Autumn grazing plan

This week’s sheep feature on pages 36 and 37 touches on the importance of having an autumn grazing plan and sticking to it. At a Grass10 farm walk held in Roscommon last week, Teagasc advisers outlined the benefits of closing paddocks in sufficient time.

An example was used showing that under normal grass growing conditions, a hectare of ground closed on 20 October would have a cover of grass in excess of 950kg DM/ha in early March.

This is sufficient, taking average levels of grass utilisation to sustain 50 ewes and their lambs for 7.5 days grazing.

In contrast, the cover on swards closed on 20 November would be more than halved at 450kg DM/ha in early March.

This is sufficient under normal grazing conditions to provide grazing for 50 ewes and their lambs for four days, while pushing the closing date out to 20 December will witness the cover in early March drop to less than 400kg DM/ha and sustain the same group for only three days.

A blueprint was presented for a mid-March lambing flock based on ewes and lambs being turned outdoors within 24 to 48 hours of lambing and providing swards with a rest period of 120 days.

The recommendation for ground destined for grazing in early March is to have 20% of it closed in late October, with 40% closed by mid-November, 60% by late November and 80% by mid-December. The final 20% can sustain ewes for however long grass is present.

The importance of adhering to closing dates was stressed, given the repercussions of being short of grass post lambing and having to revert to feeding concentrates, which are almost certain to be costing in excess of €450/t.

Mating ewe lambs

Reports indicate that some highly stocked farms are reassessing the merits of mating ewe lambs, or are considering mating a lower number.

Their reasoning is that the high demand for grass in spring combined with higher fertiliser and concentrate costs, mating the same number of ewe lambs is not an attractive proposition.

Such decisions are not straightforward and need to take into account the farm’s resources, aspects such as labour availability, the volume of concentrates normally fed to ewe lambs and the potential influence on grassland management.

These questions will also help to review whether the lambing date is the most suitable.

For example, ewe lambs should generally be able to be sustained post lambing, with access to good-quality grass and concentrate supplementation in the order of 0.5kg per head daily for yearlings suckling twin lambs.

If concentrate feeding levels are much higher, the economics of the system will come under pressure and changes are required.

The same goes for lambing dates in the main flock. If grass supplies are not sufficient to sustain ewes and lambs without feeding excessive levels of concentrates, the system should be reviewed, assessing aspects such as if the lambing date is appropriate for the flock, whether paddocks are closed in adequate time in autumn and if the stocking rate is appropriate for the volume of grass grown.

Where ewe lambs are being bred then the system needs to be operating at a high level now more than ever.

Ewe lambs selected should be well grown and weigh at least 60% of mature weight at breeding and ideally higher. The potential also needs to be present to manage as a separate group.