Mark Davidson, Dungannon,
Co Tyrone
Lambing kicked off on 14 February, with the first batch of 92 ewes lambing indoors. Other than the weather, lambing has gone reasonably well.
Ewes are mix of Suffolk-cross and Texel-cross breeding. Suffolk ewes were bred to Belclare and Charollais rams, with Texel ewes bred to Suffolk rams. Crossbred ewes are bred to Texel rams.
The breeding period ran for 20 days, so ewes lambed down in a fairly tight block. Ewes were scanned at 193% and we have 164 lambs on the ground.
I record lambing data manually and while it is time-consuming, I find it invaluable
There were 17 singles and 11 sets of triplets, with the remainder being doubles. Lambs are tagged and recorded at birth.
I record lambing data manually and while it is time-consuming, I find it invaluable later in the year when I select replacements.
Ewe lambs are kept from twin- or triplet-bearing ewes, and preferably from the earliest lambing mothers as they are the most fertile and maternal females in the flock.
In the runup to lambing, ewes were housed on mesh slats and moved to an adjacent shed as soon as they have lambed.
Weather
The plan was to slip ewes and lambs out to grass within a few days of being born, once I was confident that all lambs were sucking properly.
However, as was the case for most farmers around the country, our farm did not escape the deluges of rain during February which left the ground saturated.
The prolonged housing period after lambing created plenty of headaches
As such, ewes remained housed up until the latter half of last week. As of last weekend, around two-thirds of the early lambing group has gone out to grass.
The prolonged housing period after lambing created plenty of headaches and really added to the workload.
Thankfully, I was able to make use of other sheds on the farm for temporary housing. Calving pens were also used to house ewes and lambs.
Housing comes at a cost and I used a lot more straw than I had budgeted for, but I think I should have enough in reserve for the remainder of spring.
To try and save on bedding, I fed ewes hay post-lambing, rather than silage, and this proved to be a good decision.
Concentrates
There is also the cost of feeding concentrate every day that ewes were housed, which can quickly add up.
Taking an average supplementary feed rate of 1kg/day, and a concentrate cost of £259/t (€297), it cost around £1.80/week (€2.06) for every ewe housed.
Over the 90 ewes, this can quickly escalate into a significant cost. However, once the ewes went to grass, I do not feed concentrates to sheep, which is a cost saving.
Grazing
The early batch of ewes are being grazed on sheltered paddocks around the main farmyard. To build grass covers on this block, ewes were put to silage ground and winter grazing.
The home farm has 100 acres that has not been grazed since 1 October, so there is plenty of good-quality grass to carry the ewes post-lambing.
I have started rotationally grazing cattle in the last couple of years
Ewes are grazed in batches of 40 to 50 head. I have started rotationally grazing cattle in the last couple of years and would be keen to try this with the sheep this year.
My thinking is that moving ewes to fresh grass on a regular basis will boost milk yield and lamb growth rates later in the year.
Lambs are finished off grass and usually hit fat class three without the need for concentrates.
The first lambs are usually drafted for sale around early June.
The main sheep house can hold 140 to 150 ewes
The remainder of the flock starts lambing around 17 March, starting with 100 mature ewes and then 88 ewe lambs around two weeks later.
March lambing ewes are housed on mesh. Second-cut silage is being fed to all animals with twins getting 0.8kg/day of concentrate, with singles on 0.5kg/day.
Again, these ewes are housed in preparation for lambing and are currently being fed second-cut silage. All winter forage was analysed and the second cut had a D value of 69%.
The main sheep house can hold 140 to 150 ewes, so the spillover is housed on straw-bedded housing.
Twin-bearing ewes are getting 0.8kg/day of a 20% protein ration, which has protected fat included
Again, this batch of ewes scanned at 178%, with 21 singles and seven sets of triplets. I am keeping plenty of ewe lambs as I am looking to build the flock, and there are also older ewes that I want to cull.
Twin-bearing ewes are getting 0.8kg/day of a 20% protein ration, which has protected fat included. As of Monday of last week, singles are getting 0.5kg and triplets are getting around 1kg/head on a daily basis.
Animal health
All ewes were treated for clostridial diseases with Heptavac P around six weeks prior to the start of the lambing period.
Ewes have also been fluked, with the early batch treated twice, and the later ewes treated three times since last autumn. Ewes also get a worm drench as they go out to grass.
Split lambing
My sheep flock lambs down in two batches for two key reasons. First off, it spreads the workload for me, as I am more or less farming on my own.
Delaying the start of lambing period for the whole flock to late March, so that animals can be slipped out to grass as they lamb, is not really an option
The second reason is that housing space for lambing is limited. Having too many sheep lambing at the same time would put facilities under too much pressure.
Delaying the start of lambing period for the whole flock to late March, so that animals can be slipped out to grass as they lamb, is not really an option either. The reason for this is there is a suckler herd of 35 cows on the farm, and a later lambing period would clash with spring calving.
Therefore, the current system of splitting the lambing period in two makes the best use of the housing resources on farm at present.
