Concentrate supplementation

Rainfall has significantly reduced grass dry matter, while levels of utilisation have also come under pressure on more marginal soils. This is presenting significant challenges for finishing ram lambs.

There is a greater reluctance to feed concentrates to finish lambs given the high cost and stagnant trade for finished lambs.

Decisions on finishing such lambs will need to be taken sooner rather than later. At this stage of the year performance from grass alone is only going in one direction.

Performance can be propped up by supplementing lambs with concentrates.

This will be expensive but for many there will be few other options, as it is vital to protect grass supplies for ewes.

The increase in the dry matter of the diet will also boost the utilisation of nutrients from grass and improve slaughter performance.

The most economical return continues to be achieved by segregating lambs on weight and offering higher volumes to more forward lambs that will finish quicker. For many this includes feeding 0.5kg concentrates.

Those that have seen grass supplies diminish or quality come under pressure will have to decide what the better option is – increasing concentrate supplementation to upwards of 0.8-1kg daily, house and feed intensively where conditions are difficult or consider the live trade.

Slaughter performance continues to vary greatly. Ram lambs coming off more marginal ground without feeding and lacking flesh cover are killing out at 40-41%, or lower.

This number rises to 42-43% for lowland lambs drafted from top-quality grazing.

The typical kill-out for ram lambs on good grass and receiving significant concentrate supplementation varies anywhere from 42-45% on average depending on lamb type. Comparable wether and ewe lambs are killing out from 43-45%.

This means that for many farmers aiming to hit a carcase weight of 21kg and upwards, lambs will typically need to weigh upwards of 48kg for well-fleshed lowland lambs and upwards of 50-52kg liveweight for crossbred lambs which have a reasonable cover of flesh.

Breeding progress: Many mid-season flocks are now a few weeks through breeding, with some entering their second breeding cycle.

It is important to monitor activity closely in such cases to quickly identify a high repeat rate and take swift action. Alarm bells should sound where a significant number of ewes are repeat breeders. The typical repeat rate should not be above 15%.

The best defence to limit the effect of ram infertility issues is to switch rams between groups where possible at the end of the first cycle.

In this case there is a reduced chance of these ewes being pushed to the third cycle before being mated with a fertile ram.

Remember also to continue to raddle rams if possible on a weekly basis. This will deliver significant benefits next spring in implementing accurate late pregnancy feeding programmes and minimising concentrate costs.

Clean livestock policy

It is not surprising that issues have started to crop up again in recent weeks regarding the clean livestock policy.

Practices need to be adopted again, including taking steps to try and avoid sheep with wet fleeces from being transported and in particular avoid transporting such sheep where there are animals in the batch with dirty tail ends.

Restricting intake pre-transport, housing for a period where necessary and using appropriate bedding material in trailers will help.