This week, 350 lambs were weighed on Tullamore Farm to monitor performance in preparation for lambs being weaned this week.

Lambs were weighing on average 33.5kg, with their average daily gain from birth 260g per day.

Farm manager Shaun Diver commented: “Overall, I’m happy with how the lambs are performing, seeing that no lambs have received concentrates yet.

"If grass growth and quality continues to improve, I hope to get away without feeding concentrates until mid-July or August."

A further 32 lambs were drafted for slaughter this week. The lambs came into €152.64 on average at a price of €7.72/kg. The lambs averaged out at 43.7kg liveweight and killed out on average at 19.77kg.

Shaun said: “Looking at the results, I was a bit disappointed with the lambs' kill-out percentage. I suppose this can be put down to the lower growth rates in the last month leaving poorer grass quality for lambs to graze.”

Grass cover

The grass cover this week is 690kg DM/ha, which has increased by 110kg from last week’s grass cover.

The average growth rate per day is 73kg DM/ha/day with the demand per day settling at 48kg DM/ha/day.

Shaun said: “Weather is starting to improve, which has given grass an opportunity to grow in the last two weeks.

"This week, I spread fertiliser on paddocks that were recently topped. We have been topping swards after being grazed on the farm more regularly than we would have liked to due to the recent poor growth rate.”

Heifers

All heifers were dosed against lung worm this week and moved to a fresh paddock. Shaun noticed when herding there was a slight cough in a number of the heifers and decided to dose all the heifers using pour-on solution.

Tullamore Farm Open Day

This year, Tullamore Farm will host its national open day on 26 July. The open day will have an overview of the entire farm system and performance of both the beef and sheep enterprises and demonstrate how the farm system has evolved since its inception in 2017.

Financial performance to breeding and genetics, grassland management, soil health and fertility are a number of areas discussed on the day.

The day will run from 10.30am to 5pm.The farm’s Eircode is R35AT81. If you are interested in attending this year’s event, you can register at www.ifj.ie/tullamorefarm.