Ewe nutrition during late pregnancy
In the coming weeks most flocks will be getting ready for lambing - the management of the ewe on your farm during late pregnancy impacts both the weight and vigour of the lamb at birth along with colostrum production.
This will have a huge impact on lamb survival ewes that have not received the correct nutrition requirements prior to lambing, this is a recipe for disaster.
Concentrate requirements of ewes during pregnancy are impacted by the quality of forage on offer at the time, for example - what dry matter is the silage you feed your ewes? This is a question many people ask but very few know the answer. Getting this tested will give you a better guide to exactly how much concentrates you need to feed.
Ewes should be grouped according to litter size and expected lambing date, for example if a twin bearing pin of ewes is on 0.4kgs of meal four weeks out from lambing, she should be lambing down on just over 1.1kg of a good 19% protein concentrate to meet her energy requirements as well as her protein requirements which increase rapidly during late pregnancy.
It is important to remember to split feeds of meal that go over 0.6kgs to twice daily as ewe prolapse may become an issue in ewes carrying multiple lambs. The ingredients used in the concentrate you feed also has a huge bearing on how well the ewes on your farm will milk.
Try to use a good quality nut made from good ingredients, soya bean meal is the main source of protein that should be looked for in any ewe nut along with other good ingredients such as barley maize soya hulls and beet pulp.
Once ewes have lambed down getting them to grass will be the next main objective, weather allowing. If not already done spreading 25 -30kgs of nitrogen per hectare should give a good response.
The target grass cover when letting ewes into a paddock of grass should be somewhere around 6cm. Try to batch ewes in small groups to minimise grass being poached during heavy rainfall.
For more information contact Adam Heffernan, Kellihers Feed & Agri, Ballymullen 0872511520.
Management of ewes during late pregnancy impacts both the weight and vigour of the lamb.