Rams thriving or forgotten?
A key part of a successful sheep farming operation is a healthy and effective ram team.
Rams are the drivers of genetic improvement in the national sheep flock, and are a costly investment for farmers.
A commonly held belief by many farmers is that rams are often forgotten about for the majority of the season until required in the Autumn. There are many questions around why some rams thrive, while others ‘fall to bits’.
A recent study was done answer some of these questions and put some data around the health and husbandry of rams.
The study was conducted by The Veterinary Centre, Oamaru and funded by Beef and Lamb Genetics. The study investigated the health and husbandry of over 500 rams in Otago and Northern Southland from premating through to the following summer.
The rams were visited three times over the course of the study at key times to be weighed, body condition scored and given a health check. Rams were being replaced from the ram team at a rate of about 25% per year. No significant differences were seen between breeds, within farms, but huge differences were seen between farms.
This supports the idea that environmental factors and management, rather than genetics has a much greater effect on health, body condition and wastage from the ram team.
The key areas identified in the study that impacted on longevity are listed below with some general recommendations of how to improve outcomes for rams.
Feet Lameness appears to be very significant with 8% of rams going into mating with signs of lameness, likely reducing their effectiveness and increasing their chance of being culled in the future. Lameness represents an area where preventive measures such as treating foot rot or trimming overgrown toes would have a positive impact.
Teeth and age Rams with worn or ‘broken mouths’ were less likely to survive mating. Poor dentition, not surprisingly was found mainly in older rams. Mouthing rams is a simple and effective way to identify these rams.
Body condition score and live weight Over the mating period rams lost an average of 13% of their body weight (0.6 of a condition score). Most rams regained this weight by December, but on the farms that this weight wasn’t regained many rams were culled. Providing good nutrition of rams after the mating season to get them back to optimal body condition (not forgetting about them) is key. Worm control On some farms faecal egg counts averaged greater than 1000egg per gram premating. Although not directly analysed in the study it is sensible to predict that such high internal parasite burdens would be having a negative impact on ram health. Drenching rams with an effective drench pre and post mating is a good idea.
Vaccines, minerals and other health factors simple preventative animal health treatments such as breeding soundness examinations, clostridial disease vaccination, fly strike prevention, is likely to improve the health and longevity of rams in NZ.