July has been a busier month on the sheep front on Tullamore Farm with the weaning and drafting of lambs, culling of ewes and the introduction of concentrates to ram lambs all taking place.

It has also been an unusual year performance-wise, with the weather presenting many challenges.

Lamb performance in early lactation was affected by inclement weather, with lambs suckling mature ewes and 2021-born hoggets achieving an average daily gain up to 40-day weighing of approximately 289g/day.

Performance in the second half of lactation improved significantly, with increased quality grass underpinning a period of compensatory growth with the net effect of lambs gaining in the region of 300g/day from birth to weaning.

Table 1 summarises weaning performance in lambs reared by mature ewes, with information recorded and analysed through the free Sheep Ireland app.

Persistent challenges

The prolonged period of low rainfall in June did not initially impact significantly on lamb performance, with lambs benefiting from being prioritised with the best-quality grass available and then also benefiting from a flush in growth.

That initial benefit from a flush in grass growth has waned sharply in recent weeks, with a marked reduction in grass dry matter denting performance.

Table 3 details the slaughter performance of lambs to date in 2023. The first batch of lambs drafted pre-weaning was lower than in 2022, while the average kill-out of 47.7% was about 1% lower year-on-year.

The second draft of lambs was closer to what would be expected with regard to kill-out, but the kill-out for the third draft of 22 lambs slaughtered on 27 July dropped significantly to just 42.7%.

Poor kill-out

This ranged from as low as 38.5% in a couple of lambs, which killed fat class 2 to as high as 49.8%.

The lower kill-out of 38% to 42% was typically seen in Suffolk and Texel ram lambs, bred from Mule ewes, while the higher kill-out ranging from 46% to over 49% was confined mainly to Charollais lambs bred from Texel- and- Suffolk-cross ewes.

These lambs were also younger, better-performing lambs, with farm manager Shaun Diver commenting that some of the older ram lambs are growing frame at the expense of fat cover.

A decision was made by Shaun a few days in advance of the last batch being drafted, to introduce concentrates to ram lambs at a level of 300g daily.

This is a few weeks earlier than in 2022, but in line with previous years when weather also forced such decisions. The average carcase weight in the last batch of lambs of 19.5kg is lower than the typical target of averaging upwards of 20kg.

However, given the rate that lamb price has fallen and the fact that just three lambs recorded a fat class of 2, the decision to draft these lambs was justified.

Drafting of ram lambs will now be delayed for two to three weeks to allow lambs to benefit from concentrate supplementation and allow for drafting weights to be increased.

Culling of ewes

Ewes have been checked on two occasions at this stage – at weaning and in the period post-weaning. Any ewes identified as presenting with previous issues have been culled, as have ewes with a poor udder or mouth.

Table 4 summarises the slaughter performance of the 43 ewes drafted on 27 July. The ewe price on the day was €3.10/kg, but eight ewes graded O2 and were cut to €2.10/kg as per the group pricing structure.

In contrast, five ewes recorded a carcase weight of 45.3kg to 46.9kg and were paid the maximum price of €139.50.