Producing lamb on an organic farm in Co. Tipperary

Amy Jackson, in partnership with her husband Ross, are farming organically in Lacka, north Tipperary.

The farm comprises both an organic cereal and sheep enterprise. Prior to conversion to an organic system, it was a tillage farm with a number of crops being grown. She told their story at the recent National Sheep Conference held earlier this week.

The opportunity to incorporate a sheep enterprise arose when the decision was made to enter organics, as there would be grass on the farm as part of the rotation for the tillage crops. Amy found her way on to sheep farms since her childhood – initially helping out at lambing and subsequently helping all-year round for a number of years. When Ross asked Amy in 2015, when the farm entered organic conversion, if she wanted to get a ‘handful of sheep’ she jumped at the chance.

Sheep breeds

The sheep enterprise was established from scratch in May 2015. A ‘mixed bag’ of 120 crossbred commercial ewe lambs were purchased directly from three organic farmers (mainly Texel cross, with some Charollais cross and New Zealand Suffolk cross Belclare), and four rams (one Border Leicester for replacements and three Charollais).

By 2021, almost all ewes were Border Leicester crosses, so there was a need to buy a new Border Leicester or introduce another breed. With a good maternal type of ewe established, the focus progressed to improving the overall conformation of the flock, and trying to improve the kill out percentage and days to slaughter of lambs; a decision was made to add Rouge and Beltex into the mix.

On this decision, Amy said: “I was reading about all the merits of the different breeds and my own interest in breeding nicely shaped factory lambs, so I decided I was going to improve the conformation of my breeding ewe and I was going to use a Rouge ram for that.”

Rams currently on farm:

• Rouge (5-star terminal and 5-star maternal), for replacements (or factory lambs);
• Beltex (5-star terminal and 5-star maternal), for factory lambs (or replacements);
• Beltex (5-star terminal and 4-star maternal), for factory lambs;
• Charollais (5-star terminal), for factory lambs;
• Galway, for own group of purebred Galway ewes.

In 2022, approximately 119 mature ewes - mainly Border Leicester cross - and 42 ewe lambs - mainly Rouge cross - were put to four rams, and a separate group of 17 Galway ewes to the Galway ram.

Flock management

The rams go out early October for a March to April lambing season. Prior to that in August, they’re checked over for status of body condition, teeth, and udders. Any culls are marked for sale as culls and the remainder are given a six-month mineral bolus.

At around 80 days gestation, the ewes are pregnancy scanned. Balancing out the age profile and reducing the average age of the flock are key improvements that are being worked on to improve the productivity of the flock, with a high number of ewe lambs being retained in the past two seasons.

Early February, the ewes are given a six-month mineral bolus, their vaccination booster, and are foot bathed then housed in groups according to litter size. In accordance with the flock health plan, prepared together with the vet, ewes carrying twins and triplets have access to high energy licks, and ewes that have lambed have access to magnesium licks.

Ewes are lambed indoors, moved into individual pens for about two days, and then into a 'crèche' in the shed until they’re good and strong. Lambs are tailed and castrated (under derogation) before they move out of the individual pens, and are tagged when they are turned out to grass. There is no requirement to tag this early, but because the factory requires all treatments for the past 12 months to be declared, Amy and Ross find this is the only way to be certain that all records and declarations are correct.

 On this, Amy said: "When you sell organic lambs to the factory, you have to declare every treatment that each animal has had as an individual for the past 12 months. As most lambs are going to be less than 12 months when you sell them, so that means every single treatment since birth. Obviously the aim is that they have had none or hardly any treatments, but if they do have any treatments, it has to be recorded. We tag each lamb as they leave the shed."

On veterinary advice and in accordance with the farm’s flock health plan, a combined vaccine for protection against lamb dysentery, pulpy kidney, struck, tetanus, braxy, blackleg, black disease, and pneumonic and systemic pasteurellosis is administered. Lambs receive their first vaccination as early as possible, but after three weeks of age, and then a booster four to six weeks later. Around this time too, some lameness may be encountered in the lambs due to scald, and this is treated by holding them in the footbath whilst they receive their vaccinations and (later) boluses. Ewes are shorn in May.

Grazing

Sheep are grazed on grass and on multi-species swards that have been sown on the farm, through stock rotation, and by using temporary electric fencing to create more paddocks. In doing this, it aids maximising grass utilisation and makes it easier to maintain a clean supply of grass ahead of the lambs - thus reducing worm burdens.

The temporary fencing worked out at €2/m at the time, versus €6.50-€7/m for permanent fencing – with the added benefit of needing less because it can be moved around or removed altogether when fields go back into tillage. Faecal egg counts are completed using a microscope at home, typically confirming whether or not there’s a significant problem, and what the problem is. Individuals are treated accordingly, or if there is a widespread problem all may have to be treated (but the aim is to avoid this). This is one of the scenarios where having lambs tagged is especially useful, as all treatments are recorded per tag number.

Pre-lambing winter feeding

All grass fields to be grazed in spring are closed off in mid-November. The sheep are then moved onto winter forage crops in mid-November, supplemented with silage in a ring feeder. The in-lamb ewes this year have been moved onto a grassland field that is to be sown in spring with a tillage crop (again, with silage in a ring feeder). The use of silage in the fields allows the ewes to adjust their diet gradually and be kept outdoors for longer; the silage is produced on the farm.

All ewes start on 0.3 kg/head/day, and work up to 0.9 kg/head/day at lambing for those carrying triplets, 0.6 kg/head/day for those carrying twins, and ewes carrying singles remain at 0.3 kg/head/day with all having access to ad-lib silage. In 2022, an organic ration and organic soya for the ewes was purchased and fed along with home-grown oats. The aim for lamb birth weights are 6kg for singles, 5kg for twins, and 4kg for triplets along with the mothers having good quality colostrum.

Lamb sales

The majority of lambs are sold from mid-June to mid-December. Lambs are sold through the Offaly Quality Lamb Producer Group to Irish Country Meats, where organic lamb gets a premium of 15% above base price. In 2020, Amy and Ross decided to make their lamb available to the general public through the sale of ‘freshly frozen’ whole or half lambs, with the launch of ‘Lacka Organic Lamb’. Most of the lamb is sold throughout Ireland (collection or delivery) with customers also in the UK and France.

Lacka Organic Lamb works by pre-order; lambs are selected for these orders and are kept until they’re a bit heavier than a factory lamb. In terms of finishing weights, early in the season lambs being selected weigh 40-42 kg and by the end of the season lambs weigh 47 kg to achieve a 21-22 kg carcass at the factory. For Lacka Organic Lamb, a +50kg lamb is selected. Kill out starts at about 50% early on in the season, reducing to about 46% at the end of the season, for the breeds currently stocked.

Future plans

Some of the future plans that Amy and Ross have for the sheep enterprise are:

• Work on improving the scanning rate achieved with the mature ewes, and the plan to do this is by reducing the average age of the flock and ensuring an even spread of ages within the flock;
• Improve the conformation of the flock by using shapier rams to breed replacements;
• Once all replacements are Rouge cross and Beltex cross, the decision will have to be made as whether to stay with these breeds (using Beltex on the Rouge cross and Rouge on the Beltex cross) or whether to introduce another breed.