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Poor grass growth rates and heavy rainfall continue to present massive challenges on sheep farms. Where grass reserves are reducing, Teagasc advises supplementing ewes suckling young lambs with 0.5kg to 1kg concentrates to stretch existing supplies. Where grass supplies are depleted and have fallen below a sward height of 3cm, the advice is to increase supplementation rates to 1.5kg during periods of wet weather where grass utilisation is also likely to be an issue.
If grass supplies are depleted and ewes are in poor body condition, then there will be fewer options and it is likely that as well as creep feeding being a viable option ewes will continue to require supplementation
The option of creep feeding lambs has come to the fore in discussions in recent days with a rising percentage of flocks approaching weeks five to six of lactation. At this stage of lactation, the feasibility of continuing to supplement ewes with significant volumes of meal comes into question with greater merit in offering supplementation directly to lambs. The decision is not straightforward and needs to take a number of factors into consideration.
The first of these is how the farm is positioned and how long it will take to get back on track if growth rates recover with a forecast rise in temperature. This will be best achieved where rotational grazing has been practised or paddocks have been given a rest period and will respond quickly once growth recovers.
If grass supplies are depleted and ewes are in poor body condition, then there will be fewer options and it is likely that as well as creep feeding being a viable option ewes will continue to require supplementation. Another aspect is feeding equipment available with creep feeders representing a significant cost if not in place, while mixed farms will also need to take into account demand for grass as the year progresses and if creep feeding plays a role in getting lambs away quicker and helps replenish fodder reserves.
Above all, the payback on creep feeding is dependent on getting lambs away earlier and at higher returns to justify feeding.
What the science says
Research undertaken in Athenry shows creep feeding has the potential to reduce age to slaughter by 28 days. Table 1 details the effect of concentrate feed levels and grass availability on lamb performance from birth to weaning. As can be seen, comparable levels of lamb performance were achieved with lambs grazing a grass height of 6cm without creep supplementation and lambs grazing grass height of 5cm and supplemented with 300g per day. This shows that creep feeding can be used when grass supplies are tight to maintain performance and removed when grass supplies recover.
However, as touched on already, creep feeding represents a significant cost to the system.
Taking the scenario where lambs were supplemented with 600g concentrates per day at a grass height of 5cm resulted in lambs consuming on average 52.9kg. Taking a meal cost of €275/t and €320/t, for example, it will cost about €14.50/animal and €17/animal, respectively, to supplement lambs.
Feeding midseason lambs ad-lib levels should be avoided as it can quickly accumulate to lambs consuming 50% to 100% more concentrates.
Costs will also be minimised by using high-energy mixes over more expensive rations. Some farmers are operating on a basis of introducing creep to lambs suckling thinner ewes or to forward lambs that may have greater scope to be drafted while prices are strong.
Benefit
While also not straightforward to implement, creep grazing lambs ahead of ewes can deliver massive benefits and deliver a similar lift in performance to creep feeding.
Offering lambs priority grass has been shown to have the potential to improve weaning weight by 2kg. It will also help to reduce demand on the grazing area and to build grass
Creep grazing can be achieved by replacing the existing field gate with a creep gate that has 225mm or 9in spacings. A similar gate can also be used successfully to set up a creep feeding area to offer lambs restricted meal feeding in troughs over ad-lib feeding once lambs become accustomed to eating.
Like many farms, Philip Creighton says the heavy rainfall from Thursday through to Saturday was a heavy blow with ground conditions deteriorating greatly and grass utilisation suffering. Prospects look a little better this week with soil temperatures increasing from 6oC last week to 10oC on Monday.
Philip says this should hopefully generate a lift in grass growth. Last week’s growth was from 11kg DM/ha with the first paddock grazed possessing a cover of 300kg DM/ha or a grass height of 4.5cm. Philip is hoping that growth will be closer to 20kg DM/ha this week moving the first paddock grazed to an average farm cover of 550kg DM/ha or a grass height of 5cm to 5.5cm.
The flock is currently being supplemented with 0.8kg concentrates and this will continue for at least another few days to give covers a chance to build. Feeding will be monitored and possibly reduced if growth continues to lift and weather improves.
It is this supplementation that has kept the flocks, which are stocked at 11 ewes/ha and 13 ewes/ha, on track for the last four weeks. The farm started the grazing season with 15 days grass ahead of ewes, well below the norm of 25 days ahead. Supplementation was introduced at the outset at 0.8kg concentrate per head, allowing grass dry matter allocation to be reduced to 1.6kg DM/ewe.
INZAC flocks
As reported a few weeks ago, the Irish and New Zealand Across Country (INZAC) comparison flocks started the grazing season with a much lower average farm cover. This stemmed from a high stocking rate being run during breeding and delayed closing of paddocks. Meal was introduced in the first weeks of lactation at 0.7kg per ewe and, in recent weeks, has been increased to between 1.2kg and 1.5kg per ewe to compensate for tighter grass supplies and utilisation suffering due to wet underfoot condition.
Researcher Fiona McGovern says that the situation should hopefully improve over the coming week with growth rates showing signs of improvement and ground slowly drying. The farm’s growth rate on Monday was recorded at 8kg DM/ha but Fiona explains this was from a low base with many paddocks grazed tight. Supplementation is being continued at 1.2kg per ewe, while fertiliser will also be applied once ground conditions allow which should also boost growth rates.
Sheep management: weather woes, watery mouth, orf and mastitis
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