Preparations for this year’s breeding are advanced in the Tullamore Farm sheep flock.
Ewes are now on a higher plane of nutrition with the commencement of breeding just three weeks away, planned for 21 October in the mature flock.
The level of performance recording carried out has stepped up in recent years, but it was still not at a level that would allow a complete picture to be formulated.
There is a large variation in the liveweight of mature ewes, which should make for interesting analysis on whether or not it has any effect on the performance of progeny.
The fact that the flock differs from other demonstration farms in terms of ewe breed raises many questions at open days or discussion group visits.
Some questions point to the variance in performance of progeny from different sires and the Mule ewe, while another question that often surfaces is what level of variability is present between progeny of Mule ewes of varying size/liveweight, age and background breeding.
The farm is not a research unit, but having this information available is highly beneficial for a commercial flock, and particularly given some replacements are being retained as the flock expands.
To try and address these queries and improve the flow of information from the farm, the flock has joined performance recording with Sheep Ireland.
The punch hole does not cause any discomfort to the sheep, with some antiseptic spray applied as a precaution.
Breeding is the start of the production year in terms of developing performance recording over a full production cycle.
Last week, Sheep Ireland’s David Coen visited the farm to collect some baseline data and get the flock set up on the database.
Baseline information
The tag number of every eligible breeding female was read electronically using a Trutest handheld reader and information was recorded on breed type, age, body condition score, dag score and the incidence of lameness.
Reading and recording of information is carried out with a Trutest handheld reader.
Table 1 details a summary of this information, bar lameness.
It was clear from visual appearance that there was a significant difference in the liveweight of ewes.
We did not think, however, that the range was as wide and also underestimated the number of ewes weighing over 90kg. As mentioned in last week’s management notes, having an accurate weight estimate of ewes is vital in avoiding under-treatment and reducing the rate at which resistance develops to critical drug classes.
It should be pointed out that the majority of ewes are in prime condition for breeding, as reflected in the body condition score of 3.75.
This estimate is taken to the closest full body condition score, as at present the facility is not in a position to split scores.
Hogget ewes
There was an even greater variance in the liveweight of hogget ewes. A high percentage of the hoggets weighed within 65kg to 75kg and are right on target for breeding. This includes some hoggets which reared lambs as yearlings and have recovered sufficiently. The average weight is reduced by a small selection of 10 hoggets weighing from 50kg to 58kg, along with the lightest hogget weighing 45kg. These were purchased recently in the Donegal Mule Group sale.
The hoggets have a good frame, but are a little shy on flesh cover and should have no trouble reaching breeding targets once they are given some more time. It is likely that breeding will be delayed for a couple of weeks, with these animals grouped with the 20 ewe lambs purchased in the same sale. The two batches of Mule ewe lambs have great breeding potential, but as seen in Table 1 are mixed in weight. The heavier lambs in the batch should have no problem being ready to breed this season, but the 1 November breeding date may come too fast for 20% to 30% of the lighter ones. They will receive preferential treatment for the next few weeks and be assessed again at the end of the month.
Flock expansion
The flock is increasing in size from 170 sheep going to the ram in 2018 to 250 sheep going to the ram in 2019. The extra ewes are filling the void left by the dairy calf-to-beef enterprise. A total of 53 hoggets were purchased, with the average price falling just shy of €170. The 20 ewe lambs cost an average of €117.50.
The larger flock is also providing an opportunity to test some homebred replacements. The initial flock of 150 ewes had a handful of Texel x Mule ewes and these have performed admirably.
The Texel x Mule cross ewe lambs on the left are well on target for breeding and are pictured here with hoggets purchased this year.
The breed mix is also a query that is cropping up on farm visits and as such a decision has been taken to retain 30 ewe lambs from the 2018 lamb crop. The majority of these are well on target for mating and will be joined from 1 November to Charollais sires.
