Lambing continues and heifers weigh in on Tullamore Farm

It has been a very busy week in the lambing shed in Tullamore Farm. With a large number of ewes lambed this week, it leaves just under 60 now left to lamb.

This remainder is mostly made up of the hogget ewes, as they were tipped later in the season than the mature ewes.

The hogget ewes were tipped later to allow the majority of the mature ewes to be lambed first, giving farm manger Shaun Diver more time to keep a closer eye on the hoggets, as these first lambers often need more help than the mature ewes.

The good weather this week has enabled ewes and lambs to get out to the field the following day after lambing, providing both ewe and lambs are doing well.

Getting ewes and lambs out to grass as soon as possible helps improve ewes milk yields and it also help reduce the amount of labour and costs involved with keep a large number of ewes and lambs indoors.

Performance recording for all of the ewes and lambs has been ongoing this week and a detailed report will follow once lambing has been completed. The traits that have been recorded include mothering ability, milking ability and lambing ability for the ewes and vigour and birth weighs have been recorded for the lambs.

Calving

There has also been three calves born this week, bringing the number of cows left to calve down to 10.

All of the cows that have calved received a magnesium bolus and a mineral bolus this week to help with the prevention of grass tetany and to ensure they are getting all of the minerals they need ahead of breeding.

There is a total of 28 cows with calves now out at grass and if the good weather continues, the plan is to get more cows and calves out this coming week.

Weanling heifers

The 40 2024-born weanling heifers also received a mineral bolus this week and while they where in the yard, the opportunity was taken to weigh them to assess how they are progressing in the lead-up to breeding.

The heifers weighed well and farm manager Shaun Diver is happy with how they have progressed since weaning.

See Figure 1 for a full breakdown on the heifer weights.

The group of 40 heifers averaged 385.40kg. With the farm's target breeding weight being 400kg and over, this weighing shows that over 77% of the heifers are on track to be 400kg and over at breeding.

After weighing, the 10 lightest heifers were selected and put out to grass to give them a headstart on the heavier heifers ahead of breeding. These 10 lighter heifers were mostly the later-born 2024 calves.

The 30 heavier heifers were then split into two groups of 15 and put back into the shed, where they will be housed until grass growth improves and they will then be turned out.

The group of heifers have achieved an average daily liveweight gain of 0.9kg per day since birth.