Drafting lambs: The lamb trade is flying with factory prices increasing by 20c/kg in the last week. This is feeding into a vibrant store lamb trade, meaning farmers that want to move lambs have lots of outlets to select from. Given the strength of the store lamb trade, producers should not be sending light or underfleshed lambs to the factory.

These lambs will be a much better seller live with strong farmer and specialist feeder interest at present.

The mart trade has developed into a solid outlet for heavy lambs with butchers and wholesalers clashing with factory agents. Where you have weaker negotiating power with factories and are being offered prices well below the going rate, then it is worth at least considering the mart as a potential outlet. It is also worth assessing the quality of ewe lambs you are planning to keep, and draft any unsuitable lambs while body condition is likely to be good.

Ram lamb management: Many flocks lambing in February have come to the end of their breeding season. The manner in which ram lambs are managed through their first breeding season, and in particular how they are managed post-breeding, can have a marked influence on their lifetime performance.

Ram lambs, and any rams that have lost significant condition during mating, should be removed from the flock once breeding has concluded for preferential treatment, if required. Access to good-quality grass will generally be sufficient to sustain a recovery in body condition, but there is generally also merit in offering concentrate supplementation for a short period.

A low level of feeding at about 0.3kg for rams in medium-to-good body condition and 0.5kg for lambs that have lost significant condition will generally fast track the recovery process and ensure performance is not compromised. Supplementation only needs to be short-term and can cease once body condition recovers adequately. High-energy cereals or a standard high-energy mix will suffice, with a 25kg bag sustaining a ram for 50 days and a small price to pay to safeguard a significant investment.

Clean livestock policy: The challenging ground conditions in recent weeks are starting to raise more issues with adherence to the clean livestock policy. Factories repeat that they have a much better chance of handling borderline category C sheep where they are presented dry, with wet fleeces regularly pushing lambs from category B to category C.

Fleeces do not need to be bone dry and delaying drafting until fleeces are relatively dry or housing in advance of slaughtering will pay dividends. The greatest issues to-date are with wet fleeces that have become heavily soiled during transport or lambs presented with heavy daggings. Clay-soiled bellies have not become too much of an issue with lambs finished outdoors yet, but caution should be taken to locate feed troughs in the driest part of the field and keep them moved.

Where the belly wool of lambs is likely to fall foul of the clean livestock policy and is being shorn before presenting for slaughter, the advice is to shear two blows down the midline of the animal from under its neck to its tail head. For horned or crossbred lambs with long wool that will fall back over cut lines, there may be no option but to fully shear lambs with a heavily soiled fleece.