Single-sire mating
As mentioned previously the aim is to link the performance of progeny back to parentage. Linking to the ewe is pretty straightforward, provided there is adequate supervision available at lambing and mis-mothering does not occur. Linking to the ram is harder, with only one real option to carry out single-sire mating. Sire parentage verification through DNA testing is possible, but it is expensive to implement.
David Coen collecting a sample of DNA for parentage verification of the five stock rams at Tullamore Farm.
Therefore, single-sire mating offers the best opportunity.
Ewes will be randomly split into groups and joined with one sire, with records retained and uploaded to the database. Raddling of rams will be integral to ensuring this is carried out effectively when rams are switched between groups after an initial period of mating. The switching of rams between groups is required to reduce the possible negative consequences of a sub-fertile or infertile ram.
DNA samples were also collected from the rams to verify parentage and also to allow future analysis on the ewe lambs retained this year to be carried out. If required, a DNA sample can be taken from these at a later date to ascertain the sire and allow breeding evaluations to be developed.
Future recording
David says the fact that the flock is now set up on the Sheep Ireland database gives great scope to easily record information through the Sheep Ireland app.
This cuts down on the necessity for paper recording and allows information to be recorded instantaneously. Over time, this will develop a clearer picture of the ewes performing best in the flock, which will in turn allow targeted mating to breed replacements with the greatest potential.
Lamb drafting update and enzootic abortion vaccine
Lambs have performed satisfactorily over the grazing season, with just 13 lambs out of 274 available left for drafting.
Table 2 summarises the slaughter performance to date. The average carcase weight for the 261 lambs drafted is 20.79kg, while the average sale price is at €100.16.
After the first two drafts it looked like the percentage of U-grading lambs was going to be running well ahead of 2018 levels.
This was a significant topic of discussion at this year’s open day following a change in the breeding programme, with Texel rams mated with mature ewes. But following these two drafts the percentage of U-grades fell back in line with 2018 levels.
The three Texel rams which will be mated with mature ewes, and two Charollais rams which will be joined with ewe hoggets and ewe lambs.
As can be seen in the year total column, farm manager Shaun Diver has repeated the first-rate drafting performance of 2018 in terms of selecting lambs at the ideal fat cover and liveweight. This is an important aspect for marketing lambs through the Offaly Quality Lamb Producer Group. Lambs falling into fat class four are penalised by 10c/kg, while lambs falling outside of the desired carcase weight range (varies depending on time of year) and going overweight lose any bonus payment, and can be penalised by 30c/kg to 40c/kg. There were 26 ewes slaughtered since spring. All graded R on conformation, with 20 ewes recorded at fat score three and six at fat score six. The ewes averaged 34.7kg carcase weight, the majority fell within a range of 30-40kg carcase weight, with a couple of outliers back to 24kg and a couple at 46kg. They returned a sale price of €91.74, at an average of €2.68/kg.
Concentrates consumed
In terms of concentrate feeding, meal was introduced to ram lambs and pet lambs at a rate of 0.5kg/head in the second week of August, while ewe lambs were finished off grass, with the exception of meal being introduced ahead of the last draft for a two-week period. The total volume fed is low at 1.2t, or about 15kg on average over the 80 odd lambs which were introduced to meal in August.
Total lambs reared
Along with the 274 lambs available for slaughter, there were 30 homebred lambs retained for slaughter and 16 ewe lambs sold off the farm for breeding, at a price of €105 each. Provided the 13 lambs remaining are all sold, the number of lambs reared will total 319 head. The number of lambs scanned was recorded at 392, giving a mortality rate of 18.5%.
As reported in spring, in the region of 4% to 4.5% of this mortality can be attributed to a mini outbreak of abortion caused by enzootic abortion in the final weeks of gestation and the related death of weak lambs in the first 24 hours of life. Going on veterinary advice, all of the remaining ewes purchased in the initial flock have received vaccination for enzootic abortion, while this has been part of the quarantine programme for all replacements purchased.
