Last week’s sheep feature gave a snapshot of the Italian sheep sector. It detailed the strong tradition of milking ewes for cheese production and gave a glimpse of continuous change in the sector with the adoption of new technology facilitating growth and the development of more intensive dairy units.

The Societá Agricola Piras Michelino farm is located a short distance outside the city of Sassari in north Sardinia. The farm, which is run by Michele Paris and his son with seasonal help, has witnessed significant change in the last 30 to 40 years. Some of this has been necessary to facilitate enterprise growth and labour efficiency, while other advancements have underpinned an improvement in animal performance.

The farm size totals 90ha, of which 42ha is used for grazing and hay production, while 28ha is used for arable production and the remaining 20ha is woodland. There are about 420 mature ewes run on the farm along with 120 ewe lambs and a ram-breeding enterprise numbering 50 head. This puts the farm among the larger units in Sardinia, with the average sheep flock comprising 280 head.

The farm has been at the forefront of adopting new technology and was one of the first to introduce a milking machine in the early 1980s. This parlour is still in place today, with some upgrades made in the early 1990s. Michele Piras says it has stood the test of time and expects it to continue to do so for some time. The introduction of a milking machine replaced a high level of manual labour, with the farm at present capable of milking in the region of 300 ewes in an hour and a half.

The adoption of new technology has been helped by the farm having a close working relationship with ARA Sardegna, the Regional Association of Breeders in Sardinia, while there is also input from an agronomist in cropping decisions and the farm’s vet in terms of a implementing a flock health programme.

Lambs are fitted with a flexible plastic collar which allows identification to be monitored and performance recording.

ARA Sardegna explains that collaboration with the farm and breed society in the early 1990s paved the way to getting greater uptake and buy-in in the region and further afield. This in turn smoothed the way to get a breeding programme up and running, with in the region of 200,000 ewes included in an official milk recording and breeding programme. This includes recorders visiting the farm twice per month during lactation and recording the volume of milk produced per ewe.

The parlour is coming close to 40 years since it was installed but careful minding has kept it in excellent condition.

Production system

The farm begins lambing at the end of October/start of November, with ewes lambing in stages, while hoggets lamb in February to coincide with increased forage availability for grazing. The November lambing date is to coincide with the opening of the cheese factory, while a significant percentage of lambs are ready for the Christmas trade.

The flock is producing at a pretty high prolificacy level in comparison to the national average, with 1.6 lambs scanned per ewe joined. The level of abortion is typically recorded at 2%, while mortality at lambing is low and is in the region of 5%.

In the region of 350 lambs are sold off the farm as milk lambs. The average sale weight is 10kg liveweight, with the price reported as ranging between €2.50/kg liveweight and €4.00/kg liveweight. The time of year lambs are sold has an influence on the trade, with Christmas and Easter the two strongest marketing times.

Bells were traditionally applied to some ewes in a flock to make it easier to find ewes on hill grazing while also aiding herding. This tradition continues with a number of ewes possessing bells.

The remainder of progeny are retained on farm, with about 120 ewe lambs retained as flock replacements while surplus ewe lambs are sold. The replacement rate is pretty high at 28% but this is also influenced by adult ewes being sold for breeding on other farms.

Ram sales

The farm also practices pedigree recording and retains in the region of 50 rams including stock rams and rams which are sold at 10 to 11 and 15 months of age. The spring is better for selling, with farmers preferring to purchase rams in advance of breeding at the end of May or start of June.

Natural breeding is carried out on the farm in May and July, with AI used in June while natural mating is carried out with ewe lambs from the end of August to November.

Many farms keep a small number of pigs which serve as a source of supply for their own use and an additional income source.

The ram market has been tougher in Sardinia in the last two years, with producer buying power restricted by milk prices halving from €1/l to 50c/l. Ram prices average in the region of €1,000 per head for rams possessing good-quality genetics, with the top rams capable of rising to €3,000. ARA Sardegna says this is a significant reduction, with top rams in previous years capable of selling to a top of €5,000 to €7,000 per head.

This simple creep unit is a low cost option to offering concentrates to lambs.

Ewe management

There are impressive housing facilities on the farm. As can be seen in the photos, feed barriers prevent lambs from escaping into the feed passage. Most dairy farmers like to limit the period indoors and housing is confined to night during the winter. Ewes and lambs are retained indoors for the first few weeks of lactation, with ewes grouped in small pens post-lambing before being grouped into larger batches for ease of management.

Field and farm work is carried out by three tractors purchased in three different decades.

Lambs have access to creep and are offered ad-lib from as soon as they start to consume sufficient volumes. Ewes are fed a TMR diet comprising maize silage, ryegrass hay, homegrown cereal and purchased straights. The feeding level is targeted at achieving the best balance between feed cost and milk yield. Once ewes start to be milked, they are offered 70g concentrates in the parlour morning and evening. It is a low volume but is the optimum to keep ewes settled during milking while not delaying the rate of ewes passing through the parlour.

The level of concentrates offered to ewes varies depending on the time of year, with the winter diet heavily dependent on maize silage and concentrates while the spring and early summer diet is satisfied through grazing. In late summer, hay is introduced as a supplement when milk yield is declining. The total allocation offered to a ewe during a production cycle is approximately 400kg maize silage, 150kg ryegrass hay, 150kg purchased concentrate and 125kg cereal, a significant percentage of which is homegrown.

Not all plain sailing

As mentioned already, the milk price has been under pressure in the last two years. This is not a new phenomenon for Sardinian farmers, with volatility a common occurrence. Michele says that at 50c/l the farm is in a breakeven position and will need an increase in milk price to generate a positive margin.

A snapshot of rams that will be sold next spring.

There is much talk at the moment about the future pricing mechanism for milk.

Up to now, the price has been based on volume and Michele says this has influenced the breeding programme on most farms with replacements retained from animals delivering the highest volume. There is a move in the industry to reward for fat and protein content, both of which stand at 5.7%. If the incentive to focus on fat and protein is significant, it may bring about change in the breeding programme in the future.