Weaning lambs correctly is crucial to maternal health

The ideal age to wean lambs at is 100 days or 14 weeks. After this period, the ewe will not be producing anything worthwhile in terms of milk and she will be competing with the lambs for grass.

Good quality grass should be prioritised for finishing lambs either up to factory weights or, as the case may be, for sale as stores.

The other reason for weaning at 14 weeks is that it gives the ewe adequate time to recuperate and regain body condition in advance of the next breeding season.

Ewes will need time to put on condition in time for the breeding season which they may not achieve if weaning is delayed. The size of next year’s lamb crop for any flock may be traced back to lamb weaning and subsequent condition improvement of the ewes over the next few months.

For a flock with a mean lambing date on March 15 weaning should take place on July 2. Lambs born on April 25 should be weaned on July 22.

After weaning, dry the ewes off by restricting intake for a week to 10 days. Placing the ewes in a bare field is ideal for this. If the ewes are being housed then pay particular attention to bedding/hygiene to avoid mastitis.

Once the drying off procedure has been carried out the ewes should be condition scored and divided into groups based on their condition. Every farm should have a minimum of two groups of dry ewes.

The first group, which will be the ewes that are in a body condition score of less than 3.5, should receive preferential treatment so that they put on weight. The second group will be the fatter ewes that are in body condition score of 3.5 and over and these should be managed to maintain or even lose a small bit of weight until the flushing period in the last two to three weeks prior to mating.

Some ewes may not respond to additional feeding and these should be identified and culled.

Ideally ewe replacements should be bred rather than purchased to prevent buying health problems into the flock. Weaning time is the best time to select these replacements. Select ewe lambs that are well grown, as this would indicate that the dam had good milking ability which should be transferred to her daughters.

If increasing or maintaining good crop size within the flock is a priority you should target well grown twins or triplets.

Maternal recording begins at lambing time and replacement selection should be cross checked with undesirable traits at lambing time such as poor mothering, difficult lambing or prolapse in mothers.

Ewe lambs from ewes with undesirable traits should not be retained as replacements.