With lambing on the horizon for many, laying stepping stones to ensure all aspects have been considered is a crucial feature of sheep farming and ensuring a prosperous season. Monitor Farm Scotland recently held their Dumfries meeting at Wallets Mart in Castle Douglas to discuss all things lambing.
The afternoon saw Graham Lofthouse of Bankhouse Flock, Galashiels deliver a presentation on ‘Best practice at lambing for a successful outcome’.
Over the past 17 years, Graham transitioned his system from a high-input flock of Texels to a flock of Easycare ewes, which undergo lambing mainly outdoors in April. During this transformation, the farm has achieved commendable performances, including an average scanning percentage of 186%, barren rates consistently below 3%, and a rearing percentage of 171% for ewes. Throughout the years the farm has maintained lamb losses from lambing to sale at 8% or lower, significantly under the industry average in Scotland which stands at 15%.
Graham said: “For me I think it’s important to set a target, using collective marginal gains for maximum benefit and key attributes to achieve your desired outcome. Personally, my aim is to ensure that I am producing ewes with minimal intervention needed at lambing whilst creating a healthy vigorous lamb.”
His session covered various topics including nutrition, achieving target body condition scores (BCS), health, hygiene, and post-lambing management. He also discussed where best to prioritise efforts during this crucial period.
*Nutrition*
Graham highlights the importance of nutrition in both the lead up to lambing and following, Starting with tupping time he points out his Golden 20 rule; having high quality grass and a budget allow a minimum of 10 day pre and 10 days post start of tupping of adlib grass, with ewes in BCS 3 or above should allow good conception and embryo implantation. Knowing ewe body weight allows for allocation of this cheapest feed.
Following on to six weeks pre-lambing Graham suggests: “It is important to achieve good quality colostrum which will provide the building blocks to a lambs immunity and initial growth. Having a ration based on high quality forage is essential and getting a ration formulated to meet the ewes demands relative to the number of lambs she is carrying is a must for me.”
To do this he suggests after scanning it is useful to ensure singles, twins, and triplets are segmented into groups so more can be fed to ewes with a higher energy demand.
“BCS throughout tupping and lambing is important to me as I can monitor that the ewes are where they need to be,” he explained. “If necessary, I would place slightly leaner ewes with triplets to give them more energy.”
Once lambed Graham ensures a grass budget is already in place, considering how long the grass may last and if it will be necessary to supplement with other feeds. Factors such as stock density, weather and grass nutrition are all contributing considerations.
*Health*
However well prepared in terms of nutrition, all may be lost if flock health is not managed correctly.
“I think BCS is a fundamental tool that helps give a clearer understanding of flock health and potentially allows you to pick up the early signs of illness or need to alter grazing/feeding,” stresses Graham.
He demonstrated a useful tip to help score body conditions: “With your fingers together on one hand, running your hand over the top of your fingertips is considered a one to me as it would indicate predominate ribs. Working your way down, score two would be over the intermediate phalanges, then making a fist over the proximal phalanges is considered a three which is what I aim for with an ideal amount of cover. Finally, four is the back of your hand on the metacarpals.”
Graham later discussed: “Four weeks before lambing I like to carry out a BOHB blood test on ewes to indicate energy deficient, lack of protein, or reduced magnesium levels if necessary. This gives me time to adjust the ration before lambing.”
He also adds: “If I am in any doubt after a sheep has lambed there is always the option to carry out a colostrum sample.”
Lastly, regarding ewe health, Graham suggested: “I put emphasis on the ensuring stress levels are kept to a minimum within sheep (and yourself) throughout lambing, stress for sheep may result in a less productive ewe that is more likely to reject her lambs, have a decreased appetite or even cause prolapsing.”
Small measures that may be taken to reduce stress include not altering the diet too much when sheep are brought into individual pens and if lambing indoors consider placing a few hurdles around the ewe and her lambs once lambed and allow them time to bond before moving into designated individual pens. Also touching on ensuring plenty of feeding space if lambing indoors to prevent stress from fighting to get to feeding, which also links to maintaining good hygiene practices.
*Hygiene*
With the presence of new life at lambing time it is important hygiene is not overlooked. “Our indoor lambing pens are disinfected with formalin prills and topped with straw between each ewe coming in and out,” said Graham.
He also adds that over the lambing period, he ensures there are enough pens to hand as he does not wish for more than ten ewes to use the same pen throughout lambing as he aims to reduce the build-up of bacteria.
Graham also uses a water pipe that runs along the back of the pens in the shed, this provides a constant stream of fresh water and removes the job of filling water buckets.
As thoughts turned to lambing indoors Graham spoke about how he uses small milk cartons to apply iodine to lambs as they are inexpensive and yet still give a thorough dose.
*Genetics*
Ultimately though Graham explains the importance of genetics: “Starting from birth I aim for lambs to weigh 3 to 5 kg at birth and be born unassisted. This gives them the greatest chance of survival and a ewes pelvic size has a huge influence on that."
Pelvis size is vital to Graham as it links back to the minimal intervention flock that he wishes to produce. “We use computed tomography (CT) scanning to measure our tups as it assesses muscle, fat, and bone yield so we can be sure we have selected a suitable sire and that the pelvic size is not going to have a negative effect on the flock.” This is done as an extra to the Signet Flock Recording.
To combat lambing issues Graham will cull ewes and her lambs if found with a small pelvis, “Essentially a bigger pelvis means a bigger lamb can be born successfully.”
Graham said “BCS is a key monitor of ewe nutrition and health”. This trait has a heritability of 25% and that is why he places such high emphasis on recording this information and assessing ewes at Weaning six weeks pre tupping, between day 34-50 after tups have come out and 6 weeks pre lambing. Graham looks to retain genetics from ewes that present the least variation in scoring.
Graham's take home message was: “Time is best spent pre-lambing as these small steps can lead to a positive outcome and take away some of the strain around lambing.” Four weeks before lambing I like to carry out a BOHB blood test on ewes to indicate energy deficiency, lack of protein, or reduced magnesium levels if necessary. This gives me time to adjust the ration before lambing.
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