Breeding really is a numbers game for efficient sheep production
On Brian Patrick Keane Wexford Picture: Enniscorthy, Farm Browne His Co From
The cows and other cattle have been housed for three weeks now. I am in the Sucker Welfare Scheme, so the calves got 1kg of meals for four weeks before weaning, and they got 2kg of meals after weaning.
The calves were coughing a little so I gave them a pneumonia vaccine. Weanlings have been housed and they are on silage and meals, with bull weanlings getting 2kg meals and heifers getting 1.5kg meals. Bulls and heifers will be sold as yearlings at 450-500kg and 350-400 kg, respectively.
I would be hoping to have the majority of lambing in the first three weeks, with some stragglers for a few weeks afterwards. The rams I am using include Suffolk, Charolais, Belclare, and Texel.
I am feeding lambs indoors and outdoors at the moment. Ewe lambs outdoors are getting rolled barley. I will be keeping a proportion of these as replacements for 2025. The lambs indoors are on a high level of meals. They were housed at 40kg and fed meals ad-lib. I am drafting lambs every two weeks.
I have put a new shed up in the yard. I was tight for space for lambing, so this will make things a lot easier. I am currently trying to decide whether or not to pen out this shed for lambing or use it to store straw and hay. The new shed has a concrete base and is fully sealed.
It has been a great winter for getting in winter crops. Winter barley was sown on October 10. I also sowed some fodder rape. It didn’t take well because it went in very late – September 6. I put it in for the ACRES Scheme. I will be sowing malt barley in spring, but with the three-crop rule most likely to be back in the spring, I will need to consider a crop of Spring oats, which would be a useful grain for me.
- Brian Keane is a Better Sheep farmer based in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
