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Like many farmers running a mid-season lambing flock, Trevor Nixon’s focus has been on getting ewes prepared for the breeding season.
This year, there will be slightly fewer sheep going out to the rams. Ewes have been drafted inside the last two weeks and 129 will go to the ram on 1 November.
Ewes have been selected primarily on progeny performance that has been recorded on a farm software package.
“We are keeping the ewes that reared the heaviest lambs this year, as these are the best milking ewes in the flock,” Trevor said.
The weight gain of this year’s lambs has been recorded using the EID reader. This makes it much easier to choose which ewes to keep and which animals to cull.
“We are trying to weed out the ewes with less milk, so we are culling fairly hard this year,” said Trevor.
Manual recording
There is also some manual recording of problem ewes at lambing time when the workload is much more intense.
To simplify recording issues at such a busy time, any ewes that give bother at lambing are ear-notched.
Again, this makes it much easier to identify and exclude these animals from breeding decisions in autumn.
Cull ewes
“We have 30 ewes pulled out for culling for a number of issues. These animals are now grazing on good grass to put on condition and will be sold inside the next fortnight.
“As our ewes are mainly Texel and Belclare breeding, it is worthwhile grazing them for an extra few weeks before selling as the additional condition greatly improves sale value at very little cost.”
Replacements
Normally, Trevor replaces cull ewes with home-bred ewe lambs. However, this year, he is most likely going to run the ewe lambs over the winter and breed them as hoggets next year.
There are a couple of reasons for this change. Ewe lambs do require more management in their first winter, especially to get April-born lambs to a suitable breeding weight in time.
Secondly, there was an issue back in July when lambs experienced a major setback in terms of weight gain.
Replacement ewe lambs are due to be weighed and selected next week, but the loss of performance in July means these animals are behind target in terms of weight gain. As such, it would be more practical for these animals to run through as hoggets for next year.
Animal health
Lambs had been doing well through June. However, back in July, Trevor noted animals losing weight. Lambs were wormed in June, but dung and blood samples showed the first worm drench had been ineffective.
After consulting with the farm’s vet, a different wormer was used and has been effective at controlling internal parasites.
Blood samples also showed lambs were low in trace elements, which has been addressed with a mineral bolus.
Since July, lambs have started to thrive again, but the setback has delayed animals being drafted for sale.
Ram power
With no ewe lambs to breed this year, there will be additional ram power on the farm during November.
The flock runs four rams and Trevor intends running them all with the ewes. The ewes will be mated to a half-bred Texel/Rouge ram, along with Suffolk, Beltex and Belclare sires.
Lamb sales
Lambs have been weighed and there are currently 66 animals over 40kg liveweight. These animals will be taken through to slaughter.
Lambs under 40kg liveweight will most likely be sold as stores given the current demand in the market.
Lighter lambs will be competing for grass with ewes during October and concentrates will also be required to bring ram lambs to the correct level of finish in late autumn.
“Selling these animals as stores will take them out of the system in early October, and leave more grass for breeding ewes,” said Trevor.
The NI Sheep programme will hold an online webinar on Wednesday 7 October at 7.30pm, with the focus on Ovine Pulmonary Adrenocarcinoma (OPA), more commonly known as Jaagsiekte.
The webinar will feature programme farmers, Karl and Peter McCaughan, who run a 340ha hill farm near Ballycastle, Co Antrim.
The farm carries 550 ewes, alongside 35 spring calving suckler cows. Like the other programme farmers, the McCaughan brothers are now scanning ewes for OPA.
At present, there is no cure for OPA. The only way to confirm the presence of the disease in sheep is by ultrasonic scanning
OPA is a highly infectious and fatal lung condition which is easily transmitted between sheep of all ages. It also affects all sheep breeds in both lowland and hill environments.
The virus causes tumours to form in the animal’s lungs, leading to a higher incidence of respiratory problems, primarily in adult sheep along with causing sudden weight loss.
At present, there is no cure for OPA. The only way to confirm the presence of the disease in sheep is by ultrasonic scanning of the animal’s chest.
Specialising in providing this service is consultant vet Patrick Grant, who will also feature in the webinar.
Patrick will address the increasing incidence of OPA in sheep flocks and the options to eradicating the disease.
The webinar is open to everyone and to gain access, register your interest at www.ifj.ie/sheepevent.
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