Over-wintering will save vital hill breeding stock
Over-wintering will save vital hill breeding stock
Movement restrictions are
causing major problems for
north country hill producers
with Mule lambs to sell and
finding ways of wintering
replacement hoggs must
now be considered.
Jeremy Hunt reviews the
options available
NORTH country sheep producers must not allow the current movement restrictions to force the slaughter of potential breeding stock, believes midlands sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings.
She advises reviewing all possible options for retaining stock on farm to avoid unnecessary loss of breeding sheep. "If vast numbers of breeding sheep are slaughtered over the next three months, it will take more than 10 years to rebuild the sheep sector."
The cycle of northern breeding flocks and the need for Mule gimmer and store lambs further south is being undermined by a lack of help to find ways of retaining breeding stock on hill farms.
Ms Stubbings calculates that at least half of the UKs entire Swaledale flock has already been slaughtered. "This is an extremely worrying situation, but there are still options which hill farmers should be considering to try to offset the latest impact of this catastrophe.
"These are not easy options and they mean a different way of doing things compared with the traditional cycle of autumn stock movement and management. But if sheep can be saved, and their real value realised in a few months time, the effort will have been worthwhile."
Ms Stubbings suggests poly-tunnels as an option worth considering and reckons about 0.74sq m (8sq ft) a sheep should be allowed for Mule gimmer lambs. When lambs are clipped space requirements reduce by 15%.
Ventilation must be a major consideration and care must be taken to ensure there is no risk of waste materials seeping into watercourses.
"The siting of any structure to house sheep must take account of drainage and advice should be sought when there is any risk of pollution," says Ms Stubbings.
Although there are vast acres of empty land in Cumbria and Lancs, it is ironic that the additional availability of winter keep is not on offer to hill sheep producers this year.
But wintering sheep at home need not be expensive. Ms Stubbings reckons ewes or hoggs could be fed silage and concentrate for less that 50p a head a week.
"Base daily forage requirements on 1kg of silage dry matter a head. Silage stocks are short on many farms, but the shortfall could be made up using alternative dry feeds, such as grass nuts."
When erecting a poly-tunnel is not an option, Ms Stubbings urges producers to consider all alternatives. "Finding a well-drained piece of ground with some natural shelter may be difficult on exposed hill farms.
"But in the past we fenced off woodland in the Lake District and used it as a temporary holding area for sheep during winter. While this options is not ideal, present circumstances call for action and compromise."
She believes Mule gimmer lambs, which may only make £26 a head sold as prime lambs, could be worth three times as much as shearlings next year. Over-wintering costs, including investment in a poly-tunnel or other accommodation, should be based on the potential future value of sheep.
"Hill producers should work closely with their auction marts to find buyers for their draft ewes and gimmer lambs. Buyers in the south and midlands need these sheep and many are prepared to buy them on a bed-and-breakfast basis, paying part of the price upfront and taking delivery when regulations permit." *
HOMEWINTERING
• Allows spring sale.
• Retains valuable genetics.
• Consider poly-tunnels.
Poly-tunnels might offer a solution to hill producers unable to sell breeding sheep this autumn, believes Lesley Stubbings.