Meet Dyfrig Bowen, and his partner Lyndsey, from Pengelli Farm in Cardigan, their system comprises 40 head of Pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cows and 900 Aberfield-Cross ewes. They also buy in a further 1,500 store lambs and sell their finished lambs direct to slaughter. Around 180 ewes are lambed indoors early on and then the rest are lambed outside in April.
“We bolus our ewes with the ‘Wynnstay Ewe Bolus + Copper’ around eight weeks pre-lambing and find that our lambs are much sharper at birth and are up suckling almost instantly. The ewes have lambed far easier since we began bolusing and we feel that this is down to the high levels of iodine and selenium within the boluses” Dyfrig comments.
“We bolus our ewes with the ‘Wynnstay Ewe Bolus + Copper’ around eight weeks pre-lambing and find that our lambs are much sharper at birth and are up suckling almost instantly. The ewes have lambed far easier since we began bolusing and we feel that this is down to the high levels of iodine and selenium within the boluses” - Dyfrig Bowen
“We make sure ewes are bolused about eight weeks pre-lambing for two reasons really; the first being lamb vigour – we want the lambs up on their feet without any intervention, and secondly for colostrum quality” explains Lyndsey.
“About five weeks pre-lambing the ewe will lay her antibodies down in the udder ready for her lambs, so ensuring the bolus is given early enough halves the battle later, once lambs have hit the ground” Lyndsey adds.
“We started using Wynnstay’s bolus range because they’re a good size, which makes them easy to administer. Having everything incorporated into one bolus, including the copper, makes the job easier, saving time and hassle” says Dyfrig.
For further information on the Wynnstay Trace Element Bolus range, please speak to your on-farm representative or ask in-store.
