Grassland management: The dip in temperatures and lower grass growth rates has tightened grass supplies on some farms. It is important to continue to take whatever opportunity possible to get fertiliser applied post grazing. Most highly stocked farms are applying 20 to 25 units of nitrogen after grazing with some now rightly switching to compound fertilisers where there are known fertility issues.

If grass supplies are running particularly tight then steps should be taken to slow down demand. Offering a batch of ewes and lambs concentrates for a few days will help to slow down demand and will also help greatly where there have been grass tetany issues in recent days. For detailed advice on grass tetany see www.farmersjournal.ie.

There is the opposite situation on other farms with a high percentage of reseeded swards that had a good cover of grass to start with. Here running ewes and lambs in larger grazing groups or temporarily splitting paddocks will be essential to keep control of grass and optimise utilisation when growth recovers over the next week.

Clostridial disease vaccine: Most flocks who administer a clostridial disease vaccination programme to ewes will delay vaccinating lambs for up to three months of age to take advantage of protection derived through colostrum. The disease profile and challenge faced on each individual farm will sometimes require earlier treatment. Also where Pasteurella is a known risk, vaccination derived via colostrum from vaccines offering cover last for about four weeks. Therefore a decision to vaccinate needs to take into account previous experience.

Lambs born to unvaccinated ewes can receive vaccination from three weeks of age. Earlier vaccination is not recommended due to potential interference with maternally derived antibodies to disease. A group of sheep which is often forgotten about is pet lambs that may not have received significant volumes of colostrum and are being reared artificially. A decision may need to be taken to vaccinate these animals earlier. If in doubt consult your vet as to the optimum treatment route for your farm. Your vet will also be best placed to give advice on the optimum product to select with differences present as to the strains of clostridia protection is provided against.

Electronic tagging: Ewe hoggets will be soon turning 12 months of age and will need to be brought up to electronic tagging status. There are two options. Where lambs already possess a single permanent tag a corresponding electronic tag can be ordered or this tag can be removed and replaced with a new EID tag set with this change recorded in your flock register. Ordering a new tag set may be the cheaper option so it is worth checking prices.

Remember that under the Department of Agriculture’s sheep tag subsidy there is a once-off payment of €100 towards the first purchase of electronic tags between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2019. The subsidy is €1 per tag and is payable on single electronic tags or an EID tag set. Payments will take place in April, July and October and will be made automatically after a tag order has been made– i.e. there is no need to apply for payment.