Body Condition Score - the most important management tool on sheep farms
The amount of flesh that ewes have or Body Condition is an important factor in determining their reproductive performance during the current mating season, Head of Sheep Knowledge Transfer in Teagasc, Michael Gottstein tells us more.
Often we hear farmers talking about slimming down fat ewes, however the opposite is a bigger problem on many sheep farms. In general, we see very few problems with over conditioned sheep; on most farms, it is the percentage of ewes that are in suboptimal body condition that create the problems / poor performance.
At this stage, most sheep flocks are mating or in the case of hill sheep flocks, will be doing so in the near future. In terms of body condition at mating, the target for lowland flocks is to have an average body condition score of 3.5 but more importantly no ewe less than 3.0. The targets for hill flocks are 0.5 of a unit of Body Condition Score less than for lowland flocks. So an average of 3.0 and no ewe less than 2.5.
The benefits
The benefits of having ewes in optimal body condition are:
- Higher litter size
- Low percentage of empty ewes
- Tighter lambing spread
It is important to note that in general the body condition of ewes at mating is generally the best it will be between mating and lambing. In practice what we see on most farms is that the percentage of ewes in the sub-optimal body condition category increases between mating and lambing time.
Having ewes in good body condition at lambing will result in:
- Lower levels of lamb mortality
- Higher milk yield
- Ewes that spend more time tending to new-born lambs
- Higher lamb growth rates
Avoiding a drop
At this stage, it will not be possible for most farmers to greatly influence the body condition of ewes at mating time. However, it is possible for flock owners to take steps to ensure that body condition does not drop between mating and lambing time. This is particularly important for the thinner ewes in the flock.
Ensuring that body condition does not drop requires a few steps to be taken at the end of mating.
- Handle all ewes and separate out any thin ewes for preferential feeding
- Treat any issues which may be affecting the sheep’s ability to gain/maintain weight e.g. lameness, parasites and dental infections.
- Continue to monitor ewe body condition throughout the winter and introduce supplementary feeding / housing once forage availability is no longer sufficient to maintain the sheep.
Also read: Sheep farmers' views on labour wanted
Also read: Mating management and ram fertility