Pentre Farm Project Introduction: Management of ewe nutritional needs to reduce health issues around lambing
Site: Pentre Farm, Pentrecelyn, Ruthin, Denbighshire
Technical Officer: Non Williams
Project Title: Management of ewe nutritional needs to reduce health issues around lambing
Introduction to project:
Managing ewe condition and nutrition throughout every stage of the sheep year, but especially during pregnancy, is fundamentally important to avoid health issues associated with lambing. Ewe body condition and the nutritional supply of energy and protein, as well as the ratios of macro minerals can result in incidents of prolapses before and during lambing.
Mastitis is another common issue that is reported in 0-6.6% of flocks annually and estimated to cost more than £120 million per year for the UK sheep industry. Although caused by bacteria, it is often related to both nutritional and genetic factors. Both prolapses and mastitis have significant effects on ewe longevity and productivity; high levels of either disease are directly detrimental to both the performance and profitability of a flock.
The closed flock at Pentre Farm consists of approximately 350 ewes, with all lambs grass-fed, finished on-farm and sold at the local market. There have been some incidents of both prolapses and mastitis in ewes at Pentre Farm in recent years resulting in losses before, during and soon after lambing. The causes of these issues are multifactorial and may result from different factors happening simultaneously. Due to this, detailed analysis is required to evaluate the most likely cause of these issues in this flock. This project should be a valuable opportunity to demonstrate how to deal with issues that are encountered by many other Welsh farmers.
Project aims and objectives:
The aim of the project will be to target the prolapses and mastitis issues occurring at Pentre Farm by considering various aspects that influence the flock’s productivity and performance, and correct these issues. The monitored aspects include the supply and balance of both energy and protein to the ewes in pregnancy as well as their mineral supply. Identifying the cause of the issues should aid decision-making from a management perspective (e.g when implementing a grazing/feeding plan and selecting ewe replacements).
The objectives include:
- Establishing the baseline prevalence of prolapse and mastitis in the flock
- Undertake a full audit of ewe body condition and nutritional inputs in terms of balance and supply of energy, protein and minerals
- Apply appropriate interventions to reduce disease incidences
Key Performance Indicators Set:
- Reduce incidences of prolapse from 10% to <5%
- Reduce incidences of mastitis from 3% to <2%
- Reduce annual (voluntary) culling rates from 10% to <5%
- Achieve lamb daily liveweight gain (DLWG) of 300g (linking to one of the KPIs from the first project at Pentre Farm)