Teagasc BETTER Sheep Farm – John Joe Fitzgerald
John Joe Fitzgerald, his wife Karen and children, operate a hill sheep farm in Baile an Lochaig West of Dingle in Kerry. Here Frank Campion, Teagasc, Athenry discusses how outdoor lambing of the hill flock went in 2022, why John Joe is Increasing the proportion of purebred hill ewes and grass update
John Joe Fitzgerald and his wife Karen operate a hill sheep farm in Baile an Lochaig West of Dingle in Kerry alongside their five children (Shannon, Aoife, Colm, Aodhán and Tadhg). The farm consists of approximately 12ha of green/improved ground and a share of approximately 80ha of open commonage on Mount Brandon and a further half share (11ha) of an enclosed section of rough ground at the base of the commonage.
Lambing finished on the 13th of May after beginning just over 5 weeks previously in early April. John Joe was careful to remove the ram from the ewes after a 5 week mating period the previous autumn and his continued focus on his breeding policy and ewe BCS at mating has meant that he has been able to compact his lambing period. This is not only reducing labour on the farm but also makes management of the flock easier as there is no need for smaller groups of younger ewes and lambs during the summer months.
John Joe is very happy with how lambing went this year with no major issues to report outside of the normal ups and downs of a lambing season. At the end of lambing 95% of the ewes that went to the ram had lambed with a litter size of 1.3 lambs per ewe lambed. This is a significant improvement on last year when 27% of the ewes put to the ram didn’t lamb. Despite a detailed look at all elements of the flock, including blood sampling ewes, no one obvious reason was identified for this. However, a number of small changes including a reduction in dog worrying issues on the hill after mating and very careful management of rams and raddle colours during the mating period seemed to have helped the issue.
Increasing the proportion of purebred hill ewes
Another potential element in this is the breed composition of John Joe’s flock. Preivously a lot of ½ and ¾ bred ewes (Texel and Belclare cross) were kept as replacement ewes. However, these ewes were struggling to maintain BCS, particularly during the winter months on the hill. This led to ewes lambing down in poor BCS, poor quality lambs that were slow growing due to reduced milk production capabilities of thin ewes. John Joe’s breeding policy is very much focused on increasing the proportion of purebred hill ewes that can graze and perform better on the hill which is also helping the overall flock performance.
Lambing outdoors
John Joe lambs the ewes outdoors on an enclosed section of rough ground at the base of the commonage. The ewes are offered supplementary concentrates while here and once lambed the ewe and her lambs are brought indoors into individual pens for 24 hours to allow ewes and lambs bond and ensure the lambs get sufficient colostrum. During this time the lambing data from both the ewes and lambs is also recorded. This data along with lamb weights recorded during the year is helping John Joe identify poorer performing ewes in the flock and track lamb performance to try identify any causes of flock performance issues. After 24 hours the ewes and her lambs are turned out to the ‘green’ ground where they graze until the 7 week weights are collected in late June. After this the single bearing ewes and their lambs will go to the hill while the twins remain down until weaning time.
Grass on green ground and temporary fencing
John Joe is using temporary electric fencing to control grass and manage grass supplies at this time of the year. Surpluses will be dropped out for silage or hay with the silage sold and hay bought back if necessary. In previous years John Joe has found it difficult to manage feeding silage outdoors pre-lambing with problems with listeriosis and prolapses, both of which have reduced to almost zero this year with hay being fed and more feed space available for the ewes.
Currently grass supplies are on target for the green ground with 14 grazing days ahead but grass growth is still relatively slow for this time of year with grass growing at 23 kg DM/day which is behind demand. The first round of fertiliser was applied this ground in mid-March with 15 units/ac of nitrogen applied and the plan is to go with a further 15 units in the form of 18-6-12 end of May. Lime is also being applied to re-seeded ground that missed out on lime last year due to weather conditions, this is going out at 2T per acre.
Find out more about the Teagasc BETTER Sheep Programme farmers here
Sheep Open Day
The Teagasc Sheep Open Day will take place on Saturday 18th June at 10 am. Take the opportunity to review the latest research and technical advice from the Teagasc Sheep programme and its practical application at farm level. The grassland focus will be on clover incorporation and grassland management to maximise growth while also looking at fertiliser costs and silage budgets.
Come along and meet Frank Campion on the Hill Sheep stand on the day.
Click below for further information.
The Teagasc Sheep Specialists and Researchers issue an article on a topic of interest to sheep farmers on Tuesdays here on Teagasc Daily. Find more on Teagasc Sheep here. For any further information or assistance contact your local Teagasc Office here: Advisory Regions.