Why this farmer in Tipperary isn’t mating ewes this year
Des Powell farms 96ha (237ha – 65ha owned, remainder rented/leased) in partnership with his parents 2km outside Templederry, Co. Tipperary.
In the off-season he runs a flock of lambs and a calf-to-meat business.
to scan
On October 7th, 314 adult ewes were born to Suffolk, Charollais and Belclare males. The mating season lasted five weeks.
The target date for pregnancy scanning of ewes is 80 days after ram involvement and Des scanned his adult ewes in early January.
The scanned litter size of 1.75 is slightly above last year, as is the pregnancy rate of 94.9. The overall sample rate was 1.66
The 16 empty ewes were culled at an average cost of €86 per head.
Lambing is scheduled to begin in March. After scanning, all triplets and quadruplets carrying ewes were housed and offered ad lib silage and introduced with concentrates.
Twin sheep will be housed over the next few days while solitary sheep will remain on grass for a few more weeks and will be supplemented with silage.
The ground on which they graze is not needed for ewes and lambs after pasture.
sheep lambs
About 100 ewe lambs were kept as spares. In earlier years, Des mated part of them to slaughter them as pigs.
But this year the lambs have been disappointingly thriving throughout the summer and only 20 had reached the target breeding weight at the time of ram insemination.
Therefore, Des decided not to mate ewes this year and will keep them dry for the summer to help manage the grass behind the ewes and lambs.
Silage quality and quantity
Silage samples were submitted for laboratory analysis in early December (see below). The results show considerable fluctuations on the farm, but are quite good overall.
Des and his Teagasc advisor, Michael Daly, drew up a feed budget in early January that predicts a feed deficit of 11t dry matter if all cattle and sheep are to be housed by March 15th.
So Des decided to sell some of the finished and stock stores through his local market. This will ensure there is enough forage available to feed all the stock on the farm even if turnout is delayed this spring.
signpost program
Des is a demonstration farmer in the Teagasc Signpost program and is investigating what practices can be used on his farm to reduce gaseous emissions and nutrient losses, manage and improve biodiversity, and reduce costs.
Ultimately, the goal is to create a plan that will enable Des to farm in a more sustainable way and future-proof his farm against future policies and market demands.
Practices Des has used to date include proprietary urea, low emission slurry application (LESS) and clover seeding.
cattle
There are currently 64 older cattle (20-24 months) on the farm. This is a mix of steers and heifers. Currently, all cattle receive ad libitum silage and 2 kg of a 15-part CP meat ration per capita per day.
Des decided to sell some of these cattle (ready stock and forwarding stock) and the first five black and white haired heifers were sold at his local market, weighing 557kg and fetching €1470/hr.
There are also 66 weaners (dairy breeding) on the farm, some bought as calves last spring and some as weaners in the fall.
They are mainly Hereford and Aberdeen Angus crossbreeds. These are fed ad libitum silage and 1.5 kg of a 15 piece CP meat ration. These cattle are grazed in mid-March (depending on the weather) and grazed together with the sheep for the coming year.
Michael Gottstein is Director of the Teagasc Sheep Knowledge Transfer Program
https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/sheep/advice/why-this-tipperary-farmer-is-not-mating-any-ewe-lambs-this-year-42314014.html Why this farmer in Tipperary isn’t mating ewes this year
