There has been an increase in reports of lambs falling foul of the clean livestock policy (CLP) and being rejected for slaughter in the last 10 days to two weeks. Kepak Athleague confirmed a rise in lambs being classified as category C and as such being rejected for slaughter at Wednesday’s farm walk on the farm of Niall Byrne, Cam, Brideswell, Athlone, Co Roscommon.

The last thing we want is to be turning people away with sheep but we also want to be clear that category C sheep cannot be accepted and will be sent home

The walk, jointly organised by Teagasc Roscommon region and Kepak Athleague, had a stand dedicated to explaining the Department of Agriculture’s CLP which included a demonstration of fleeces and live lambs. Opening discussions on the topic, Michael Geoghegan of Kepak told farmers that the sheep CLP was once again under the spotlight and stressed to farmers that category C sheep cannot be presented for slaughter. “The last thing we want is to be turning people away with sheep but we also want to be clear that category C sheep cannot be accepted and will be sent home.”

Three categories

Explaining the CLP for sheep, David Mannion of Kepak said there are three categories in which lambs can be classified. Category A are sheep which are presented in ideal condition for slaughter and require no intervention at factory level.

Category A lambs - these sheep require no intervention at factory level.

Category B sheep are those which can be accepted for slaughter but require some intervention at factory level. David said sheep classified as category B can be difficult for farmers to deal with if their fleece is wet as there is a high risk of these animals falling into category C classification.

Category B lambs - farmers were told that category B lambs will require factory intervention. The feasability of this will be greatly aided by presenting lambs dry with wet fleeces increasing the risk of sheep progressing from category B to C.

The greatest challenge is with transportation as the fleece of sheep can be quickly soiled by one or two animals with a dirty tail-end or lambs with loose dung. David said that where this is the case it is highly likely that lambs may be rejected for slaughter. “We have some hope of working with lambs when they are dry but once their fleece is wet they become much harder to deal with.”

As such, farmers were advised to follow a number of steps. As mentioned already, drafting lambs and transporting dry will greatly cut down on the risk of fleeces becoming soiled. Where lambs are grazing fresh lush grass then the advice is to house animals temporarily before transit or tweak the diet of animals in advance. Dirty tail-ends should also be dagged. While on the topic of transportation, the advice is to use a deep bed of appropriate bedding to absorb moisture.

Category C: These lambs possessing excessive daggings would be rejected if presented for slaughter without remedial action being taken.

Where lambs are classified as category C, remedial action can include allowing lambs a period to dry and clean while if the fleece of sheep is badly soiled then there will be no option but to shear animals pre-slaughter. This was a regular occurrence last winter during the worst of the weather and extremely challenging ground conditions.

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