Watch: drafting lambs and selecting replacements on Tullamore Farm

The focus for the sheep flock on Tullamore Farm is on continuing to ensure lambs are marketed in the optimum manner, while one eye is also on preparations for this year’s breeding season.

The most recent batch of lambs were drafted on 6 August, with these 18 lambs bringing total numbers drafted to date to 56 head. The drafting pattern is running behind the corresponding period last year, where 146 lambs were drafted up to 15 August 2019.

This lower drafting rate reflects the negative effect drought-like conditions had on lamb performance in late June and early July. It is also likely that these conditions, and the fact lambs were weaned earlier, limited the slaughter performance early in the season.

Table 1 details a breakdown of slaughter performance in each of the four drafts marketed through the Offaly Quality Lamb Producers Co-Op.

Approximately 12.5% of lambs slaughtered to date have graded R on conformation, compared with almost 29% of lambs in the corresponding period in 2019.

The fat score is identical, with farm manager Shaun Diver excelling in lamb selection and picking the majority of lambs at the desired fat score of 3.

Ram lambs are currently being grazed on high-quality swards and receiving in the region of 0.3kg to 0.4kg of concentrates

The average liveweight of lambs selected to date is 42.4kg, with the average kill-out in the region of 46.74%, a reduction of 1.5% on the same period in 2019. Shaun reports that lamb performance has recovered greatly in recent weeks and that drafting rates should increase substantially in the coming weeks.

Ram lambs are currently being grazed on high-quality swards and receiving in the region of 0.3kg to 0.4kg of concentrates. Ewe lambs are receiving a lower supplementation rate of 0.2kg to reduce the risk of lambs going overfat at lighter weights.

Selection of replacements

In 2019, the farm progressed down the avenue of altering the replacement policy. The programme now in place is a combination of purchasing Mule ewe lambs or hoggets and retaining homebred Texel-cross-Mule replacement ewe lambs.

This year’s first draft of replacements were selected a few weeks ago on a combination of their own performance and background data. Lambs are weighing on average from 40kg to 45kg liveweight. There was a higher number of ewe lambs selected than will be required to allow for further selection in advance of breeding.

The 2019-born hoggets that reared lambs are also receiving preferential treatment

This process of breeding from ewe lambs worked successfully in 2019/2020 and Shaun is keen to put it to the test again in 2020/2021. Ewe lambs will receive preferential treatment in the coming weeks and will be grazed ahead of last year’s ewe hoggets and cull ewes.

The 2019-born hoggets that reared lambs are also receiving preferential treatment to ensure that breeding performance as two-tooth hoggets is not compromised.

The performance of breeding from ewe lambs compared with breeding only from two-tooth hoggets will be analysed in depth later in the season, when all lambs are drafted for sale and this information can be incorporated into the analysis. There is in excess of 40 cull ewes grazing in this batch, with the most common cause for culling being broken mouths.

The farm will also need to purchase at least one ram in the coming weeks

There is significant variation between batches of ewes in this regard, with some ewes identified for culling on age still having a relatively good mouth at six to seven years of age, while other ewes are showing signs that their mouths are wearing badly after three to four seasons. This is another factor that will be analysed in greater detail through the flock.

The farm will also need to purchase at least one ram in the coming weeks, following the death of one of the Texel rams earlier in the year from laryngeal chondritis (Texel throat).