mainly for lambing ease. The mature ewes will run with Suffolk rams.”
New rams
Along with purchasing Romney ewe lambs, two new Suffolk ram lambs were purchased to replace older flock sires.
These animals will be used to breed ewes this autumn, but they will be carefully managed to avoid being overworked.
Preparations for breeding
All breeding ewes and replacements receive a mineral bolus around one month prior to the start of the breeding season.
This week, ewes will come in and receive a worm drench to control internal parasite burdens that could impact on conception rates. Ewes have also been run through a footbath to address any lameness issues.
Foot bath
A new footbath is under construction and almost complete.
The new setup will see ewes pass through two baths, with the first one containing just water.
This will clean feet before ewes move into the second bath, which will contain formalin.
As feet are cleaned before ewes enter the second bath, the solution will ensure a more effective treatment, as there is less contamination from soil and faeces.
Considering marketing options for late lambs
Lambs have performed well this year and to date. Seventy-five per cent of the 830 lambs born this spring have been sold, which is approximately 622 animals.
Around 65% of lambs sold went direct to the factory for processing, with the other 10% sold as stores.
Allowing for replacement ewe lambs, both Kate and Peter are considering the best option to market the remaining lambs.
“Store lambs are a fantastic trade at present and returning great prices. Offloading the remaining lambs as stores would free up more grass to carry ewes this winter,” said Kate.
“Also, as autumn grass is low in dry matter, daily liveweight gain is starting to drop. We weighed lambs last week and split out the animals weighing over 40kg. It is probably worthwhile holding these animals for finishing. But anything below 40kg would probably be better off in the live ring.
“For example, taking lambs at weighing 38kg this week and a daily liveweight gain of 120g/day, to get to a target slaughter weight around 47kg to 48kg, it would take another 11 to 12 weeks from a grass only diet.
“That’s provided the grass is available to carry them. If concentrates have to be fed to maintain performance and ease grazing demand, then selling early as stores would be the better option.”
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