Weather delays turnout

Frank Campion of Teagasc AGRIC, Athenry, Co. Galway, reports from the BETTER sheep farms around the country.

Weather conditions are having an impact on the Teagasc BETTER sheep farms, delaying field fertiliser spreading and also delaying turning ewes and lambs out to grass after lambing.

To date (mid March) only a couple of the BETTER sheep farmers have managed to spread a small area of the farm with protected urea. Opening grass covers across the farms are good because of the autumn closing plans. Opening covers are averaging 750kg DM/ha and ranging from 600kg DM/ha to 1,000kg DM/ha.

Lambing is progressing well, and weatherrelated delayed turnout has been the only significant issue so far. Once ewes and lambs are out, the plan is to get them into their grazing groups within two to three weeks. This will reduce the amount of grazing groups and help to protect regrowth.

Things can change quickly at this time of year, so it is important that close attention is paid to the average farm cover and the grazing days ahead. This is to monitor if grass supplies remain on track or if remedial action (supplementation) is needed to slow down the rotation while grass growth rates catch up to demand.

Read the fill Teagasc Sheep Newsletter (pdf)