Preparations for this year’s breeding are advanced in the Tullamore Farm sheep flock.
Ewes are now on a higher plane of nutrition with the commencement of breeding just three weeks away, planned for 21 October in the mature flock.
The level of performance recording carried out has stepped up in recent years, but it was still not at a level that would allow a complete picture to be formulated.
There is a large variation in the liveweight of mature ewes, which should make for interesting analysis on whether or not it has any effect on the performance of progeny.
The fact that the flock differs from other demonstration farms in terms of ewe breed raises many questions at open days or discussion group visits.
Some questions point to the variance in performance of progeny from different sires and the Mule ewe, while another question that often surfaces is what level of variability is present between progeny of Mule ewes of varying size/liveweight, age and background breeding.
The farm is not a research unit, but having this information available is highly beneficial for a commercial flock, and particularly given some replacements are being retained as the flock expands.
To try and address these queries and improve the flow of information from the farm, the flock has joined performance recording with Sheep Ireland.
The punch hole does not cause any discomfort to the sheep, with some antiseptic spray applied as a precaution.
Breeding is the start of the production year in terms of developing performance recording over a full production cycle.
Last week, Sheep Ireland’s David Coen visited the farm to collect some baseline data and get the flock set up on the database.
Baseline information
The tag number of every eligible breeding female was read electronically using a Trutest handheld reader and information was recorded on breed type, age, body condition score, dag score and the incidence of lameness.
Reading and recording of information is carried out with a Trutest handheld reader.
Table 1 details a summary of this information, bar lameness.
It was clear from visual appearance that there was a significant difference in the liveweight of ewes.
We did not think, however, that the range was as wide and also underestimated the number of ewes weighing over 90kg. As mentioned in last week’s management notes, having an accurate weight estimate of ewes is vital in avoiding under-treatment and reducing the rate at which resistance develops to critical drug classes.
It should be pointed out that the majority of ewes are in prime condition for breeding, as reflected in the body condition score of 3.75.
This estimate is taken to the closest full body condition score, as at present the facility is not in a position to split scores.
Hogget ewes
There was an even greater variance in the liveweight of hogget ewes. A high percentage of the hoggets weighed within 65kg to 75kg and are right on target for breeding. This includes some hoggets which reared lambs as yearlings and have recovered sufficiently. The average weight is reduced by a small selection of 10 hoggets weighing from 50kg to 58kg, along with the lightest hogget weighing 45kg. These were purchased recently in the Donegal Mule Group sale.
The hoggets have a good frame, but are a little shy on flesh cover and should have no trouble reaching breeding targets once they are given some more time. It is likely that breeding will be delayed for a couple of weeks, with these animals grouped with the 20 ewe lambs purchased in the same sale. The two batches of Mule ewe lambs have great breeding potential, but as seen in Table 1 are mixed in weight. The heavier lambs in the batch should have no problem being ready to breed this season, but the 1 November breeding date may come too fast for 20% to 30% of the lighter ones. They will receive preferential treatment for the next few weeks and be assessed again at the end of the month.
Flock expansion
The flock is increasing in size from 170 sheep going to the ram in 2018 to 250 sheep going to the ram in 2019. The extra ewes are filling the void left by the dairy calf-to-beef enterprise. A total of 53 hoggets were purchased, with the average price falling just shy of €170. The 20 ewe lambs cost an average of €117.50.
The larger flock is also providing an opportunity to test some homebred replacements. The initial flock of 150 ewes had a handful of Texel x Mule ewes and these have performed admirably.
The Texel x Mule cross ewe lambs on the left are well on target for breeding and are pictured here with hoggets purchased this year.
The breed mix is also a query that is cropping up on farm visits and as such a decision has been taken to retain 30 ewe lambs from the 2018 lamb crop. The majority of these are well on target for mating and will be joined from 1 November to Charollais sires.
