Sheep advice: Focus on body condition score and managing newcomers

As rams can lose up to 15% body condition during mating, it is important to assess them in time and plan to build their body condition score (BCS) up to 3.5-4.0 at turnout.

It may be necessary to supplement grass with a concentrate suitable for feeding to rams to achieve this target. The thinner ewes in your flock need to be separated and given access to high-quality grass from at least early August if intended for mating in early to mid-October. The remaining ewes that are in good body condition can be grazed as a follower group after finishing lambs or the thin ewe group.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) regional veterinary laboratories, in association with Teagasc, are carrying out a thin ewe study, focusing on identifying the causes of poor BCS in Irish sheep flocks.

Of the ewes that fail to regain body condition, consider submitting three thin ewes to a Regional Veterinary Laboratory for euthanasia and post mortem. It provides a cost-effective method of screening your flock for the presence of the so-called iceberg diseases. For further information contact your local Teagasc advisor, veterinary surgeon or your nearest DAFM Regional Veterinary Laboratory.

Flock biosecurity for incoming sheep

Each August brings a lot of movement of breeding stock and store lambs between farms. The risk of buying in animals carrying infectious disease or resistant parasites should not be underestimated. A closed flock, where only rams are purchased, significantly reduces this risk, but it is important to be aware that sheep taken home unsold from market or those returning from shows can potentially bring back disease to the farm. Consult with your veterinary practitioner to come up with a set of practical steps to be taken with incoming sheep, with the aim of not introducing any new health issues to the flock.

This article first appeared in the August Teagasc Sheep Advisory newsletter. Access the full publication here.

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