According to programme adviser Ciaran Lynch, a major factor to consider when increasing ewe numbers is to assess if there are ways of housing ewes over the winter or feeding ewes outside.

“There is little point in increasing numbers if you don’t have a plan in place. Letting ewes run over a large part of the grazing area over the winter months is not an option if you want to have grass in spring. In planning for increased numbers, the first place to start is to see if you can make use of or convert existing facilities at a low cost to house ewes.

“We have one farmer who is limited on space and is using turnips – the main thing is that there is a plan in place to take ewes off the majority of grazing ground so grass supplies are not negatively affected in spring.”

On John O’Connell’s farm, there is excess cattle housing but not enough shed space for sheep. In 2013, one side of a four-bay slatted cubicle house was converted to provide additional housing. John explains that he looked at all options available with plastic sheep slats coming out as the most suitable option.

“Plastic slats are expensive but when we looked at all the options they came out on top for us. We first looked at simply bedding the 10ft 6in slats with straw. I saw this work in other places but with straw expensive in Leitrim and costing upwards of €10 per ewe for the winter, I think the plastic slats are a better option, especially when I have the slurry accommodation. I also looked at mesh slats as an option but I wasn’t a big fan of them for lambing ewes,” John says.

“The plastic slats have the advantage for me of being more comfortable and being able to lamb ewes and hold their lambs on them if needed.”

As can be seen in the photographs, the plastic slats were laid on steel purlins that span from one side of the tank to the other. Feed barriers were erected at the front and back with the cubicle beds providing feed space for ewes at both sides of the pen and also providing an area for lambing pens. The cost of the plastic slats was €3,050 including VAT for the 10ft 6in by 60ft area.

John has one winter over him and is now planning to convert the other side of the shed to cope with a further increase in ewe numbers. He is happy with the outcome but advises farmers considering going down the same route that having extra feed space provides the best opportunity to comfortably feed extra ewes in the pen. This is most important in the weeks running up to lambing for concentrate supplementation. He also advises that silage needs to be precision-chopped to prevent ewes pulling the silage into pens and clogging the slats.