Grassland management: The welcome rise in temperatures over the weekend and resultant increase in grass growth rates is helping to boost grass supplies. There will inevitably be a situation for many farmers of turning ewes and lambs into heavier than optimal covers. The way these heavy covers are managed will greatly influence performance while steps taken in the next 10 days will set the basis for setting the farm up to capitalise on peak May growth.

Splitting the area to restrict the period of time ewes have to spend grazing poorer quality grass at the base of the sward will limit any setback in performance with the ideal situation to get ewes and lambs into fresh grass within 24 hours of being forced to graze down poorer quality grass. Where there is a batch of dry ewe hoggets or weaned early lambing ewes then these should be earmarked for grazing out paddocks while on mixed livestock farms batching up sheep and cows/cattle will help utilisation.

Where covers are particularly heavy and it is hard to tailor the size of the grazing area to the batch of sheep then there will be no option but to forego getting paddocks grazed out to 3.5cm to 4cm. This will have an influence on quality at the next grazing and in time will lead to topping being required to readjust quality. Where grass supplies are starting to run significantly ahead of demand then it is important that surplus areas start to be identified for taking out as baled silage.

This will serve two major benefits – it will deliver a source of top-quality silage for feeding in late pregnancy and keep grass quality on track. Where paddocks will be taken out it is important to act fast as delaying cutting and allowing paddocks to bulk up could lead to a tightening in grass supplies. Grass measurement or at a minimum walking the farm regularly will be essential over the coming weeks. There will also be farms where supplies will be just approaching demand. It is important irrespective of which situation the farm is in to maintain regular fertiliser application to keep supplies on track.

Shearing considerations: There is greater interest at an earlier stage of the year in shearing due to a higher frequency of ewes going on their back. Decisions need to take into account the age of lambs and other aspects such as the type of weather forecast. Nights are still pretty cold and with a dip in temperature forecast it is not advised to be shearing ewes with young lambs for at least another couple of weeks. As well as leading to a higher risk of mis-mothering it is also likely to introduce a risk of some ewes potentially going dry or health issues such as pneumonia or mastitis. Shearers also report that it is unlikely that many sheep are in a fit condition to be shorn yet with the exception of dry ewe hoggets.

Yearling hoggets: Lactating hoggets need preferential treatment to ensure lifetime performance is not compromised. Hoggets suckling twin lambs should be managed similar to triplet-rearing mature ewes receiving concentrate supplementation (0.5kg per head) for the first five weeks of lactation with lambs offered creep. Hoggets also need to be included in the farm’s worm programme with natural immunity slower to build.