Storm Dave’s strong winds, torrential rainfall and harsh wintry conditions caused havoc for many farmers lambing at the weekend.
There was varying levels of lamb mortality reported with outdoor lambing flocks and flocks at peak lambing and forced to turn out ewes and young in the days leading up to the storm particularly exposed.
Those that escaped without experiencing any mortality were still hit with the grazing season knocked back
again.
This follows on from above normal rainfall levels in March with Met Éireann reporting that “March 2026 rainfall was wetter than normal with 108% of the 1991-2020 long-term average (102.1mm) and is ranked the 36th wettest March since 1941”, while rainfall in February was recorded at 119% of the 1991-2020 long-term
average.
Temperatures of 7.97oC were 0.84oC above the 1991-2020 LTA which would lead one to think of potential benefits for grass growth.
However, growth was curtailed by a combination of waterlogged soils and many farmers being unable to apply early slurry or chemical fertiliser.
Grass supplies are depleting fast and there is a lot riding on weather potentially settling over the next
week.
Options available to farmers are limited until ground conditions improve, but there are some steps that can be taken to try and get over the current challenges and be in a better position to get the grazing season back on track once
conditions improve.
Apply fertiliser once
conditions allow
A high percentage of farmers in sheep strongholds have no fertiliser applied, while others farming on drier ground have very little applied.
Heavily stocked farms with ewes approaching peak intake (three to four weeks post-lambing for twin suckling ewes and five weeks for single suckling ewes) will be under extra pressure for grass and as such will need to apply 25 to 30 units of nitrogen to once an opportunity presents itself.
Medium-stocked farms may get away with a lower allocation but where no fertiliser has been applied it is advisable to apply upwards of 15 to 20 units to get grass moving. While normally protected urea would represent the best value for money at this stage of the year inflated prices due to war means that CAN or compound fertilisers could be cheaper in terms of cost per unit of nitrogen.
Weaning early born lambs will significantly reduce grass demand from competing ewes.
It is worth assessing your options and weighing up where the best value lies.
It is likely that many farmers will be trying to cope with putting out lower volumes given where the cost of fertiliser has increased to.
Even at current costs there is merit in applying early nitrogen with costs still lower relative to continuing to purchase concentrates to plug a nutritional deficit.
Batch up numbers
Many farmers and especially those farming on more marginal or heavier soils have delayed batching up ewes and lambs in to larger grazing groups.
This was sensible given the practicalities of supplementing large numbers of ewes and lambs and poor ground conditions.
Once ground conditions allow and grass growth starts to build, the batching of animals in to grazing groups should begin as leaving ewes and lambs spread out over a large area will significantly hamper grass growth and sward recovery and delay the farm’s ability to build covers and get supplies back on track.
Continue to
feed where necessary
Even where grass growth rates improve it will still take time to build grass supplies.
A key aspect in boosting supplies will be conserving and rationing existing supplies until growth surpasses demand.
As such there is no option but to continue to feed to conserve grass supplies and ensure ewes are in a position of reaching their peak milk yield.
Where grass reserves are scarce (less than 3.5cm) then supplementation rates of 0.7kg to 1kg will be required for twin-suckling ewes in good body condition.
Where ewes are more than five weeks lambed and there is no respite on the horizon for grass supplies then it is more economical to offer concentrates to lambs via creep feeding rather than to ewes.
This will not eliminate the need to supplement ewes but supplementation rates can be reduced while targeting concentrates to lambs.
Where grass supplies are depleted then a twin suckling ewe in good body condition will require in the region of 1kg to 1.2kg concentrates, rising to 1.2kg to 1.5kg daily for ewes in poor body condition.
Single suckling ewes will require approximately half these feeding rates. Forage should also be offered where there is no grass available.
Where grass supplies are sufficient (4cm plus) then offering 0.5kg concentrates can help to lower feed demand and conserve supplies. Such feeding rates will also provide a nutritional boost to ewes in poor body condition.
Thin ewes and high priority animals such as ewes rearing triplets, lactating hoggets and any ewes which experienced niggling health issues should be prioritised in to their own grazing group.
Creep feeding such lambs will help to take the nutritional strain of these animals.
It is important to be mindful of the risk of grass tetany when grass supplies start to build as with ewes under significant nutritional pressure and grass regrowth likely to be lush in make-up there is a higher risk of ewes succumbing to the disease.
Lick buckets should be introduced in advance of concentrates being removed from the system.
Early weaning
Where grass supplies are particularly tight and there is split early and mid-season lambing flocks in place then there is an option to wean early born lambs and finish intensively on a high meal diet or on grass supplemented with concentrates.
Lambs can be weaned where they are consuming at least 250g/day concentrates on three consecutive days. In general the option works best for lambs grazing outdoors which are aged about eight weeks of age upwards.
At this stage such lambs will have benefited from ewe milk yield and weaning will greatly reduce grass intake of ewes.
Early weaning also opens up the opportunity of feeding lambs a restricted level of concentrates in troughs.
Reduce grass demand
This will not be an option on all farms but for those retaining dry hoggets there is an option to house these on forage or to supplement outdoors in a confined space.
This will help to reduce grass demand and help swards to recover faster and grass supplies to build.
