High volumes, high standards

Farming Independent columnist John Large (pictured below) is the host for the farm walk which follows today’s Irish Grassland Association Sheep Conference in Co Tipperary.

John’s is one of the Central Progeny Test (CPT) flocks working with Sheep Ireland and he was one of the original participants in the programme which began back in 2010.

This wasn’t the Gortnahoe farmer’s first venture into helping breed improvement; previously he participated in a number of Teagasc on-farm ram evaluation trials.

Aside from breeding initiatives he has embraced the grazing challenge having previously also hosted one of the Grass10 Programme sheep walks.

Sheep system

The sheep system makes up the main part of the farming enterprise, running a closed flock which comprises of 630 mature ewes and 160 ewe lambs that are also joined.

Stocked at approximately 12 ewes per hectare, with all progeny excluding replacements taken to finish, this is a high output system.

As part of the CPT Programme all the mature ewes are artificially inseminated. This process takes place in two phases in mid-October, with a two-day interval in between each.

With so many ewes lambing in such a compact period, the start of March is a busy time on the farm.

Extra staff is drafted in for lambing, with Sheep Ireland technicians present during lambing to help record a variety of information on both ewe and lamb performance.

All progeny from the AI rams are tagged and recorded at birth and their performance and health data recorded throughout the season. A selection of female progeny from each of the sires used is retained for breeding enabling the capture of maternal data.

This information is recorded in the Sheep Ireland database and forms part for the genetic evaluations for the sires used. It also provides an invaluable resource for the industry as it provides much needed on-farm commercial data.

Another challenge posed by having such large numbers lambing at one time is the need for sufficient amounts of grass at turnout.

Achieving high levels of performance at grass is key for this flock. With the high stocking rate, good levels of performance are needed to keep hit drafting targets.

With three separate farm sections to manage, good grassland management skills are key to achieving this. To keep supplies in check in the middle of the grazing season, heavy covers are removed as baled silage.

Drafting lambs

Once they start to approach finish weights, lambs are assessed and drafted every two weeks with lambs weighted and assessed for fat cover. John aims for a 20 +kg U or R3 carcass. To achieve the desired level of finish John introduces concentrate supplementation from August. Rather than blanket feeding, all lambs are batched according to weight on the farm, with those over 40kg supplemented. Forage rape is also grown and used to finish a proportion of lambs in October and November.