Carregcynffyrdd Project Update July 2024

An initial ewe feeding plan was created by Flock Health which is looking for a good value diet that delivers sufficient energy for the last 8 weeks of pregnancy and sufficient protein for the last 2-3 weeks of pregnancy for lambing 2023.

Key flock information:

  • All lambing 10th April  2023(ewe lambs a fortnight later) 
  • 90 Romney ewes (62kg at tupping) and 400 welsh ewes (58kg at tupping) & 30kg Romney crosses (55kg at tupping) 
  • Romney ewes and some Welsh ewes housed – these have cake (Romneys from January and Welsh from Mid March)
  • Rest come home from winter grazing at beginning of March some will be housed and others will remain at grass
  • Romneys turned out at the point of lambing (around 10 days before)
  • The ewes that remain in the shed fed up to 300g a day of concentrates

Key points on the diet:

Forage Quality 

Silages appear to be average - though energy is limiting & protein ranges from poor (9.8%) to good (13.5%).  

Ewe requirements

Assuming they are eating a mix then on forage alone a 60kg ewe can eat 1KG DM – this would be 1.9kg fresh weight of the mixture

This would supply 9.5MJ energy and 75g protein (limited by FME). This would be sufficient for a 60kg single until 7 weeks off lambing (19th Feb).

Diet 1 - Up until 5th March 2023: 

200g of barley would be a suitable supplement up until 5th March and in addition to 1.9kg of the higher protein forage (this would push their dry matter intake (DMI) to 1.2kg which is reasonable. 

This would supply 11.7MJ energy and 89g protein alongside the higher protein forage which is good for a 60kg single ewe to three weeks off lambing or a twin ewe to 5 weeks off. 

Diet 2 - After 5th March

400g barley would be a good supplement in addition to 1.9kg DM of the higher protein forage (total DMI of 1.36kg)  

This would supply 13.9MJ energy and 105g protein which would just about take a single to the point of lambing.

This will suit a 60kg twin ewe up to three weeks off lambing (19th March 2023)

Diet 3 - Lambing Diet

For a lambing diet, we want a 60kg twin ewe to be supplied with 16.3MJ energy and 115g protein.  Though it is difficult to work out how much dry matter intake they will manage – assuming up to 1.47kg.

500g Bibbys Top Flock OR 500g Cowindale and 300g barley a day with 1.4 kg middle protein forage gives them 16.4MJ energy and 132g protein – it is a well matched diet that will be adequate for making colostrum. Give a triplet an extra 100g barley a day.

This ration was followed throughout the lambing 2023 season.

Next Steps?

The next steps are to review lambing performance ahead of tupping and plan accordingly for the next tupping season. 

A full mineral audit is also required, some of the analysis has been done, however a full mineral report is yet to be finalised. 

The last element of the trial is to implement the delivery of a control trial involving dosage of propylene glycol to every other ewe when running through the race in the immediate run up to tupping 2024. Any poor condition ewes will be draughted out and will not be part of the project. Subsequent inquiry of scanning data in 2025 by ear tag to identify whether this action had an effect on lamb numbers.