Myself and the family took advantage of the easing of travel restrictions to make a trip up to Sligo to visit my grandparents. This was a trip that we had been looking forward to for so long, especially in light of COVID-19 restrictions and the fact that they are cocooning. It was a wonderful trip but a stark reminder that this virus is still a huge risk and the fear among the most vulnerable in our community is extremely high.

It is therefore within our power to do our part to help ease their worries by doing what we can to minimise the spread of this horrible virus. We all need to be wearing our face coverings when in the shops, checking in with people at a safe distance and avoiding large gatherings. For the moment too, we need to be staying put. There are so many things to do outdoors in this country once you dress for the weather.

Sligo is a beautiful location. The children loved swimming, body-boarding, pier-jumping and sand castle-building.

Grass growing at pace

Grass is growing at pace here, with 83kg DM/ha on the farm after the rain in the last few weeks. All the ewes, with the exception of the late April group, have been dried off. I plan to wean this last group later this week. Given the increase in grass growth lately and the lower daily intake requirement needed as the ewes are dried off, I have plenty of surplus to be taken out as silage for the coming winter.

I know some people hate to hear the word mentioned but I think there is a time and place for it

In order to maintain a balanced wedge, I am only removing a small number of paddocks each week so as not to have all the regrowth coming back at the same time.

I am also catching up on a little bit of topping in the same way.

I know some people hate to hear the word mentioned but I think there is a time and place for it.

It isn’t possible to take out all surplus grass as silage and, sometimes, we have to let stock into heavier covers than we like. These heavier covers are hard to graze out correctly with sheep as they are selective in how they eat compared to cattle. All the toppings will be great feed for earthworms and the nutrients will be returned to the soil to be used in the future.

As mentioned, all ewes have now been weaned and many farmers count this as the beginning of the breeding season. Realistically though, the breeding season starts in the spring when the ewes lamb down as keeping records about ewes’ performances from lambing to weaning feeds into the decisions we make at this stage.

The system works well for identifying repeat offenders

These records allow us to remove a percentage of the least productive animals from our flock, giving us a better chance to make our flocks more efficient. That is after all the ewes which have had problems – eg with their teeth – or elders or those that picked up two ear notches over the last year have been removed. These notches can arise from a variety of reasons but repeat lameness is the main one.

The system works well for identifying repeat offenders as it is easy to notch a ewe’s ear when you’re treating her. It is like the yellow-card system in soccer – two yellows and you’re gone.

Culling

As I have finished building ewe numbers, I will go through the performance records of the remaining ewes to decide which of them will be culled or kept for another year’s breeding. All the ewes will be body condition-scored and any ewes that need to gain condition will be separated and given preferential treatment. The remainder of the ewes will follow behind the lambs cleaning out paddocks fully to keep grass quality at its best.

I will have to make a final decision on how many new rams I need to purchase

The rams are also getting a good checking over and any rams that have been repeatedly lame will also be culled as this is a trait I don’t want to breed into my replacements. I will have to make a final decision on how many new rams I need to purchase for the farm shortly as I like to get them on site as soon as possible to allow them good time to settle into their new surroundings before the start of the breeding season.