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For the first time on our farm, we decided to weigh our lambs at eight weeks of age, to monitor performance and identify the ewes with the most milk in our flock.
We weighed over 200 of the March-born lambs on 7 May and across the group, the average liveweight was 23.75kg.
Allowing for a birth weight of 4kg, the average eight-week weight converts to a daily liveweight gain of 352g/day from birth, which is pleasing. These lambs achieved this weight gain from a grass-only diet. No concentrate was fed to this group of sheep
Within the group, individual weights ranged from the lightest at 15kg, rising to the heaviest at 36kg.
The vast majority of lambs are Texel-bred, with a few sired by our New Zealand Suffolk ram.
The lambing percentage in this group is 194% live lambs, with plenty of twin lambs at the top end of the weight range.
At this stage, we are thinking about only keeping twin ewe lambs that are heavier than the average weight at eight weeks old.
Selection
The same group of lambs will be weighed again next month, to see if there is any change to daily liveweight gain.
We will then use these weight records when making breeding decisions, and when trying to cull out underperforming ewes.
Over time
In the past, we followed a fairly robust selection policy when choosing which animals to keep for breeding and it has been generally successful.
We would have tried to identify ewes that were rearing good lambs based on visual appearance. But having physical weights to work on means we have better information to make breeding decisions.
Ewes were also culled for the usual problems, such as mastitis, lameness and poor mothering ability. Thankfully, culling hard for feet problems means we rarely have an issue with lameness and do not foot-bathe animals.
Animal health
All lambs were weighed manually over our bridge. At the same time as weighing, lambs were given a clostridial vaccine.
Lambs were also treated for nematodirus using a white drench around three weeks ago. We are keeping a close eye to the group for signs that a follow-up dose is required.
So far, there is little sign of lambs being burdened, but it is always good to be vigilant. After a recent discussion group meeting on parasite control, we are considering using a different dosing product to reduce any build-up of resistance.
We are also trying to use mixed grazing to cut down on worms building up at grass. Once ewes have grazed grass down to 1,600kg DM/ha, they are moved and we bring in calves to clean off any remaining grass.
April lambs
We have a second group of lambs that have yet to be weighed at eight weeks. These are the younger lambs born last month and are mainly from our breeding hoggets.
The majority of these ewes ran with our New Zealand Suffolk, and there would be around 135 lambs in this group.
Reseeded fields grazing well
Grass growth slowed earlier this month, especially last week, when temperatures regularly fell below freezing at night.
We got rain at the weekend. Hopefully, with the rise in temperatures this week, grass growth will pick up.
The fields we reseeded last year have been grazing well this spring and are currently being grazed for the third time. The rest of the grazing block is on its second rotation.
Grazing ground has just received its second round of fertiliser and we went with one bag per acre of a zero phosphate product this time around.
Silage
We have 30ac of grass closed off for silage, along with three paddocks from the grazing rotation. We closed up these paddocks as grass was getting too strong for grazing.
Normally, we would cut and bale silage, as it suits working with a smaller acreage. As we also made bales every three to four weeks to manage sward quality, baling silage was a much more practical approach compared to putting grass in the pit.
However, we have much more grass closed off for first-cut compared with previous years. Normally, we rented out 25ac, but have kept the ground this year.
With a bigger area to cut, it may be more practical to ensile silage in the clamp this year. Another factor behind this thinking is that we could go with precision-chop silage.
As our bales are not chopped, they are much harder to handle when feeding out. There is also more waste, as ewes tend to pull unchopped silage into the pens, which then blocks slats. If silage was precision-chopped, this should be less of an issue.
Forage crop
Back in April, we sowed a catch crop of kale and stubble turnips. Ground conditions were ideal at sowing time and the crop has established well.
We have sown out this crop for a few years now. Normally, we start grazing the crop in late June, to take the pressure off grazing ground until silage has been completed.
Ewes with stronger lambs are usually selected to graze the crop. This year, the crop will probably be ready to graze by mid-June, given the strong start it has had.
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