Making gradual changes for long term gain

The second Northern Ireland Sheep Programme webinar took place last Thursday night and featured the Davidson farm, located between Cookstown and Dungannon. The farm is operated on a full-time basis, with Mark aided by his wife Jenny and children Harry (15), Ellie (13) and Jonah (10).

Mark took over the running of the farm six years ago and has since focused on building stock numbers, improving grassland performance and tweaking the breeding system. He says he is lucky with the layout of the farm, which consists of 57.7ha (113ac) located in one block and an out-farm of 12ha (30ac) located a short distance from the main block.

Land type in the main block is hugely variable.

“There is some good, dry flat land, some reclaimed moss where turf was cut in the past and an area which runs alongside a river and is prone to flooding. I suppose this is why we have generally run a mixed sheep and suckler enterprise, as there are parts of the farm that can be best utilised by each enterprise.

“The 30ac block is dry sandy ground and this is used for silage and the early lambing flock”.

Production system

The ewe flock has gradually increased in recent years and currently stands at 280 head. The plan is to push this up another notch to 300 head lambing down, including in the region of 60 to 80 yearling hoggets (12 to 14 ewes/ha). Mark has been careful to increase the stocking rate in line with improved grassland management.

“The main policy here is to do it with grass. If we can grow more grass then we will gradually lift the stocking rate, but we won’t increase numbers if our grassland can’t sustain them. We are pretty ruthless and don’t carry any passengers. If a ewe or cow is empty or performance is poor, then they won’t last long.”

The farm avails of winter grazing – with in the region of 200 ewes moved off the farm in November for a three to four month period.

There is a significant workload involved in moving temporary electric fencing, but the upshot is the majority of land receives a rest over the winter period, pressure on housing is reduced and ewes receive a good boost in performance from being run on fresh ground.

The suckler system consists of about 35 cows with male progeny finished as under 16 month bulls or steers. Heifers surplus to requirements as replacements are brought through to beef, or sold as forward stores.

Breeding programme

Mark has experimented with the breeding programme in recent years, with the aim of increasing prolificacy and reducing the mature size of ewes. A Lleyn ram served some Suffolk and Texel cross ewes, but Mark was not satisfied with the grade and performance of progeny so has since switched to using a Belclare ram across a selection of Suffolk and Texel ewes. He is happy with the cross from Suffolk ewes and this year lambed down the second crop of yearling hoggets.

It appears so far that ewes may be slightly smaller, but it will take a couple more until ewes mature to fully gauge this performance. The longer-term plan is to try and increase the current prolificacy rate, which averaged 1.86 lambs per ewe in the mature ewe flock, to in the region of two lambs per ewe and stabilise it at this level while weaning 1.75 lambs per ewe joined.

Texel and Suffolk rams are also used, while Charollais rams are mated with yearling hoggets. Yearling hoggets scanned 1.25 lambs per ewe joined in 2020 and Mark is satisfied with how hoggets have performed in recent years.

To build numbers faster, a batch of 20 ewe lambs were also purchased in the last two years from a high health status flock that Mark knows well. Despite this, precautions were still taken, with lambs quarantined on arrival and treated to reduce the risk of introducing anthelmintic resistance (including treatment with Zolvix) and lameness issues.

Lambs were also put on the farm’s vaccination programme, which includes toxoplasmosis, enzootic abortion and clostridial disease. Mark hopes to return to a closed flock policy over the next couple of years.

Record keeping

There is an impressive protocol in place for selecting replacements, with extensive records maintained. As a ewe enters the flock, she receives a management tag which is recorded in a pocket notebook.

From here, any records on that animal are maintained, including her lambing performance. Lambs are tagged at birth and identified as being potential replacements at this early stage.

There is a strict policy on the farm of only selecting replacements from twin and triplet litters, with single-born lambs drafted for sale, no matter how they look or perform. Ewe lambs are assessed at different stages throughout the year and this allows the cream of the crop to be selected for breeding.

“Any lamb I like the look of with good feet, legs, body and size that has the makings of being a good ewe and has nothing marked against her on the notebook will get a red head at drafting.

“These lambs will be batched together as the season goes on and allow me lots of time to see how they perform before making the final selection”.

One of the farm’s long-term plans is to investigate electronic reading equipment as a means of reducing paperwork and facilitating easier performance recording.

Return on investment

Cashflow budgeting is another tool used to keep track of costs, with Mark stating: “The policy is to keep costs down. Sheep farmers don’t need anything too fancy and if money is not being spent unnecessarily, there is a better chance of having a worthwhile margin at the end of the year. That is not to say money should not be spent where it can generate a return on investment.

