A bust-up among the rams is the only blot on our breeding season horizon

I’M BUSY preparing the sheep for the upcoming breeding season. I intend to let the rams out on October 10, aiming to start lambing around March 5. This date worked well for me last year.

Ideally you need to target lambing date to coincide with the beginning of grass growth. Lambing earlier is fine, but with a lot of stock it’s a risky business with the memory of spring 2013 still very fresh in my mind.

It’s important to plan how you are going to manage your grass over the next few months.

Gradually closing off fields and allowing them time to recuperate over the winter will leave an adequate bank of grass available to you in the spring. The general rule of thumb is to close off 15pc of your farm in mid October, 50pc by mid November and 80pc by mid December.

I generally try to close off fields that are closest to my lambing sheds earlier, meaning that I will have plenty of grass available to ewes and lambs near to the farm yard.

As part of the sheep welfare scheme I have to give minerals to my sheep post-breeding. It’s not something that I normally do, but to avail of the grant I have to.

I am using a six-month selenium, iodine and cobalt bolus produced by Animax which complies with the scheme. It costs €1.45 per head and was quite easy to administer. The dose improves the thrive of the ewes, tightens up the lambing period and also improves the vigour of young lambs at birth. It is also slow releasing over six months.

I’ve chatted to farmers that have used it over the years and they swear by it so if it achieves what it says it does then I’ll be a happy camper.

This year I purchased mule hoggets in Ballinrobe. I am moving away from lambing ewe lambs. I want to compact the lambing period into four weeks as dragging it on for over two months is an endurance test. It’s just not a lot of fun anymore.

I think that the benefit of lambing ewe lambs is negligible. The extra money you get from lambing them is offset by the extra money you spend on giving them preferential treatment throughout the year.

You’re essentially working for nothing and persecuting yourself at the same time. It seems to me that you are better off just lambing a hogget and making savings in a shortened lambing period, having a stronger ewe and finishing your lambs earlier in the year.

The breeding rams are in good shape. I had to split them into groups as a row broke out between them. It’s the anticipation of what’s ahead of them that gets them all a bit edgy.

Meanwhile, it’s important to keep the fit lambs moving along well. The more lambs you move off, the faster the remaining ones seem to thrive. I have over 60pc of my lambs from this year gone and I anticipate having most of them gone by the end of October. I just hope the lamb price stays up well.

Finally, if it’s September it means Mayo are in the All Ireland football final — again. I hope they win but, between themselves and Galway, if they do win, there won’t be a thing done west of the Shannon for months.

I’ ll be at the Farming Independent tent at the Ploughing next week so please come and say hello as it’s always nice to hear the sheep farming news from around the country.