Improving Efficiencies in Small Scale Sheep Production – Event Summary

Event held at Newlands Farm, Darvel, on 14th October 2017

An enthusiastic group of new and small scale sheep producers attended this event to learn how to improve their flock productivity.  The workshop opened with a presentation covering a complete overview of sheep production (read the presentation slides here).

The next topic for discussion was the health and welfare, and how  poor biosecurity can impact on the productivity of your sheep flock – read the presentation slides here.

The use of regular body condition scoring as a management tool was stressed and a practical session allowed everyone the chance to try the technique on ewes of varying condition scores.  A body condition score of between 2.5 – 3.5 should be targeted at weaning, tupping and mid pregnancy to ensure the productivity of the sheep flock is not compromised. It takes approximately 8 weeks to modify 1 unit of Body condition score so early and frequent assessment is critical.

Pregnancy scanning is a useful tool to enable feed to be targeted to ewe requirements. Barren ewes can be removed from the flock saving on feed costs and feed can be prioritised to those carrying multiple lambs to ensure their nutrition requirements are adequately met avoiding the risk of an energy inbalance.

During the afternoon, fertility aspects of sheep production were discussed, linking with the effect these have on output.  A ewe MOT should be carried out pre-tupping to ensure that only ewes fit for breeding are retained. Efficient culling of problem ewes can increase flock performance, by increasing lamb output, reducing lambing problems and the vet and med bill.  The presentation slides from this discussion are available here.

Handouts provided during the event are available to download from the links below, and you can watch videos recorded from the event on our YouTube Channel.