Farmer Focus: Feeding sheep through dry spell
© Kathy Horniblow The rain has missed us in our part of Wiltshire, and we are now really dry.
Grass has completely stopped, there isn’t any growth and we have been feeding sheep. We have sorted by condition score and put leaner ewes on some kale.
It is an extremely light crop, but it should lift them 1-1.5 of a condition score pre-tupping.
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The gimmers/shearlings have all had their abortion vaccine and are on not much food, but seem to be holding condition for now.
The prime lamb price really crashed in the markets. Panic-selling of under-finished lambs has not helped matters. We must keep selling lambs for cashflow requirements.
See also: Lamb prices fall despite lower numbers
Just before it got really dry, I bought 400 running ewe lambs for next year. This was to either expand or have some to sell.
I have also swapped 60t of hay for straw. I will know soon whether this was a mistake, but we do have good feed stocks.
The maize has grown phenomenally, with the cobs nearly full (I don’t know where it gets its moisture).
We had two days at the Great Yorkshire Show joining in with the World Charolais Congress.
Listening to some of the overseas visitors’ comments was illuminating, with the demand for smaller, polled cattle a priority.
The gene editing bill working its way through parliament does worry me a bit.
Undoubtedly there are some incredibly intelligent scientists working on it, but their absolute belief without absolute knowledge surely must be questioned.
Polling could be achieved by removing the horn gene but they haven’t yet identified the single gene responsible, merely the area of five or six genes.
What are the others for? Are they what makes a Charolais a Charolais?
I was lucky enough to be invited to judge at New Forest Show. The children took their Blue Texel sheep with great success, while I judged the Charolais and interbreed group.
With all the exhibitors being good friends, it meant we had some fun at the same time as maintaining a professional approach to the animals.