SAC Consulting experts will be on hand to offer advice on coping with this year’s severe grass shortage at North Sheep near Harrogate this week. Sheep specialists John Vipond and Rhidian Jones will be on the stand talking about grassland management and grass wintering of sheep.
Staff will be available to discuss current issues and explain how they can provide topical advice. Considering the incredibly difficult spring this year two key topics for discussion will be grassland management and grass wintering of sheep.
Grassland management
In a year like 2013 when the grass is late and scarce it is vital what there is is used effectively and none is wasted. With this in mind SAC Consulting will demonstrate optimum grassland management for lactating ewes and finishing lambs. There will be demonstrations of grass height for optimum stock performance while trays of grass/clover at various sward heights will help to show what is a) too little grass requiring concentrate supplementation, b) optimal height for ewe and lamb performance and c) too much grass which may be wasted. In addition a new hand out will provide information on correct sward heights and managing sheep for good performance.
Grass wintering of sheep
Another key topic this year is grass wintering of sheep, a system which could save farmers both time and money in these straitened times. In conjunction with EBLEX SAC Consulting is working with sheep farmers in the south of England to develop a scheme that will allow sheep to be wintered on grass with minimal additional forage or concentrate feeding. Farmers will discover more about how this is achieved by saving a grass ‘wedge’ in late summer and allocating this grass to the ewes for around 100 days post tupping. Grass continues to grow (albeit slowly) in winter and the earlier grazed fields have the opportunity to regrow once grazed so that there is more grass in spring than normal. This system – which couls offer substantial savings in terms of time and costs - has already proved successful on farms in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and in the Cotswolds and also on one farm in Northumberland.
Also featured at the stand will be information about Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) which is currently being trialled at SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre. PLF uses an animal’s electronic identification (EID) to improve farm and animal management and SRUC’s work should demonstrate the benefits of the technique for hill farmers.
The research is centred on the use of an automatic weighing and shedding system for sheep using EID to manage winter feeding efficiency. The project also incorporates targeted selective treatment of worms in lambs, using the Happy Sheep algorithm, which is being trialled in collaboration with the Moredun Institute (Penicuik, Scotland). The aim is to reduce the use of anthelminthic worming treatments for finishing lambs. Field experiments using activity sensors (IceTag) and GPS collars are also being carried out to monitor animal performance and physiological conditions and they are attempting to use automated tracking systems on cattle in the hills to reduce labour input. This set of PLF tools is being trialled specifically for extensive hill farming conditions and should lead to better monitoring of animal performance, increased farm returns, and a rationalisation and optimisation of farm inputs and labour use.
For all those who visit the stand information will be available to take away for further reading. If upon reflection of the day there is an item which has captured your interest you will be able to contact us and discuss the best approach on your farm.
