We all know the reasons for taking a 2 or 3 cut silage system to 4 or 5 cuts; better grass quality and higher yields to increase output from forage, and if you’re not doing it already, you’ve probably dismissed is it as an option for your business or are thinking of moving in that direction
Lambs should receive colostrum as soon after birth as possible – ultimately within the first 6 hours. Lambs are born with a permeable gut wall to allow for the absorption of large antibody molecules.
The sudden death of livestock is every farmers’ worst fear. Not only is it upsetting and stressful, it’s also extremely costly. Yet productive animals are lost to Clostridial diseases on a daily basis. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Protecting your sheep and cattle from lethal Clostridial toxins can be easy, effective and affordable.
During scanning, the results will provide an initial indication of how many lambs are likely to need fostering or artificially rearing. Before lambing starts preparing a carefully planned rearing protocol will be time well spent, since well grown artificially reared lambs will leave an acceptable margin that can be considered a worthy additional income stream.
It’s never too early to be thinking about winter ewe feeding.
Growing and utilising home-grown forage is key to maximising profitability of sheep enterprises. It is important to consider the size of your flock versus the amount of forage available.
Are your lambs chewing on the teats of your ad-lib milk feeders? Here are a few tricks you can try this lambing season.
Read our top tips!
Managing your ewes effectively in the last eight weeks before lambing is one of the most important stages in the sheep calendar, says experienced sheep consultant Kate Phillips. If things go wrong at this stage the effects will be noticed in the following areas, lamb birth-weight could be low, lamb losses high, colostrum is poor in quality and supplies are below average poor and subsequent lamb growth below target. Thus ensuring the health of the ewe is vitally important.
You may have noticed recurring health problems in your livestock but are not sure of the reasons why? Our Wynnstay Specialists are trained to recognise the symptoms of common mineral deficiencies and are here to help you to get to the root of the problems and to help to rectify them.
Feeding minerals to livestock, especially through the winter months, helps to correct mild to serious dietary deficiencies in grazing, forages and straights, to maximise health, fertility and performance and improve disease resistance. Getting the mineral balance right produces visible results in sheep and beef. Performance indicators include: wool growth, milk production and weight gain.
Show season is well and truly on us, and many of us will be starting to get our sheep show ready. Not only do you want your prize ewe to look its best, you also want to highlight its best qualities.
