Hill sheep flocks generally lamb later in the year due to weather conditions and forage availability. This is the correct approach, with the recommendation to plan the lambing date to suit grass growth and availability.

This is especially important in flocks located on harder hills and challenged with lower levels of output, as there is usually not sufficient sales to cover significant input costs.

Primary objective

The primary objective in many Scottish Blackface flocks farming on difficult terrain with poor-quality vegetation and faced with lower levels of output is to produce enough suitable replacements to replenish the breeding flock on an annual basis.

Flocks located on better-quality hills or hills with a combination of green grazing and hill/mountain terrain should have targets to achieve higher levels of performance.

The target lamb output for hill flocks . . . is to produce at least 1.1 lambs reared per ewe put to the ram

The target lamb output for hill flocks participating in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme is to produce at least 1.1 lambs reared per ewe put to the ram.

Achieving this requires the flocks to achieve a litter size of approximately 1.3 lambs per ewe joined and to lamb at least 92% of the ewes joined.

Adequate nutrition

Central to achieving this is having ewes in good condition (BCS of 3) in the runup to mating and ensuring adequate nutrition is available before and during breeding and for a four-week period after conception.

The number of lambs reared per ewe joined will in turn have a significant impact on possible breeding strategies that can be implemented.

A higher demand for Scottish Blackface and Cheviot replacements has seen some farmers specialise in producing for the replacement market and selling surplus ewe lambs.

The higher demand is stemming, in many cases, from other farmers honing in on crossbreeding breeding programmes.

Where possible, crossbreeding can provide an opportunity to increase flock productivity by increasing the value of output and taking advantage of hybrid vigour.

The potential level of crossbreeding in a flock will depend on the flock’s replacement rate and the average litter size.

Teagasc experience, through its BETTER Farm sheep programme, shows the level of crossbreeding possible for a range of flock litter sizes. This is detailed in Table 1.

Selecting ewes for crossbreeding

Flocks differ in their selection criteria when picking ewes to breed with crossbred rams. The first ewes selected should be ewes that do not meet desired flock characteristics and in particular ewes that struggle to perform on hill grazing.

Retaining progeny of these ewes will only serve to see these issues persist.

Many flocks also opt to select older ewes producing their final crop of lambs. These ewes have the advantage of tending to cycle earlier in the season, thereby producing a heavier lamb for sale and having it potentially ready to move off farm earlier.

This will deliver benefits in building grass supplies for breeding ewes.

Terminal sires should also be considered as clean-up rams after single-sire mating has occurred, as these lambs bred pure will attract an even lower sales value.

Looking after ewe lambs

A further barrier to enhancing output on some farms is not breeding two-tooth hoggets. Reasons often raised are hoggets not meeting weight targets at mating. This can often be traced back to how lambs are managed over the first winter.

It is important to look after these lambs, as promoting steady performance during the winter will deliver a good foundation for performance to kick on in spring.

Supplementing ewe lambs with good-quality forage, feed buckets or a low level of meal feeding will deliver a return where ewes are in prime condition for breeding in the subsequent year.