Accurately measuring and recording the weight of lambs plays a vital role in monitoring flock performance. This blog aims to highlight the importance of weighing lambs, discussing the benefits it brings to the overall health, management, and profitability of a sheep flock.
Early scanning data shows rates are 20 to 30% lower than normal following grass shortages due to the drought, meaning it is important to pay particular attention to ewe nutrition to ensure as many healthy lambs as possible are born in the spring.
Due to reports of fly seasons starting earlier and lasting longer, sheep farmers are being urged to apply blowfly strike protection early in the season to prevent strike and stop the first wave of blowflies from breeding.
Making the most of grass, planning winter forage ahead of time and focusing on heifers are three non-negotiables for a profitable suckler business this year and longer-term.
In episode seven of the Wynnstay Agri-hub podcast, Tony and I discuss what suckler beef businesses should focus on to enable profitability. Although input costs are unprecedentedly high, the current price of beef is buoyant, with good cull cow, finishing and store beef prices.
With another lambing season fast approaching, or even underway for some, thoughts turn to how to ensure an efficient and profitable year. How taking tips from competitor markets, can help to ride the storm of a potentially challenging, and expensive, 2022.
Here are few areas to focus on in the build-up and during this year’s lambing season.
Whether lambs will be retained for breeding or finishing, it is imperative that they have the correct balance of trace elements in order to thrive. The 4 key trace elements needed for optimal performance are Selenium, Cobalt, Iodine and Zinc. All these trace elements are contained within the ‘Wynnstay Lamb Bolus’, or alternatively if lambs only require Cobalt, then the ‘Wynnstay Cobalt B12’ bolus is a suitable alternative.
Rigorous and sustained adoption by farmers of an established disease management protocol is what’s needed to reduce the incidence of sheep lameness on many UK farms.
In mid-season lambing flocks, the aim is to get lambs to 32 to 42kg as soon as possible, capitalising on early feed conversion efficiency (FCE). Investing in early nutrition to capitalise on this early growth potential will pay dividends.
With the fortnight of Eid celebrations commencing in mid-July, those who lambed early to mid-March need to get lambs finished quickly to ensure they don’t miss market opportunities.
The treatment of your slurry lagoons is highly important for any farmer. Incorporating a good management plan to oversee this process is just as important for the farmer manager to keep up with to ensure slurry is managed safely. Within the Wynnstay Slurry guide, we look at the 3 steps for the treatment of a slurry lagoon.
