Grass supplies: There is huge variation in regional ground conditions, grass utilisation and grass supplies. Heavy rainfall in western and northern regions in recent weeks and a resultant deterioration in ground conditions has limited opportunities to get fertiliser applied, particularly on more marginal ground.

The resultant drop in grass growth rates and lower grass utilisation is making it increasingly difficult to build sufficient autumn covers.

Farmers in such a position need to take steps early while there are still a number of options available.

At this stage of the year, the priority focus should be switching to ensuring that the performance of ewes is not compromised.

For most, this entails assessing the drafting position of lambs and putting a plan in place that avoids lambs competing with ewes for vital grass supplies and helping to build a bank of grass. Performance of lambs on a grass-only diet will also be greatly curtailed on swards which have received heavy rainfall with the dry matter falling to as low as 10% on lush swards.

In these cases and particularly on highly stocked farms, lambs will benefit from concentrate supplementation with this delivering two benefits – it directly increases the energy content of the diet and it helps achieve higher utilisation from grass consumed due to slowing the rate of digestion.

Supplementation of 0.3kg to 0.5kg will help to underpin performances.

Alternatively, some farmers heading down this avenue are segregating lambs weighing upwards of 38kg to 40kg and feeding heavily either at grass or indoors with the aim of achieving a quick finish.

The other option is completing a finishing budget and assessing if the store trade is an option.

Growth rates remain relatively good and the option of applying fertiliser should be capitalised upon where possible.

Kill-out percentage: The slaughter performance of lambs is also reported as becoming more variable in recent weeks.

Ram lambs in particular are reported as recording a lower kill-out percentage and some regional issues with fat cover.

The kill-out of aged ram lambs lacking flesh can be as low as 40% and even slightly lower.

Strong ram lambs that are adequately covered but possibly lacking conformation are in many cases achieving a kill-out of 41% to 42% while younger fleshed lambs with better conformation and those which have received concentrates are rising to 43% to 44% kill-out.

At this stage of the season, heavy ram lambs should be segregated and supplemented where fat cover issues are evident.

Sheep welfare scheme: The supplementation programme selected under the task of mineral supplementation post-breeding must ensure that the products, or combination of products used (eg bolus, drenches, buckets), provide supplementation for at least 60 days post-breeding.

Products must detail on their label the recommended level of supplementation per animal and the duration of cover that these will give.

The date at which breeding commences is the date rams are joined with ewes. Where there is a split in the breeding season for different batches of ewes, this should be recorded in the scheme recording book.