It seems a bit early to do a review of the year so far on our farm but time is going by so quickly it’s probably a good idea to write down the good and bad points.

Lambing went by hassle-free, and all lambs and ewes got off to a great start grass-wise.

We only fed the hoggets and their lambs for four weeks post-lambing. Lambs seemed to be thriving well, and they were, but in hindsight I knew after the first few drafts that they maybe weren’t coming as fit as they looked.

Weaning lambs

We weaned more lambs per ewe than ever which is great, but we didn’t draft as many lambs pre-weaning as we would have liked.

Fat scores were 100% but kill-outs were a bit back on other years. I suppose it’s the harvest that jogged my memory to write about this issue.

Local tillage farmers are telling me yields are back. I know from drawing straw for neighbours that there are fewer bales per acre, which makes sense when the tonnages of corn are back.

Weather-wise we had a good spring here. I am not sure we had to put the rain gear on at all.

Grass grew very well but May was dry with us and I think this affected lambs. Anecdotal reports from other farmers and factory agents are confirming this, as kill-out percentages are back on lambs this year.

Maybe that’s why the price has held up so well all year.

Think about it. If the factory kills 3,000 lambs/day at 21kg/hd carcase in 2016 and in 2017 the same 3,000 lambs are only giving the factory 20kg/hd carcase, that’s a lot less meat so they need more lambs.

This may be something to bear in mind for future years when it comes to drafting lambs.

Heifers

The heifer buying spring campaign went well. We got the numbers we wanted and, with reasonable prices, were confident of a good grass to beef campaign.

You would love to buy them all for nothing but you have to be realistic enough to know the man breeding the calves has to get a decent price. We need him as much as he needs us.

It’s just a pity the beef factories seem to want to make us all extinct.

It was 9 September last year when heifers were at 390c/kg. Quotes hit that level a full three weeks earlier this year.

We thought we were great lads selling heifers at 425c/kg a few weeks ago.

Whilst lambs were dying a little disappointing, heifers were hanging up over-fat.

We never had heifers kill 4+ and 5- off grass before, but we did this summer. All stock have been sold so far without any concentrates.

Fodder

We have plenty of winter fodder in store.

Grass growth has slowed down a little here recently and even though every week I am reading about bumper growths, it’s probably a lot to do with our fertiliser bill.

Some hoggets were purchased in Blessington two weeks ago at €179.

This is back on previous years, which is strange, as lamb prices have held up and breeding ewe lambs are a great trade.

The auctioneer summed up why pretty quickly, remarking: “Did you see anyone else your age buying hoggets here today?”

We have a batch of our own ewe lambs held back for replacements but we like to buy in some top quality Suffolk x Cheviots from Wicklow every year. They keep a bit of size and power in the flock.

A wash in the dipper is next on the agenda for all the breeding sheep on the farm.

Lambs for finishing have all been moved away to out-farms and a batch of store lambs were purchased from Iveragh mart in Kerry.

They operate a fantastic service, a weigh and pay per kg liveweight and they deliver the lambs to your field.

As the ad says, “they do exactly what it says on the tin.”

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