Lambs from the mature ewes were gathered up and weighed this week in a bid to draft some before weaning in the coming weeks.

It was expected that the majority of lambs in the first draft would most likely be single-born lambs, but we were pleased to see that a nice number of twin-born lambs were making the weight also.

Twenty-nine lambs were selected for slaughter, with a nice mix between singles and doubles selected. Lambs were typically being drafted from 44kg upwards depending on fat cover.

The lightest lamb drafted was 44kg, with the heaviest lamb being a 52kg single, Texel/mule ram lamb. The heavier end of the lambs could have been drafted a week to 10 days ago, but lambs were still under withdrawal period from a pour-on treatment they received to protect from flystrike.

Lambs averaged 21.69kg carcase weight, with factories paying up to 21kg - this means 28kg of ‘free meat’ was lost on this draft.

A certain amount of overweight lambs were expected in the first draft, with drafting slightly delayed due to lambs being under withdrawal last week.

From now on, lambs will be drafted more regularly to try to hit max pay-out spec without lambs going over weight.

Average

The average paid weight of the batch was 20.73kg at €8.93/kg, leaving an average sale price of €185.16/head.

Lambs are drafted through the Offaly Lamb Producer Group and are processed by ICM Camolin. The pricing structure is based on the top three average quotes, including ICM Camolin's quote. This week's base was €8.53/kg plus 20c quality assurance plus an additional 20c as a group loyalty bonus.

When lambs were in the yard this week, the opportunity was taken to take dung samples to test for worms. Worm burden still remains very low at 30 eggs per gramme.

However, this does not warrant dosing. Any dirty or poor-thriving lambs were given a white wormer as they travelled through the race, albeit this was a small number of lambs at 20. Table 1 gives a full breakdown of this week's slaughter performance.

Cattle

Breeding has been wound up in the maiden heifer bunch and is due to stop in mature cows next week.

Breeding activity has been very slow over the past week, with only four repeat services this week.

Unfortunately, two of the four cows served this week have gone 30 days since their last service, indicating that these cows most likely began to carry pregnancy but broke after 30 days.

A small percentage of cows would be expected to do this, but should any more cows that are over 28 days served come in heat, it may warrant investigating further and our vet will be contacted.

Two calves contracted pneumonia last week. They were treated on farm and have recovered fully.

When contacted, farm vet Donal Lynch explained the onset of these cases of pneumonia are not uncommon at present and are likely caused by a combination of fluctuating temperatures between day and night, causing heat stress during the day and where calves were recently treated for a lungworm burden may leave them more susceptible to contracting pneumonia due to lung damage from migrating lungworm.

These calves were treated 10 days ago for lungworm due to a lot of coughing going on in the group. This helps to explain these two isolated cases of pneumonia and calves are being monitored closely to ensure no further issues arise.

Grass

Grass growth has taken off over the past few days, with adequate moisture and heat now driving growth.

The current average farm cover is 700kg/DM/ha and the farm is currently growing 93kg/DM/ha/day.

Demand sits at 46kg, meaning that we may see ourselves in a position to remove more surplus in a week to 10 days from now.

Quality has returned to the sward, with a lot of topping done in the last round. Some 40 acres received a bag of 29:0:14 plus sulphur during showery conditions late last week and has helped to rejuvenate topped or grazed ground.