Single-sire mating
As mentioned previously the aim is to link the performance of progeny back to parentage. Linking to the ewe is pretty straightforward, provided there is adequate supervision available at lambing and mis-mothering does not occur. Linking to the ram is harder, with only one real option to carry out single-sire mating. Sire parentage verification through DNA testing is possible, but it is expensive to implement.
David Coen collecting a sample of DNA for parentage verification of the five stock rams at Tullamore Farm.
Therefore, single-sire mating offers the best opportunity.
Ewes will be randomly split into groups and joined with one sire, with records retained and uploaded to the database. Raddling of rams will be integral to ensuring this is carried out effectively when rams are switched between groups after an initial period of mating. The switching of rams between groups is required to reduce the possible negative consequences of a sub-fertile or infertile ram.
DNA samples were also collected from the rams to verify parentage and also to allow future analysis on the ewe lambs retained this year to be carried out. If required, a DNA sample can be taken from these at a later date to ascertain the sire and allow breeding evaluations to be developed.
Future recording
David says the fact that the flock is now set up on the Sheep Ireland database gives great scope to easily record information through the Sheep Ireland app.
This cuts down on the necessity for paper recording and allows information to be recorded instantaneously. Over time, this will develop a clearer picture of the ewes performing best in the flock, which will in turn allow targeted mating to breed replacements with the greatest potential.
Lamb drafting update and enzootic abortion vaccine
Lambs have performed satisfactorily over the grazing season, with just 13 lambs out of 274 available left for drafting.
Table 2 summarises the slaughter performance to date. The average carcase weight for the 261 lambs drafted is 20.79kg, while the average sale price is at €100.16.
After the first two drafts it looked like the percentage of U-grading lambs was going to be running well ahead of 2018 levels.
This was a significant topic of discussion at this year’s open day following a change in the breeding programme, with Texel rams mated with mature ewes. But following these two drafts the percentage of U-grades fell back in line with 2018 levels.
The three Texel rams which will be mated with mature ewes, and two Charollais rams which will be joined with ewe hoggets and ewe lambs.
As can be seen in the year total column, farm manager Shaun Diver has repeated the first-rate drafting performance of 2018 in terms of selecting lambs at the ideal fat cover and liveweight. This is an important aspect for marketing lambs through the Offaly Quality Lamb Producer Group. Lambs falling into fat class four are penalised by 10c/kg, while lambs falling outside of the desired carcase weight range (varies depending on time of year) and going overweight lose any bonus payment, and can be penalised by 30c/kg to 40c/kg. There were 26 ewes slaughtered since spring. All graded R on conformation, with 20 ewes recorded at fat score three and six at fat score six. The ewes averaged 34.7kg carcase weight, the majority fell within a range of 30-40kg carcase weight, with a couple of outliers back to 24kg and a couple at 46kg. They returned a sale price of €91.74, at an average of €2.68/kg.
Concentrates consumed
In terms of concentrate feeding, meal was introduced to ram lambs and pet lambs at a rate of 0.5kg/head in the second week of August, while ewe lambs were finished off grass, with the exception of meal being introduced ahead of the last draft for a two-week period. The total volume fed is low at 1.2t, or about 15kg on average over the 80 odd lambs which were introduced to meal in August.
Total lambs reared
Along with the 274 lambs available for slaughter, there were 30 homebred lambs retained for slaughter and 16 ewe lambs sold off the farm for breeding, at a price of €105 each. Provided the 13 lambs remaining are all sold, the number of lambs reared will total 319 head. The number of lambs scanned was recorded at 392, giving a mortality rate of 18.5%.
As reported in spring, in the region of 4% to 4.5% of this mortality can be attributed to a mini outbreak of abortion caused by enzootic abortion in the final weeks of gestation and the related death of weak lambs in the first 24 hours of life. Going on veterinary advice, all of the remaining ewes purchased in the initial flock have received vaccination for enzootic abortion, while this has been part of the quarantine programme for all replacements purchased.
This is a subscriber-only article
SHARING OPTIONS: