Early lambing ewes

This week’s sheep feature discusses feeding programmes for mid and late pregnancy and capitalising on ewes generally being in better body condition. The way ewes are fed in early lactation will also have lasting effects on lamb performance.

Ewes suckling twin lambs will produce approximately 40% more milk than ewes suckling single lambs and in normal circumstances reach peak milk yield at three weeks rather than five weeks for single suckling ewes.

Early lambing ewes tend to be indoors for longer than mid-season lambing ewes and while ewes can compensate somewhat for any shortcomings in nutritional intake by mobilising body reserves, it should only be for a short period of a few days.

Therefore supplementation will be critical. For short-term supplementation ewes, in good body condition and offered access to moderate quality 68DMD to 70 DMD silage or top-quality hay, will require 1kg to 1.2kg concentrates daily. This will increase to 1.4kg to 1.5kg for ewes in poor body condition, while single suckling ewes will require 0.3kg to 0.5kg for ewes in good body condition and 0.6kg to 0.9kg for ewes lacking condition.

For longer-term feeding indoors, rates listed above will need to be increased by 0.2kg to 0.3kg, while where silage quality is poor ewes will need practically close to ad-lib levels with the focus in such a scenario to get ewes outdoors as soon as possible or purchase better quality forage.

The energy content of leafy spring grass is over 1UFL / kg DM or on a metabolisable energy basis, good-quality spring grass contains in the region of 12.2MJ ME and 12.4 MJ ME / kg DM, slightly lower than a kilogram dry matter of good-quality barley (13.2MJ ME /kg DM). Grass which has been saved up from late autumn will have a lower feeding value and in such a case ewes will benefit from short term supplementation for the first few weeks. An allocation of 0.5kg to 0.7kg will reap rewards with twin suckling ewes in good body-condition, rising to 1kg for ewes lacking condition.

Housing issues

The mild weather and higher than normal temperatures is said to be causing some issues with housed sheep.

The greatest issues are with poorly ventilated sheds that are highly stocked. Removing some side sheeting or opening doors to create airflow can help. Bedding is also harder to keep dry in some cases and spreading lime along passageways, water troughs etc can help to reduce the risk of lameness occurring and spreading.

Extra straw may also need to be used for early lambing ewes to reduce the risk of disease establishing while the same may be required for lambs on an intensive finishing diet to limit the chance of fleeces getting soiled and lambs falling foul of the clean livestock policy.

Sheep census

The 31 December date for recording the number of sheep on your holding for the 2018 sheep census has now passed. It is advisable to complete the census when numbers can be easily recorded.

The sheep census is a legal requirement and underpins payment of many schemes.

The Department of Agriculture advise that farmers who have received a census application but have no sheep, still need to return the application.