No dampener on mating
Wet weather fails to halt mating habits on Michael Duffy’s sheep farm in Donegal, writes
THE failure to get two to three dry days in a row has left land very wet, grass utilisation difficult and put pressure on ewe body condition over the past six weeks on the Duffy farm.
While the weather may have been wet, mating on the Duffy farm in Kerrykeel on the Fanad peninsula, 23 miles north of Letterkenny in Co Donegal, has gone well.
Michael Duffy turned out eight rams (six mature and two ram lambs) on October 17, with 300 ewes and 100 ewe lambs. They were single sire mated in batches of 50 ewes per ram. Michael said: “I put lick buckets out with four of my eight batches of ewes for the four weeks pre-tupping to try and maintain ewe BCS on the wet grass.”
Michael used raddle paste on the rams and counted the ewes coloured every three to four days. According to Michael, “there was an average of 26 ewes tupped per day for the first three days, 24 per day for the next four days and 23 per day for the next three days so that by November 2, there were 313 tupped.”
Within those average figures the ewe lambs were slower as one would expect. On November 2, there were 34 ewe lambs tupped (34pc) while there was 279 ewes tupped (93pc) — just 15 days after ram turnout. Michael changed the raddle colour from red to green and rotated the rams on November 5, day 17 after turnout. He rested his two ram lambs from then on too, replacing them with two old ‘substitutes’.
On November 5, there were 292 ewes tupped (97pc) and 47 ewe lambs (47pc). “All the ewes except for one or two are now mated I am hoping the ewe lambs are likewise,” says Michael. “I wasn’t able to top up the raddle paste on the two Charollais rams used on the ewe lambs as I would have liked because they are a bit wild.
“I like to top-up the raddle paste at least twice to three times per week. I normally do this by having a small bucket of meal and when the ram comes to feed I top up the raddle paste using a plastic glove over my hand.
“The Charollais rams would come to feed alright but when I went to apply the raddle paste they were inclined to back-off.”
Michael is hoping that the ewe scanning results later in January will match the mating pattern. His main focus now is on his grass supply.
I LIKE TO TOP-UP THE RADDLE PASTE AT LEAST TWICE TO THREE TIMES PER WEEK
Grazing Management
Michael began preparation for having an adequate grass supply at lambing in late October. He followed the blueprint being advocated by Philip Creighton, Teagasc Athenry. According to Philip Creighton it is the growth before Christmas that counts at lambing as growth from January 1 until lambing can be very disappointing.
Table 1 shows the closing-off targets advocated by Philip Creighton in Athenry in a simple ‘Sheep Autumn Planner’ that farmers can use to plan their strategy.
At a recent Teagasc Grass 10 event in Castlefinn, Philip explained that while the targets are based on an early March lambing flock, one should adhere to the same Late October and Mid November targets even if you are planning for a midMarch lambing flock.
“I had 14.5 acres or 15pc closed by the end of October, 27.5 acres (36pc) closed on November 10 and 48.75 acres (52pc) on 20th of November,” says Michael Duffy.
Michael is planning to begin housing his ewe flock on December 2. The rams will remain with the ewes until then. All the ewes will be shorn after housing. They will be given their 3rd Fluke dose 7-10 days after housing — probably Rafoxanide.
The previous two doses were
John J Cannon is a Teagasc advisor based in Letterkenny, Co Donegal