SIS confirmation

The Department of Agriculture has confirmed that requests to change the year for completing the genotyped ram action in the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) will continue to be accepted without penalty. This is welcome news, with high numbers of scheme-eligible rams still being traded and hill ram sales increasing in intensity. The 6 October deadline referred to withdrawals from the scheme and scheduling of payments. The Department has pointed out that withdrawal requests received after advance payments have been sanctioned may be subject to recoupment of payment. There was also advice disseminated regarding requests for reference number reductions. These will also be facilitated after 6 October, but it is important to highlight that reference number reduction requests received after advance payment issues may result in a recoupment of payments received. The terms and conditions of the scheme state that “applicants are required to inform the Department before payment issues or prior to receipt of a notification of an administrative inspection if the number of breeding ewes they hold falls below the scheme payment reference number/most recent census figure. The lower number of eligible breeding ewes will then become the eligible number for payment”. Notification can be sent via email to sheepscheme@agriculture.gov.ie or in hardcopy form to Sheep Improvement Scheme, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Government Buildings, Old Abbeyleix Road, Portlaoise, Co Laois, R32 RPA6.

Drafting concerns

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The slaughter performance of lambs has come in to the spotlight again in recent weeks. Performance had briefly recovered, but the return of inclement weather and reducing dry matter content in grass has witnessed a slippage again. Factory agents and producer group coordinators comment that the greatest issues are being seen in aged ram lambs drafted off grass without any feed. It is important to draft lambs carefully, as under-fleshed and underweight lambs are subject to cuts of anywhere from upwards of 70c/kg to €1/kg.It is also important to take stock of how lambs are performing and take action, where necessary. Where lamb performance is on track then there may be no need to change the system, but where lambs are falling behind target then early intervention will lessen the intervention needed at a later date. The option open to most will be introducing concentrate supplementation. An allocation of 300g to 600g will generate the most economical response where there is no pressure on grass supplies for ewes. Where grass supplies are limiting, or the lamb drafting rate is well behind target, then higher supplementation rates, or possibly selling lambs as stores, may need to be considered to ensure ewes are treated as priority. Where higher quantities are being fed, then the best response will be achieved from targeted feeding to forward lambs weighing upwards of 38kg to 40kg.

TASAH deadline

The Parasite Control Targeted Advisory Service on Animal Health (TASAH) programme closes for 2023 on 31 October. Under the voluntary programme, sheep and cattle farmers can receive a consultation with a trained veterinary practitioner and two faecal egg counts (FECs) funded by TASAH. An application portal and a map detailing participating veterinary practitioners can be found by visiting https://animalhealthireland.ie/programmes/ under the heading ‘parasite control’.