Tom Staunton: I am colour-coding all the lambs, to see how each ram is performing

A pair of lambs feed on grass on a farm in Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Photo: Damien Eagers

Tom Staunton

March 30 2021 02:00 AM

We are well into the second half of lambing. It has mostly gone pretty well but there have been a few hiccups, many of which are unavoidable.

It’s a difficult time of year, and I find the best thing to do when something has gone wrong is to forget and move on. There isn’t usually time to dwell on these situations.

I look at what I can control and plan for different events.

There were a few days of very bad weather that we just had to deal with.

It’s surprising how hardy and resilient that lambs are. Once they have a belly full of milk and a well-sheltered field they get through nearly all weather conditions.

The hard days will show any lamb that isn’t getting enough milk.

There was a case of listeriosis, probably caused by silage. This can be a difficult disease to cure, but if identified early and treated, the sheep can recover slowly.

We treat with B-vitamin injection, anti-inflammatory and long-acting antibiotic; we find keeping the sheep standing upright where possible also helps recovery.

Any ewe lambed down with mastitis or only one side showing milk (a few must have gotten through the checks last year) are being tagged for slaughter after weaning.

I am also tagging all the lambs with colour-coded tags — red for one ram, green for another etc.

I hope this will give me concrete information on what rams are breeding what and how they are performing.

It’s easy to remember a few but later on in the year this can be forgotten.

Tom Staunton: Our star ram is living up to his billing as the lambing season gets underway

The ewe hoggets or now two-year-old ewes lambing down for the first time are in good shape, and I attribute this to group feeding these separate to the older ewes. This prevents bullying to a large degree.

Overall they are the later of the ewes to lamb. I’m quite happy with the size of their lambs, milk and mothering to date.

Any of these young ewes that have lambed are being grouped together and the twins are getting some extra feeding for a few weeks. I think this will stand to them going into the summer.

The majority of the ewes once lambed and turned out get no more concentrate feeding. I have a good supply of grass for them and they seem to be doing OK.

Being able to do this quickly after lambing reduces costs and reduces the labour needed.

Any dry ewes were sold off at the mart. Trade was strong. as is the sheep trade overall; positivity in the market place is good to see and signs are good for the year to come.

The dry ewe hoggets have gotten their 10-in-1 vaccination booster, and have been dosed for fluke and worm.

Drench

They all got a mineral and vitamin drench, with a broad spectrum of minerals.

We also horn-branded the hoggets that are being kept for replacements and the ones that will be for the hill. This should keep them until we inspect them further at shearing time.

When lambing is finished I’ll reflect and consider areas that we need to improve on, and note the things that worked for us.

Tom Staunton farms in Tourmakeady, Co Mayo