Farmer Writes: 12 months is a long time in farming

We are all in a far better position at the moment than this time last year. Fodder stocks are up; we even had 50 bales of silage left over and 50 bales of straw. Live livestock at farm level are up. Lambing season this year was a breeze. I suppose now is a good time to reflect on it. We had a tiny percentage increase in abortion, which is always a worry. Samples were sent away but came back all negative for the usual suspects. Ewes lambed down in super condition – we are using the same meal supplier here since 1976 and ewes always milk well. We fed hay or silage depending on scanning results.

We had zero disease in the lambing pens this year. For the first two weeks of lambing I would say 85% of ewes and lambs did their mothering up “in the garden” – not the actual house garden but a little paddock behind the yard we call the garden. It was full of vegetables and fruit trees years ago.

Annually we try to do this because its saves so much time on labour and straw.

Antibiotics

We used no lime or antibiotics in newborn lambs this year. Can you believe Bord Bia in our annual audit penalised us for not using enough antibiotics? That’s a whole other argument.

The last 10 days has been the slowest grass-wise all year

We spread 5t of urea in early February on just over 100ac of our most fertile ground and with the weather being so kind we never had as much grass all spring.

The last 10 days has been the slowest grass-wise all year.

Drenches

Most lambs have been in the yard once or twice now. Some groups have gotten two drenches, a white wormer and a clear one.

We haven’t used a footbath on the farm for years

Some batches have just received a clear drench. The youngest lambs have received no drench yet.

We haven’t used a footbath on the farm for years, but individual lambs if lame will get a foot spray and an orange dot on their head.

Any not recovered will be done again and may be injected. Ewe lameness is recorded and any ewe not improving before ram time is culled.

Cattle

We had cattle out grazing until 14 January and from mid-February we started putting out cattle again in lots of five. We started forming larger groups as the weeks went by. Cattle purchasing started in earnest a bit earlier too. We went to Elphin, Carrigallen and Ennis.

I try to buy as many of the cattle as I can myself but when lambing is busy we have two very reliable men who I have gotten to know over the years from standing beside them at the mart. They know exactly the type of heifer we want.

Overall, we have more heifers this year than ever at a price I feel is workable if the factories play a fair ball at the other end.

We started drafting lambs and are extremely happy with weights/grades

We sold a few heifers and were happy with weight grades but at 405c/kg it’s going to be a long summer. They are back to 395c/kg now.

Most heifers got an Ivermectin-based pour-on or injection last week. Some of them were coughing. We started drafting lambs and are extremely happy with weights/grades. While prices could always be better, we are happy with €117/118 so far off grass. Trade seems to have improved a little lately.

Lamb prices

With the furore over lamb prices not hitting the highs of spring 2018, I went back through my diaries to 2014 and apart from last year the prices for May every other year were between 550-590c/kg, much the same as this week.

The most important thing is to draft your lambs regularly. Every 100kg of free meat we give the factories is five fewer lambs they require and have to pay for.

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