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Sheep Newsletter - July 2024

11 July 2024
Type Newsletter


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In this month's edition:

  • Grassland management
    It was a difficult spring and the summer has not been a whole lot better. On drier and heavily stocked farms grass is very tight. Grass quality has deteriorated on most farms and this is affecting lamb performance. It is important to walk the farm weekly and plan where the different categories of stock are going to be grazing.
  • Weaning
    The optimum time to wean lambs is at 14 weeks or 100 days of age. Because lamb performance is a little bit back on most farms this year, there may be a temptation to leave lambs suckling ewes a bit longer. This is a bad idea as sheep are selective grazers and the ewes will compete with the lambs for the best grass, thus reducing lamb performance.
  • Finish lambs vs selling as stores
    Farmers who are pondering trying to finish lambs or selling a proportion as stores can use the interactive Teagasc Store Lamb Calculator to help them work out the economics of the different options, which is available here
  • Ewe management after weaning
    We are seeing a lot of thin ewes on farms at mating time. It is not uncommon to see 25-30% of ewes suboptimal in terms of body condition score (BCS) at mating time, and that percentage rising to 50% at lambing time. Thin ewes are poorer mothers, and have lower milk yield and poorer colostrum quality. 
  • BETTER Farm Update - Grass supply an issue
    Frank Campion of AGRIC, Athenry, Co. Galway, reports on grass growth and lamb performance on the BETTER sheep farms. Recent grass growth rates have been behind normal, and on some farms have fallen below demand. Where supplies are tightening, weaning has been brought forward by seven to ten days to ensure the lambs are weaned onto good-quality grass.
  • Lameness
    Lameness is a huge problem on many farms. Many sheep farmers have become almost blind to the condition. Lame sheep don’t thrive, so having lame sheep hobbling around is a waste of time and money.
  • Research Update - Slower than normal growth
    Philip Creighton of AGRIC, Teagasc Athenry, Co. Galway, reports on weaning and performance on the Sheep Research Demonstration Farm. Lambs were weaned in mid June at 14 weeks of age (100 days). Lamb performance up to weaning averaged 254g/head/day for the lambs in the grass-only treatments, and 259g/head/day on the grass plus white clover and plantain treatments.
  • Health & Safety - Avoid long working hours
    July is a particularly busy month on farms, with long hours of hard and high-risk work, usually involving tractors and machinery. Farmers and contractors must never underestimate the impact of excessively long working hours. Long hours can lead to long-term embedded fatigue and mistakes that would not otherwise happen.