“Really it’s about the bottom line and keeping track of costs.”

As part of the three year farm plan, two main areas were identified for investment – improvement in infrastructure and soil fertility. Both of these are viewed as a no brainer for investment on the farm.

The whole farm was soil sampled and 46t of lime has already been applied to a small area of ground with a lower pH. Two sections with low P and K levels have also been prioritised to receive farmyard manure and slurry.

A significant level of fencing has also been carried out as part of the Environmental Farming Scheme.

A decision was taken to erect five strands of electric fencing along 1.3km of riverbank.

The reasoning for electric fencing over sheep wire is that the bottom strands of wire can be removed or repaired easier following flooding. A fence capable of providing sufficient voltage around the entire 113ac block was purchased, with the aim of being able to expand the network of electric fencing and implement an improved rotational grazing system.

“Once ewes and lambs are turned outdoors, I don’t feed any meal. In recent years, I have sold in the region of 40% of lambs as good-quality stores in September and I am hoping that through better grassland management I can reduce this to a maximum of 20%. I have only started measuring grass recently, but I am already seeing big differences in how different areas are performing”.

Financial reward

The farm is already performing relatively strongly, with benchmarking analysis recording a gross margin of £600/ha (€662/ha). The aim is to increase this to in the region of £800/ha (€884/ha) in the medium term and once achieved, continue to build on these targets.

Programme adviser Senan White encouraged every farmer to sit down and identify current key performance indicators and put a plan in place outlining short-term and long-term goals.

“Top-performing sheep systems can deliver a financial reward, but to do this farmers need to have a clear direction of how the farm is performing and areas that need improving.

“We have already seen through the programme how significant improvements can be made by analysing what is working or is not working and having an open mind and willingness to take on new initiatives”.

Optimum lamb selection

As part of the webinar, there were presentations from Dunbia’s Kenny Linton and LMC’s Terry White, discussing optimum lamb selection. Slaughter performance has generally been good to-date in 2020, with farmers keeping lambs moving to take advantage of favourable market conditions.

Kenny advised farmers drafting lambs to become accustomed to how their lambs are performing and select on a combination of weight and fat cover. He highlighted the loin area, tail, head and shoulder regions as good indicators of fat cover, while the hindquarter is also a good area to check finish and get an idea of grade.

The optimum weight of lamb was recorded at 18kg to 21kg carcase weight, while Kenny said Dunbia’s desired fat cover was a fat score of 2 or 3. He advised farmers handling young lambs to be cautious of the risks of carcase bruising or skin tears. This can be avoided by catching lambs by their fleece and restraining with one hand under their neck and the other around their rump. Lambs should not be overstocked during transport and should be handled in pens or units in a manner that prevents injury.

Kenny cautioned against injecting animals in the rump, as there is a significant risk of an abscess developing in a high-value area. He advised that all injections should be administered in the neck region. Another area to be mindful of is how the kill-out percentage reduces as the season progresses. Kenny advises farmers to weigh their lambs and correlate this with factory returns to get a good gauge on how your lambs are performing.

Terry White advised farmers that any male lambs that will not be fit for slaughter before the end of August should be castrated.

“It’s hugely disappointing that there is a bit of disconnect between pedigree breeders and commercial farmers. There are rams that look nice, but when you put your hand on their backbone they are bare, even though they are full of meal. Too many are also now born as embryos, so you don’t get any idea of how good the parents actually are.”

– Mark Davidson on how pedigree breeders need to produce for commercial farmers rather than the show ring.

“I can have a lovely ewe lamb, but no matter how good she looks, I won’t keep her if she is a single. There is no point having selection criteria and then bending the rules, as that’s where things can start to slip.”

– Mark Davidson, describing his strict replacement female selection policy.

“Australia’s sheep flock is running at a 100-year low due to drought. New Zealand is filling less of its EU tariff-free quota every year. The UK is the third-largest exporter of sheepmeat while Ireland is fourth, so with production down in these two countries, it suggests a relatively positive picture.”

– Phelim O’Neill on how the global trade of sheepmeat is heavily influenced by a low number of players.

“Labour is one of the biggest issues I see coming down the track for sheep farmers. There is no point planning to increase a farm’s litter size and stocking rate if it means it will put those operating it under excessive pressure. We must plan to the farm’s strengths and utilise available technology to improve efficiency.”

– Senan White on challenges facing sheep farmers.

“You can do so much more with simple records. You can identify when lambs are away and pull that ewe [for weaning], or if a lamb is sick or there are problems you can quickly find out their ewe,”

– Mark Davidson, describing the benefits of tagging lambs at birth.