The kill sheet from the lambs drafted last week reveals that Tullamore Farm is suffering a similar fate to other farms across the country regarding poor kill-out performance of lambs.

The 82 lambs had a liveweight of 47.26kg on average, with a carcase weight of 19.8kg, representing a kill-out of 42%.

A total of 70 of the lambs graded 3 on flesh, with the remainder grading 2.

Farm manager Shaun Diver reported that lambs were putting on weight well, having been dosed and introduced to concentrates in the past few weeks, but did not have the killing power expected.

Pressure off

The 82 lambs being drafted has taken some of the pressure off grass, although growth has yet to take off, despite adequate rainfall.

Ideally, any ewes lacking condition would be on better grass at this time of the year, but a lack of grass means they are still with the main bunch.

On a more positive note, scanning results from the suckler cows and heifers have revealed that of the 76 cows bred, 71 are in-calf.

The five empty cows, along with five others that have been earmarked for culling, will be weaned and finished in the coming weeks.

Of the 39 heifers bred, 35 have scanned in-calf. This results in an in-calf rate of 93% in the cows and 88% in the heifers.

Tight grass

With grass still extremely tight on the farm, cows are still being fed hay in round feeders with access to grass.

Calves are being creep grazed, with a small amount of concentrates being offered.

If growth doesn’t improve significantly in the coming week, Shaun will weigh up his options regarding grass for cows.

A batch of cows may be housed and weaned or Shaun is also considering housing cows and giving calves access to grass and their mothers.

The real attention regarding grass is now to have both quality and quantity for flushing and breeding ewes.