Planning the timing of the breeding season on sheep farms will prove to be an important decider in whether farmers will have a costly post-lambing period.
If sheep farmers lamb their ewes too early in the season, they can run out of grass three or four weeks after turnout each year.
This means that feed will have to be supplemented with expensive concentrates, and the milk yield of the ewe is at risk at a time when it is hitting peak milk yield.
If this is happening on your farm in recent years then you should strongly consider delaying lambing by two weeks.
Delaying lambing
Delaying lambing has a number of advantages and, for a mid-season lambing flock, it has very few – if any – disadvantages, according to Michael Gottstein of Teagasc.
Gottstein said: “Remember that our summer lamb price is remarkably consistent throughout the main lamb drafting months from August to November.
“Delaying mating will allow additional time for ewes to gain body condition pre-mating and can increase the percentage of ewes cycling and being mated in the first 17 days.”
It will compact the lambing period, but will concentrate labor over a shorter lambing season.
Delaying mating will also lead to an increased pregnancy rate and litter size.
Pre-mating management
In preparation for lambing, Gottstein said farmers should aim to have all rams that they intend to use on their farm for six weeks prior to the mating season.
This allows time for health treatments and can be used to bring rams to a good body condition if necessary.
Rams in poor body condition have lower libido and will spend more time eating and resting rather than seeking out ewes who are in heat.
Ideal ewe to ram ratios are 45:1 for mature rams and 25:1 for ram lambs.
Three or more rams per mating group will help to guard against infertility and blocker rams, where two rams are ran together and the dominant one of them spends a lot of time and energy stopping the other from mating.
The use of a raddle is beneficial, as it is cheap, and will remove the need to scan empty ewes. Farmers should change the color every two weeks to keep track of which ewes have been served by the ram.
Avoid dipping rams six weeks prior to the breeding season or during the breeding season due to the risk of post-dipping lameness.
If absolutely necessary, Gottstein recommends that rams are dipped first in clean and freshly made dip.
Aim to have all lameness issues resolved in advance of the dating season and after ram turnout, keep an eye on any lameness issues that may be arising.
Treat lame sheep promptly so as to minimize the severity of the infection and limit the impact it will have on the reproductive performance of the flock.
