NITHSDALE MONITOR FARM - 05/10/2017

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1 RAM PREPARATION FOR MATING session by Alistair Padkin, Nithsdale Vets Ø Target Body Condition Score: o Can loose up to 15% of their body weight during the mating period. Ø Feeding: Additional feed last 6 weeks before mating if rams are not in correct BCS. o 12.5 MJ ME/kg DM (for energy) and g/kg DM for testicular growth and sperm production. o Also beneficial: selenium (for improved sperm production), cobalt, zinc, PUFAs (poly unsaturated fatty acids as found in fish oils), vitamin E. Calcium to Phosphorous ratio of higher than 2:1, o Low magnesium. Ø Teeth: Incisors should close firmly against the upper dental pad and not point forward. Ø Mouth: Check for Orf lesions Ø Head and Neck: Check for cracks and infection at base of horns, CLA abscesses around throat and neck, Sunburn/photosensitized skin. Ø Listen for snoring sounds: suggests laryngeal thickening known as laryngeal chondritis. Advice veterinary treatment if this is heard. Ø Fleece: Check for wool loss and irritation which may be due to scab, lice, bacterial dermatitis Ø Brisket skin: check for painful sores that can reduce desire to work. Ø Limbs and feet: o Look out for any abnormality in the limbs o Feet: Check for scald, footrot, CODD. o Lameness is a big cause of reduced fertility Ø Prepuce: check for ulcers, swellings, Orf, discharge, blood Ø Penis: Extrude penis by grasping the sigmoid flexure and pushing it forward while pulling the prepuce back. o Check for any growths, adhesions, deviation, loss of urethral process at the tip Ø Scrotum: Check for scrotal hernia, which is appears as a soft swelling above the testicles Ø Testicles: Should be firm but springy, equal, heavy, smooth, freely movable. o Watch out for small testicles (one or both) o Hard and enlarged testicle (s) suggests inflammation (known as orchitis) - fertility Ø Epididymis: located at bottom of each testicle, walnut size round structure should be equal in size, smooth Ø Scrotal circumference: Measure both together at widest part Mature Shearling Tup lambs Lowland/longwool breeds 36-38cm 32-34cm 30cm Hill Breeds cm 30-32cm 28cm Ø Teasers: o Should be prepared at least 6 weeks before mating. o Used to produce a compact lambing period o Females isolated for a month then teasers are introduced for 12 days. Fertile rams introduced after this.

2 Discussion on the day Andrew buys from known breeders he knows the disease status of the flocks Conformation, feet & legs, mouths and circumference measurement of testicles all important Now have 2 Aberfields from Carlisle and 3 from Stirling, plus the Highlander [for breeding replacements for the flock] and some homebred terminal tups for prime lamb production Propose using the 2 Aberfields from Carlisle, which show more Bluefaced Leicester characteristics on NCCs 1 of the Aberfields has a sore eye, which is infectious and will probably have passed on the infection by the time can see symptoms. Could treat with antibiotics but this will prevent the animal developing immunity. Some will remain carriers and spread the condition. If quarantined and shows symptoms could jag with engemycin or draxxin. Fertility tested 3 tups o Highlander tested first, passed with good motility o Aberfield with sore eye very good motility, passed o 1 Aberfield from Stirling, more difficult to get sample needed but good result There is a lag in the production of sperm, in that if the tup is ill and has a raised temperature the sperm production will be affected, but this won t become apparent for 6 to 8 weeks. The production of sperm can easily recover once temperature returns to normal. Need to be aware of this as a tup with poor or no fertility may recover, depending on circumstances. Majority of attendees do not fertility test tups Discussion on worming policies o Dectomax is effective for fluke and scab o Zolvix no known resistance to date o Discusson on worm and fluke resistance issues and different approaches speak to your vet to ensure you are using the right practices to deal with your own farm situation

3 MANAGEMENT OF BREEDING EWES PRE-TUPPING session by Rhiidan Jones Please also refer to the QMS Ewe Nutrition and Body Condition Scoring Timeline and the new booklet Feeding the Ewe from AHDB. See One unit of body condition is approx. 13% of adult liveweight in BCS 3.0 Liveweight 1 BCS kg 0.5 BCS kg MJ/day required over 60 days to Kg 10.5ME put on half a condition score 60 kg kg kg More efficient to maintain body condition than to put it on. One kg fat releases 25MJ of energy but requires 75+MJ to put on Avoid extreme fluctuations in body condition o Scan in BCS 3.0 o Lamb in BCS 3.0 o Peak lactation BCS 2.5 o Wean in BCS 2.75 to 3.0 o Tup in BCS 3.0 to 3.5 Flushing Short term fix when ewes fail to reach their target BCS for mating Ewes in target BCS have good ovulation rates that will not be improved by flushing Inefficient to reduce BCS to get a flushing response Don t want lean ewes carrying a lot of multiples going into the winter. What is the level of multiples that your system can cope with?

