A number of sheep-related health tasks were carried out last week on Tullamore Farm, along with 40-day weighing of progeny born to ewes aged two years and upwards.

Weights were recorded through the Sheep Ireland app, allowing an analysis to be easily completed and performance up to 40 days of age to be evaluated.

The average daily liveweight of all lambs was recorded at 310g per day, with the average liveweight recorded at 20.3kg.

The data recorded is raw data and has not been adjusted to 40-day weights, with the age of lambs weighing from 26 days of age to 56 days of age at weighing.

Average weights

Male lambs achieved an average weight gain of 320g daily and had an average liveweight of 20.67kg, while female lambs gained 290g daily and recorded an average liveweight of 19.88kg.

The maximum weight of lambs was 33kg for male lambs and 32kg for female lambs.

Farm manager Shaun Diver is happy with lamb performance to date.

He says he was fearful that harsh weather and tight grass supplies in recent weeks would have curtailed performance and said that with last week's lift in grass growth rates, lamb performance should remain positive.

There is a small cohort of progeny from mature ewes running with the batch of yearling hoggets.

These will be weighed in the coming weeks, with the average birth date about two and a half weeks later than lambs born to mature ewes.

Health treatments

Lambs received a treatment for nematodirus and a clostridial disease vaccine was also administered.

Lambs were also run through a footbath solution of zinc sulphate as a preventative treatment for scald.

The other health treatment administered on the day was a pour-on to protect against blowfly strike, with CLiK selected as the product with the aim of achieving a full season’s cover.

It is unlikely there would have been any issues with blowfly strike for another couple of weeks, but it was much more straightforward to treat lambs when separated from ewes.