Storm Dave’s strong winds, torrential rainfall and harsh wintry conditions caused havoc for many farmers lambing at the weekend.
There was varying levels of lamb mortality reported with outdoor lambing flocks and flocks at peak lambing and forced to turn out ewes and young in the days leading up to the storm particularly exposed.
Those that escaped without experiencing any mortality were still hit with the grazing season knocked back
again.
This follows on from above normal rainfall levels in March with Met Éireann reporting that “March 2026 rainfall was wetter than normal with 108% of the 1991-2020 long-term average (102.1mm) and is ranked the 36th wettest March since 1941”, while rainfall in February was recorded at 119% of the 1991-2020 long-term
average.
Temperatures of 7.97oC were 0.84oC above the 1991-2020 LTA which would lead one to think of potential benefits for grass growth.
However, growth was curtailed by a combination of waterlogged soils and many farmers being unable to apply early slurry or chemical fertiliser.
Grass supplies are depleting fast and there is a lot riding on weather potentially settling over the next
week.
Options available to farmers are limited until ground conditions improve, but there are some steps that can be taken to try and get over the current challenges and be in a better position to get the grazing season back on track once
conditions improve.
Apply fertiliser once
conditions allow
A high percentage of farmers in sheep strongholds have no fertiliser applied, while others farming on drier ground have very little applied.
Heavily stocked farms with ewes approaching peak intake (three to four weeks post-lambing for twin suckling ewes and five weeks for single suckling ewes) will be under extra pressure for grass and as such will need to apply 25 to 30 units of nitrogen to once an opportunity presents itself.
Medium-stocked farms may get away with a lower allocation but where no fertiliser has been applied it is advisable to apply upwards of 15 to 20 units to get grass moving. While normally protected urea would represent the best value for money at this stage of the year inflated prices due to war means that CAN or compound fertilisers could be cheaper in terms of cost per unit of nitrogen.
Weaning early born lambs will significantly reduce grass demand from competing ewes.
It is worth assessing your options and weighing up where the best value lies.
It is likely that many farmers will be trying to cope with putting out lower volumes given where the cost of fertiliser has increased to.
Even at current costs there is merit in applying early nitrogen with costs still lower relative to continuing to purchase concentrates to plug a nutritional deficit.
Batch up numbers
Many farmers and especially those farming on more marginal or heavier soils have delayed batching up ewes and lambs in to larger grazing groups.
This was sensible given the practicalities of supplementing large numbers of ewes and lambs and poor ground conditions.
Once ground conditions allow and grass growth starts to build, the batching of animals in to grazing groups should begin as leaving ewes and lambs spread out over a large area will significantly hamper grass growth and sward recovery and delay the farm’s ability to build covers and get supplies back on track.
Continue to
feed where necessary
Even where grass growth rates improve it will still take time to build grass supplies.
A key aspect in boosting supplies will be conserving and rationing existing supplies until growth surpasses demand.
As such there is no option but to continue to feed to conserve grass supplies and ensure ewes are in a position of reaching their peak milk yield.
Where grass reserves are scarce (less than 3.5cm) then supplementation rates of 0.7kg to 1kg will be required for twin-suckling ewes in good body condition.
Where ewes are more than five weeks lambed and there is no respite on the horizon for grass supplies then it is more economical to offer concentrates to lambs via creep feeding rather than to ewes.
This will not eliminate the need to supplement ewes but supplementation rates can be reduced while targeting concentrates to lambs.
Where grass supplies are depleted then a twin suckling ewe in good body condition will require in the region of 1kg to 1.2kg concentrates, rising to 1.2kg to 1.5kg daily for ewes in poor body condition.
Single suckling ewes will require approximately half these feeding rates. Forage should also be offered where there is no grass available.
Where grass supplies are sufficient (4cm plus) then offering 0.5kg concentrates can help to lower feed demand and conserve supplies. Such feeding rates will also provide a nutritional boost to ewes in poor body condition.
Thin ewes and high priority animals such as ewes rearing triplets, lactating hoggets and any ewes which experienced niggling health issues should be prioritised in to their own grazing group.
Creep feeding such lambs will help to take the nutritional strain of these animals.
It is important to be mindful of the risk of grass tetany when grass supplies start to build as with ewes under significant nutritional pressure and grass regrowth likely to be lush in make-up there is a higher risk of ewes succumbing to the disease.
Lick buckets should be introduced in advance of concentrates being removed from the system.
Early weaning
Where grass supplies are particularly tight and there is split early and mid-season lambing flocks in place then there is an option to wean early born lambs and finish intensively on a high meal diet or on grass supplemented with concentrates.
Lambs can be weaned where they are consuming at least 250g/day concentrates on three consecutive days. In general the option works best for lambs grazing outdoors which are aged about eight weeks of age upwards.
At this stage such lambs will have benefited from ewe milk yield and weaning will greatly reduce grass intake of ewes.
Early weaning also opens up the opportunity of feeding lambs a restricted level of concentrates in troughs.
Reduce grass demand
This will not be an option on all farms but for those retaining dry hoggets there is an option to house these on forage or to supplement outdoors in a confined space.
This will help to reduce grass demand and help swards to recover faster and grass supplies to build.
SHARING OPTIONS