July 1st 2016
Lambing is now well behind us, having finished in mid April. I was reasonably pleased with a live lambing ratio (post 2 days after lambing) of a shade under 180%. Sheep were brought in very early in early January due to the atrocious wet weather. I was concerned that the sheep would be carrying excess internal fat as a result, and therefore reduced the concentrates by about 20% across the board. The outcome was as I had hoped – few problems, none of which required the vet.
Like many, grass this year was hardly in abundance in early April/May, and the cold will certainly impacted the feed value considerably. This early grazing shortfall will have put some considerable strain on the ewes, so weaning at 12 weeks will in my mind be important if we are to get the ewes back in shape for tupping. Average “8 week” growth weights reflect this cold April spell with lambs looking like being 2 weeks behind by mid June, but catching up fast. (We weighed when worming for Nematodirus and again with first Heptovac). Of course from mid May onwards the problem was of managing too much grass. First cut haylage should have been excellent. Not sure about the next fields as it is now effectively ready but rain, rain, rain!
Last week we sent off the shearling rams’ blood tests for the MYOMAX gene and now await the results with interest. As you may know, we saliva test for FEC worm resistance and resilience in the autumn. We believe Signet will be calculating more accurate numbers this time based on something like 4000 data points built up over the last 2 years. Keep a close watch on sheep amongst the Lleyn Performance Recorded Group, as it is amongst these flocks that the analysis is being carried out, and the EBV accuracies should be the greatest.
We have already started to sell shearling rams, and interest seems to coming earlier than normal. With Sterling collapsing post BREXIT the important export market should be benefitting the lamb trade this year, and this should support the overall breeding sheep trade. Just remember imported protein etc will be more expensive on the pound’s devaluation. Certainly sheep are providing a better net return than most other farming activities at present. I grant that these things go in cycles, but the Lleyn’s proven low input costs certainly make sense in these difficult times.
Our shearling rams were sheared in front of the females last week and look very well. Bare in mind we feed NO concentrates at all, so these animals are doing it all off grass (and haylage bales outside in the winter). They will no doubt be a little smaller than those being fed for the show ring, but these animals are bred for hard work! As soon as we get the MYOMAX results in I will put the details on the web. You will also be able to see the important FEC EBVs on the Signet pages.
Once again we should have about 200+ shearlings for sale this summer and at present they’re also looking very fit, having again weathered the wet winter better than perhaps I might have expected. (Again no supplementary feeding such as roots) We are on heavy land so none of the luxury of grazing easy draining land either!
Please feel free to give me a call and come and have a look.