Looking forward to weaning!
This time last year, we were very much in ‘survival' mode. Ewes were very light, and a difficult winter was followed by the worst and wettest September anyone can remember!
Thankfully we have been in a better position feed-wise this spring, but as usual it's not all plain sailing.
Ewes
Looking back at the winter and early spring, a real feature was how variable feed levels were between farms, and this will be reflected in ewe condition under that wool out there.
Some farms will be in a position of still needing to put significant weight back on ewes, while others will be in quite a comfortable position. But even within those better conditioned flocks there will be individuals that need to be separated and managed for weight gain after weaning.
The scientists tell us that ewes are more efficient at gaining weight while they are still lactating, but in practice this does seem difficult to achieve and thin ewes are usually better off weaned - especially the young ewes.
Draft off the light ewes at weaning, drench them with a highly effective combination drench and give them some better feed. Doing this at every opportunity throughout the summer can really reduce that tail of the flock that pulls overall performance down.
Any ewes that were given a capsule or long-acting moxidectin injection pre-lamb should have an exit drench at weaning. Talk to your vet about this.
Be aware too that last year's facial eczema (FE) season will continue to impact on ewe flocks for years to come, and thin ewes that don't respond to a drench could be going down with pre-existing liver damage. A lot of the ewes that get skinny with Johne's disease do so around weaning too. We can do some quick post mortems for you to assess the main causes of skinny ewes in your flock and help you pinpoint areas where changes could improve flock performance.
An obvious one is FE tolerance, and boy, a lot of potential performance can get wiped out in a decent FE outbreak; adding FE tolerance to your genetics shopping basket has got to make sense in much of our district. Even in years where we don't see outbreaks, many ewes are getting subclinical doses of the FE toxin, which can become cumulative year after year.
As I write this, the forecasters are talking about another La Niña year, so if it happens, look out for another bad FE season.
Lambs
Management of lambs after weaning is all about good feed!
However the better fed they are, the more important it is to have your 5-in-1 vaccination programme right. Pulpy kidney incidence sky rockets when lambs are growing fast! But it's totally preventable, so no excuses really.
A note on this - every year we see deaths in mobs of weaned lambs, that turn out to be all sorts of things. Often the first thing people do is reach for the 5-in-1 vaccination, which may help, but usually the most effective approach is to get some post mortems done early, so we can nail down the cause and get you onto the right course of action from the start.
There are big productivity costs to using a drench that is ineffective or only partially effective in your lambs. Last year in particular, we found some startlingly bad drench testing results on a number of local farms. While the results were a bit scary, with all the science we've got access to now and the newer drench options in the mix, we were able to put together plans for these farms that will help lift their productivity and preserve drench efficacy.
So if you don't know the efficacy of the various drenches at your place, now is a good time to start talking to your vet about finding out.
