What a spring. What a summer – so far!
We were much been luckier than most this lambing. We saw the weather coming a week ahead and for the next 3 weeks kept everything indoors. Not easy, as we lambed over 350. As expected we subsequently had a touch of cocci, so as a precaution treated all the lambs. Expensive. However we hardly lost ewe or lamb through out, as we rigorously removed lambs from those ewes that had lost too much condition. Grass was very tight through to mid June, with all the silage land needing to be grazed. A tough winter/spring but NOTHING to what most sheep farmers had to contend with.
One of the consequences of this continuing extreme weather has been this years shearling growth rates being impacted early on. I was more than a little relieved when our very late shearing was completed just prior to the current heat wave, and found the vast majority of all sheep actually in very good condition. Clearly some of the old ewes have worked hard, and early stage milk would have been impacted, but 8 week and subsequent weights have been encouraging. As usual we weaned at 12 weeks.
Followers of this “blog” will know that for 7 or 8 years we have been recording via Border Software’s FarmIT, as well as now on Signet. This spring we purchased Border Software’s 3-way weigh crate, which has been specifically designed for weighing with a TruTest XR3000 without being impacted by the usual electronic interference – a problem with some crates that have just been adapted for the task. Apart from easily weighing all sheep every time they go through, showing average daily growth rates etc, it can be used equally importantly to identify and sort different pre-planned groups. For instance, I was able to screen my shearlings at my desk, looking for the various aspects that I wanted to breed in or out. These attributes were then put into a management group. Next time through the race the True Test did the rest. The resultant group was finally assessed physically for final selection. I truly believe that this can add real value to any commercial enterprise, whether the flock (or herd) is small or large. Some of my selection criteria include: dam prolificacy and efficiency, ADWGs at 20 weeks, negative traits such as prolapse, mastitis, foot rot and worm as a lamb post 9 months etc.
Each spring we try to put down new grass leys to take advantage of the constant improvements in grass breeding. For the last few years we have broadcast seed after disking. The weather this year was kind and a really thick take has been established – and no drill lines which I reckon represents a reduction of actual grass for the first couple of years. If we see rain again I will get the clover broadcast.
We will have approximately 250 shearlings for sale this year both via the Lleyn sales and of course privately. We also have a number of shearling rams. Please come and inspect.