Edward Adamson from Carrickfergus in Co Antrim, runs a flock of 600 breeding sheep which includes 50 Ile de France, 200 Lleyn, 50 Clun Forest and 50 Easycare ewes
“The Ile de France sheep lamb in January with the remainder of the flock lambing in the spring,” he said.
“Keeping the animals’ feet right is an absolute priority. But the management focus has got to be on preventing the problem from occurring in the first place, rather than treating ewes and lambs that have already succumbed to foot rot or some other form of lameness.”
Patrick Grant BVMS MRCVS Parklands Veterinary Group. Poor grass growth and cold wet weather has left a lot to be desired when it comes to lamb performance, with grass quality having a major impact on lamb daily live weight gain. It is imperative that with lambs being finished through grass based systems we pay close … Read more
Farmers are being advised not to over wilt grass prior to ensiling during the current dry spell. Grass samples taken by Provita directly after cutting this week, and thereafter, following an 18 hour, 24 hour and 48 hour wilt have confirmed that dry matter values can increase dramatically if grass is left to wilt beyond a 24 hour period.
“Freshly cut grass samples had average dry maters of between 18 and 20%”, confirmed Provita’s Tommy Armstrong.
“This rose to a figure in the mid-twenties after a 24 hour wilt, and rose again to 40% when grass was left in the field for a further day.”
Colum Woods runs an expansive upland sheep enterprise near Hilltown in Co Down, with a mix of Blackface, New Zealand Romney and Lleyn breed types featuring prominently within his ewe flocks.
“The focus is very much on spring lambing with most of the lambs sold as stores in the back end,” he said.
“Improving the number of lambs reared per ewe has been a key objective for the business over recent years, hence the inclusion of Romney and Lleyn bloodlines.”
At this time of year farmers are bombarded with information on silage inoculants. Many products claim to be better than the next one, so how can they actually be compared? With so much variation between years and cuts, it’s very difficult to compare silage inoculants or even treated verses untreated crops.
Most weather forecasters are currently predicting pretty settled conditions right through to the middle of next week. So the coming days should give many farmers an opportunity to get on with their first cut silage making operations.
“The focus must be on making high quality forage over the coming days,” explained Provita’s Tommy Armstrong.
“A high percentage of grass swards are at the perfect stage for cutting. Yes, crops might be a bit light at the present time, given the cool conditions over recent weeks. But a large tonnage in the pit should not be the core objective for farmers at this stage of 2015.
“Most producers have a fair bit of silage from last year. And, given these circumstances, the real challenge is that of making high quality forages that will drive milk and beef performance levels next winter.”
Grass testing carried out by Provita on swards this week has confirmed that, in all cases, farmers could get on with their silage making operations with every expectation of making high quality forages.
“We test for Nitrogen, sugar and dry matter levels,” explained the company’s Tommy Armstrong.
“And it really is a case of what a difference a few days can make. On Tuesday of this week, most grass samples taken had a dry matter content of around 20%, increasing to 25% and 30% after respective 12-hour and 24-hour wilts. The strong wind earlier this week has dried out the grass and ground surprisingly quickly. I was able to determine this by walking several fields on several farms, I would encourage farmers to do this on their own farm.”
Colum Woods runs an expansive upland sheep enterprise near Hilltown in South Co Down with a mix of Blackface, New Zealand Romney and Lleyn breed types featuring prominently within his ewe flocks.
“The focus is very much on spring lambing with most of the lambs sold as stores in the back end,” he said.
“Improving the number of lambs reared per ewe has been a key objective for the business over recent years, hence the inclusion of Romney and Lleyn bloodlines over recent years.”
Colum will readily admit that 2015 is shaping up to be a very good lambing season.
“The ewes went to the tips in excellent condition last autumn. We had no end of grass at that time. The subsequent scanning results were also excellent,” he said.
“The lambing season is just about over. But I wouldn’t like to comment on how well lambs are performing until we gather the ewes for their first worming drench in a few weeks’ time. Mind you the current cold spell is not doing much for grass growth.”
Colum is totally committed to securing the best possible levels of performance from his ewes and lambs. And in this regard, he is very conscious of the need to ensure that the animals receive their full complement of minerals and vitamins at all times
Yes the weather has turned that little bit cooler this week. But the warm sunny spell enjoyed by everyone during the first three weeks of April has ensured a good start to the 2015 grass growing season. As a consequence, those farmers keen to take a high quality crop of first cut silage over the coming weeks should have the opportunity of so doing.
However, Provita Tommy Armstrong cautioned “The now cool and showery weather means that the uptake of nitrogen will have slowed and even if it should be gone, i.e. 6 weeks after fertilizer has been applied, we would strongly advise testing it for nitrates. The reason for this is that if we experience a good growing period it can pull the nitrates levels in grass back up again. Having tested a lot of grass last year we seen nitrates levels fall then rise again, we offer grass testing as part of our support services for anyone using Advance+ silage inoculant.
