Ewe lamb management – a little feeding now goes a long way

The way that ewe pregnant ewe lambs are managed during pregnancy will have a major influence on subsequent performance.

Research carried out in Teagasc Athenry advises that to stay on target, ewe lambs need to gain in the region of 80g per head during early and mid-pregnancy.

In the Athenry trial, ewe lambs mated in October or early November were housed in mid-December on high-quality 75 DMD silage and offered 200g concentrate in mid-January, rising to 250g in late January.

Access to good-quality grazing with reasonable levels of grass utilisation and a small level of concentrates should also suffice to achieve the same level of weight gain.

Further research

Research funded by DARD and carried out by AFBI a few years ago also recommends a similar level of weight gain.

While it is seen as beneficial for ewes to lose a small level of weight in mid-pregnancy, letting ewe lambs lose weight can lead to higher mortality.

There needs to be a happy balance though, as excessive feeding in early pregnancy is linked to the birth of over-sized lambs and greater assistance at lambing, while over-feeding in mid-pregnancy is shown to have negative effects in terms of placental development and also possibly in maternal instinct at lambing.

The exception to this level of weight gain is aged well-grown lambs, which may be well ahead of target, but the focus with these lambs should still be to at least maintain condition.

Where hoggets are being run dry, it is still important to keep lambs performing to achieve their lifetime potential, while this approach will also allow the option of drafting unsuitable lambs at a later stage and requiring less supplementation to finish.

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