It takes a sheep farmer on top of his game to wean 1.99 lambs per ewe mated. Many sheep farmers would love to have a 199% scanning rate or even as a lambing rate. But to be able to wean such a high number of lambs is exceptional.

The farmer in question is David McLaughlin and a combination of ewe type, careful selection of breeding ewes to retain in the flock and top-class farm management have all played a part in hitting 1.99 lambs weaned per ewe mated.

David is a participant in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme and runs 78 lowland ewes and 260 Blackface ewes on three land blocks totalling 131.5ha at Greencastle, Co Donegal. The farm is split into three land parcels with the lowland flock grazing a highly productive 17ha grassland block.

High output

The questions that springs to mind are “Is this a once-off figure on the back of a great year” and “can it be replicated?”

Well, over the past three years, David has regularly hit at least 1.9 lambs weaned per ewe mated in his lowland flock. This year, he weaned 1.99 lambs/ewe. Lambing percentage was 225% per ewe mated.

Yes, you need a bit of luck to avoid major losses. But planned out management that is carried out effectively and being able to exploit the breeding potential of prolific ewes is much more important.

Ewe type

The lowland ewe flock is made up of mule cross and, in recent years, Belclare cross females have become the main breed choice. All replacements are bred from the hill flock.

A mix of Blueface Leicester and Belclare rams have been used to produce replacements but, from 2015 onwards, only Belclare rams are used to breed ewes for the lowland flock.

This will allow for more Belclare-type ewes to enter the flock and a single sire breed used across the flock will allow for better genetic evaluation.

All replacements are bred as hoggets and the lowland ewes are bred to Texel rams with all lambs born and weaned sold for slaughter.

In the past, mule ewes and some Blackface ewes were carried in the lowland flock, with the Blackface ewes only breeding for a single year before moving to higher ground as mature females.

The replacement rate is running around at 20% to 23%, which helps to keep plenty of young, fresh ewes in the flock. A high replacement rate also brings better genetics into the flock at a faster rate. Cull ewes are also fattened and sold in their prime.

David has plans to increase the flock to 90 ewes for next year. Over the past six years, the flock has already increased from 59 ewes and the improvement in grassland management has facilitated the extra breeding numbers with minimal fuss.

Lambing starts around 17 to 20 March annually, with ewes turned out to two grazing fields adjacent to the yard. Grass is saved on these fields specifically for lambing to replace meal feeding post-lambing. The fields are closed in early October and have excellent shelter.

Lamb performance

Table 1 outlines the performance of the lowland flock last year and for the first year in the BETTER farm sheep programme. With 70 extra lambs weaned and sold from 2009 to 2015, at an average lamb carcase of 21kg there would be 1,470kg of additional lamb sold. Taking a typical late summer price of €4.80/kg, sales income would have increased by more than €7,000.

Of course, there are additional variable costs incurred such as veterinary fees and higher grassland costs, but David is now in a much better position with his lowland flock than he was in 2009. Remember that the same 17ha land block was used for 59 ewes and their lambs in 2009 and 81 ewes plus 164 lambs in 2015.

Introducing Belclare into the flock has not impaired lamb performance. All lowland lambs are finished off grass, with the exception of triplet lambs. Grass-fed lambs are drafted from early June to early September. To date, just over 30% of lambs have been sold off grass with the remainder having just been weaned.

Triplet lambs are removed shortly after birth and intensively reared indoors for finishing by June, hopefully before prices start to fall. Approximately 110kg to 120kg of meal is fed to these lambs. This year, there were 18 triplets intensively finished.

Meal-feeding triplet lambs is seen as a better return compared with having to run a separate group of ewes suckling the full set of triplets, offering them meal for six to seven weeks post-lambing with the three lambs ready for sale late in the season. Ewes are treated with a fluke dose in September prior to tupping (mating) with a trichlabendazole-based product. A second fluke dose is given after housing in late December but this time a Closantel-based product is used.

Faecal egg counts are used to decide when to dose for worms. Ewes are regularly run through the footbath and receive a clostridial vaccine booster one month prior to lambing.

Financial performance

David has been part of the BETTER farm sheep programme since 2008 and made huge strides in driving his farm forward to being more profitable. Since joining the programme, lamb numbers produced from his lowland flock have increased by 60 head, or 1,200kg of lamb carcase.

Gross output is now €2,190/ha and variable costs are €858/ha. Gross margin is €1,332/ha placing the farm in the top 5% of sheep farms completing profit monitors.

Stocking rate for the lowland flock is 10 ewes/ha or four ewes/acre. The lowland block is 17ha of good productive grassland and the plans are to now increase the lowland flock to 90 ewes and maintain lamb output at current levels.

Read the full focus section on sheep breeding here