Read more
£70/ha more from cows
Conserving grass as supplies tighten
Mark Davidson, Dungannon,
Co Tyrone
Lambing kicked off on 14 February, with the first batch of 92 ewes lambing indoors. Other than the weather, lambing has gone reasonably well.
Ewes are mix of Suffolk-cross and Texel-cross breeding. Suffolk ewes were bred to Belclare and Charollais rams, with Texel ewes bred to Suffolk rams. Crossbred ewes are bred to Texel rams.
The breeding period ran for 20 days, so ewes lambed down in a fairly tight block. Ewes were scanned at 193% and we have 164 lambs on the ground.
I record lambing data manually and while it is time-consuming, I find it invaluable
There were 17 singles and 11 sets of triplets, with the remainder being doubles. Lambs are tagged and recorded at birth.
I record lambing data manually and while it is time-consuming, I find it invaluable later in the year when I select replacements.
Ewe lambs are kept from twin- or triplet-bearing ewes, and preferably from the earliest lambing mothers as they are the most fertile and maternal females in the flock.
In the runup to lambing, ewes were housed on mesh slats and moved to an adjacent shed as soon as they have lambed.
Weather
The plan was to slip ewes and lambs out to grass within a few days of being born, once I was confident that all lambs were sucking properly.
However, as was the case for most farmers around the country, our farm did not escape the deluges of rain during February which left the ground saturated.
The prolonged housing period after lambing created plenty of headaches
As such, ewes remained housed up until the latter half of last week. As of last weekend, around two-thirds of the early lambing group has gone out to grass.
The prolonged housing period after lambing created plenty of headaches and really added to the workload.
Thankfully, I was able to make use of other sheds on the farm for temporary housing. Calving pens were also used to house ewes and lambs.
Housing comes at a cost and I used a lot more straw than I had budgeted for, but I think I should have enough in reserve for the remainder of spring.
To try and save on bedding, I fed ewes hay post-lambing, rather than silage, and this proved to be a good decision.
Concentrates
There is also the cost of feeding concentrate every day that ewes were housed, which can quickly add up.
Taking an average supplementary feed rate of 1kg/day, and a concentrate cost of £259/t (€297), it cost around £1.80/week (€2.06) for every ewe housed.
Over the 90 ewes, this can quickly escalate into a significant cost. However, once the ewes went to grass, I do not feed concentrates to sheep, which is a cost saving.
Grazing
The early batch of ewes are being grazed on sheltered paddocks around the main farmyard. To build grass covers on this block, ewes were put to silage ground and winter grazing.
The home farm has 100 acres that has not been grazed since 1 October, so there is plenty of good-quality grass to carry the ewes post-lambing.
I have started rotationally grazing cattle in the last couple of years
Ewes are grazed in batches of 40 to 50 head. I have started rotationally grazing cattle in the last couple of years and would be keen to try this with the sheep this year.
My thinking is that moving ewes to fresh grass on a regular basis will boost milk yield and lamb growth rates later in the year.
Lambs are finished off grass and usually hit fat class three without the need for concentrates.
The first lambs are usually drafted for sale around early June.
The main sheep house can hold 140 to 150 ewes
The remainder of the flock starts lambing around 17 March, starting with 100 mature ewes and then 88 ewe lambs around two weeks later.
March lambing ewes are housed on mesh. Second-cut silage is being fed to all animals with twins getting 0.8kg/day of concentrate, with singles on 0.5kg/day.
Again, these ewes are housed in preparation for lambing and are currently being fed second-cut silage. All winter forage was analysed and the second cut had a D value of 69%.
The main sheep house can hold 140 to 150 ewes, so the spillover is housed on straw-bedded housing.
Twin-bearing ewes are getting 0.8kg/day of a 20% protein ration, which has protected fat included
Again, this batch of ewes scanned at 178%, with 21 singles and seven sets of triplets. I am keeping plenty of ewe lambs as I am looking to build the flock, and there are also older ewes that I want to cull.
Twin-bearing ewes are getting 0.8kg/day of a 20% protein ration, which has protected fat included. As of Monday of last week, singles are getting 0.5kg and triplets are getting around 1kg/head on a daily basis.
Animal health
All ewes were treated for clostridial diseases with Heptavac P around six weeks prior to the start of the lambing period.
Ewes have also been fluked, with the early batch treated twice, and the later ewes treated three times since last autumn. Ewes also get a worm drench as they go out to grass.
Split lambing
My sheep flock lambs down in two batches for two key reasons. First off, it spreads the workload for me, as I am more or less farming on my own.
Delaying the start of lambing period for the whole flock to late March, so that animals can be slipped out to grass as they lamb, is not really an option
The second reason is that housing space for lambing is limited. Having too many sheep lambing at the same time would put facilities under too much pressure.
Delaying the start of lambing period for the whole flock to late March, so that animals can be slipped out to grass as they lamb, is not really an option either. The reason for this is there is a suckler herd of 35 cows on the farm, and a later lambing period would clash with spring calving.
Therefore, the current system of splitting the lambing period in two makes the best use of the housing resources on farm at present.
Read more
£70/ha more from cows
Conserving grass as supplies tighten
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