Farmer Focus: Tight lambing block efficient but exhausting

We are in the midst of the busiest and hardest time of year on the farm.

While drilling and combining can mean long hours, it is the physicality of lambing – along with being out in the elements all day – that makes it exhausting.

See also: Practical advice on reducing lamb losses from joint ill

About the author

Dan Phillips

Mixed farmer Dan Phillips farms 325ha with his parents on the Worcestershire/Hereford border. About half is owned. A flock of 570 Mule ewes, 190,000 broilers, 500 finishing cattle and 750 store lambs keep the family busy alongside arable and three holiday lets.  

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Not helping us this year has been how quick it has all happened: in 17 days we have lambed 470 out of 570 (82%), which must be some kind of record for us.

The dry weather, albeit very windy, has made it all just about manageable, with ewes and lambs being put out to grass often within 12 hours of birth, to free up individual pens for the next lamber.

Normally, we like to have the luxury of giving them a night or two in an individual pen before being turned out.

The way the lambs are growing away, the low rates of joint-ill and watery mouth, and low mortality rate so far, just show that when the weather is right, outside is always the best place for them.

We have sold most of the fat lambs, with about 200 left.

Trade rose sharply at the end of March and gave a good reward for holding on to them. The best we achieved was 127 head through Ludlow market averaging £201 at 45kg.

This leaves a strong margin on R-grade Mule cross Texel lambs that cost in the mid-£120s back in November.

The dry weather has also allowed us to get on with some field work.

Spring beans are all planted and pre-emergence sprayed, having been drilled into good conditions with the Mzuri.

The second dose of nitrogen has gone on the wheat, and the oilseed rape and wheat have had a fungicide.

All crops are looking healthy, with the rape possibly being a bit too thick in a couple of patches, which may or may not have been down to the drill operator (me) making a mistake on the calibration.

It has been a nice break from the lambing shed to get out on a tractor and be able to sit down most of the day.

After a couple of weeks’ worth of averaging 20,000 steps a day, my legs and feet were thankful for the respite.

And it makes me realise that sheep, and especially lambing, are definitely a young person’s game.