4 Discussion on the day Early start post weaning to allow enough time for condition recovery by mating. Segregate lean ewes - give preferential unrestricted grazing (low stocking rates/higher sward height) while fitter ewes can be used effectively to tidy up swards to re set grass for autumn growth. If too much condition/weight to gain and not enough time then may need to feed a small amount of concentrates to reach target. Alternative view was that, while there will be reasons for ewes to be leaner at weaning (young ewes still growing, reared 2-3 lambs etc), then if they have had good grass from weaning and 2 ½ months later they are still lean, the question of why should be asked? If other ewes have recovered condition why have they not? Veterinary investigation may be required including testing/pm for wasting diseases such as Johnes disease, Maedi Visna, Border disease or OPA (Jaagsiekte). Many farms will simply cull these ewes which is a good idea but finding out why by some simple blood tests or PM s is a good idea as these diseases will have a long term impact on flock performance and will get worse unless action is taken. Fit ewes can even safely follow lambs as they will not be shedding worm eggs. This allows lambs to be moved on sooner to improve their growth rate and reduce ingestion of worms. Don t need to be exactly accurate with condition scores as long as you are consistent and have a feel for what constitutes a lean ewe (calibration of your hand to bcs 2.5 to 3.5 is most important). Then you can simply shed ewes below target one way and above target another way. Some discussion on trace elements for ewes pre-tupping. These days many ewes have multi boluses that cover most things (Selenium/Cobalt). Value of multi vit/te drenches and magic potions is dubious although they will not do any particular harm. Managing body condition and grazing early enough along with bolusing and possibly some supplementary feeding should be all that is required. There was also some discussion on how to manage high grass covers with challenging ground conditions, to prevent too much early housing of stock in a year when bedding and concentrates are expensive. o Take late silage cut on drier fields, mowing higher to reduce contamination, allow air to flow under the swath and faster regrowth. o On off grazing, with/without electric fencing/backfence. Take top off before too much ground damage and come back later to graze further. This was the preferred method by most. o Set aside as either grass wintering (high quality young growth) or deferred grazing (poorer quality) for grazing by stock later in winter (supplemented appropriately for grass quality and stock needs).

5 LAMB MARKETING session by Judith Hutchison Information from the QMS Monthly Market Report September 2017 shows changes in the lamb market we are operating in, and gives some insight to why this might be Lamb SQQ Auction Price Sco SQQ 2017/18 E&W SQQ 2017/18 Sco SQQ 2016/17 E&W SQQ 2016/17 year Clean Sheep - Scottish slaughterings (3 week rolling average) p/ kg LWT above average for the season-to-date, prices c While the quality of lambs on the market followed the marginal normal seasonal increase pattern in carcase the balance weights, of supply Scottish [GB lamb slaughtering plus imports] and demand [GB consumer sales plus exports] of lambs meant that shortage led to higher summer prices for GB heavy lambs (>13kg DWt) until September, when lamb quality also dipped GB heavy lamb price in 90 Proportion of GB prime sheep R3L or better /kg dwt % GB 2016 GB 2015 GB profitable for GB processors. UK sheepmeat exports UK sheepmeat imports Tonnes Tonnes provisional volumes up 1% at 5,600t and 95.5in eleven months. In July exports, which accounted for 25% of production, were mostly to France (55%, 2% less than 2016), Germany (15%, up 9% on the year), Ireland, Belgium and Italy (up 49% on July 2016), with Hong Kong the major non EU purchaser (4.7%). Imports were mostly from NZ (67% ), Australia (17.5%) and Ireland (7.5%)

6 Table showing where lambs of different carcase qualities are destined Carcase Weight (kg) Carcase Grade(s) Market 6 15 kg Little cover Italy 8 15 kg EUROP 2 /3L Spain, Portugal kg U & R 2 / 3L France (south) kg E & U 2 / 3L Belgium kg U & R 2 / 3L France (north west) kg U & R 2 / 3L UK supermarket kg U & R 3L / 3H UK Butcher Lamb market destinations Income from lamb sales/ewe Av Sale % Av Sale Price ( ) If sale price drops 10/hd increasing number of lambs sold/ewe can help to improve income, but need to make further changes to reduce costs and make up the income lost

7 Discussion on the day Marketing starts with the decisions on what to produce and how to produce it not just once you have an animal ready for sale. It includes you choice of market to supply, breed selection, management system, stage of sale, etc and should be aimed at producing the product demanded by the customer / end market. The graphs above indicate just how volatile the lamb market can be year to year [on both prices paid and the type/s of lambs in demand]. We have no influence or control over this. indicates how flexible we, as producers, need to be to maximize our returns from the market. Having said that income is only half of the equation and cost of production is also something we can get to grips with and exploit to our own benefit Some discussion was had on the impact of BREXIT, exchange rates, different international markets, and the possible trade agreements that the UK will develop in future. No one knows what may result. We therefor need to be as prepared as we can be for any possible negative impact, including substantial reduction in income for the lamb we produce. We shouldn t stick our heads in the sand any longer we need to start to act so that we have some chance of steering our businesses through the rough waters ahead Improving tup and ewe management to increase numbers of lambs sold per ewe or per hectare can help to mitigate some of the possible fall in income, other changes including breed choice, lambing dates, soils and grassland management may also help to reduce unit costs of what we produce. Several members have started paddock or mob grazing and most have had a positive experience, seeing an improvement in both quantity and quality of grass grown. Stock has thrived under the new management despite the poor summer weather. Many have done some soils sampling, applied lime and made a start at improving grassland through forage crops and or reseeds Some discussion on the value of cobalt to growing lambs can make a big difference where there is a real lack of cobalt in the lambs diet particularly as milk intake reduces and grazing increases. Interesting discussion on the impact of the Muslim festival of Eid, which falls 10 days earlier each year, on lamb and ewe sale prices, especially in times of relative short supply, which may be worth targeting over the next few years maybe Andrew should reconsider his decision to drop the early lambing batch if returns for the early lambs and early cast ewes would be boosted by increased demand for these festivals? Varying opinions on how we, the producers, can help / encourage the sales of our produce through social media and communicating the positives of our industry to the wider public not just rely on official or standard marketing activities e.g. QMS marketing campaigns in Scotland, England and Europe.