As we edge closer to the lambing period, it’s important farmers keep an eye out to ensure that their ewes have adequate floor and feed space coming into the last few weeks of gestation.
When ewes are about 10 weeks’ away from lambing, many farmers will start supplementing them with concentrates.
At that stage, ewes will only be receiving about 1-2g of meal, which in other words is just ‘a lick’.
However, coming into the last four-to-five weeks of gestation, ewes will be receiving between 0.6g and 1kg of concentrates – depending on what stage of pregnancy they are at.
When the time comes that ewes are consuming large amounts of feed, it is best practice to split feed, morning and evening.
For example, a twin or triplet-bearing ewe will require more space in late-pregnancy.
Therefore, it is important that farmers provide ewes with adequate floor and feed space, in order to optimise performance and reduce lamb mortality rates.
A task farmers should carry out is measuring their pens in order to see if they are stocking their pens correctly or not.
Feed space
It is important to provide ewes with adequate feed space throughout the housing period. An option for farmers if their sheds are at full capacity is to have a walk-through feeding passageway at either side of the pen. This allows farmers to feed their ewes from three sides of the pen.
Extra space needs to be allocated to ewes when they are fed concentrates compared to if they are being fed roughage – such as hay or silage.
Particular attention should be paid to corners of the pen that are not accessible for ewes to gain access to concentrates.
According to Teagasc, the recommended feed space when offering concentrates to a ewe weighing between 70kg and 90kg is between 500mm and 600mm.
Smaller ewes weighing 50kg require a feed space of 400mm when being fed concentrates.
Moreover, ewes should have access to fresh clean water at all times.
Data source: Teagasc
Floor space
It is important to provide ewes with plenty of space in order to prevent overcrowding, which can result in reduced performance.
Ewes which have inadequate floor space are at risk of becoming stressed and this could affect the growth of their offspring and result in lamb losses.
If floor space is tight it is important to have good airflow circulating throughout the shed to prevent ewes from becoming too warm.
This table (below) outlines the minimum floor space ewes of different weight categories require.
Data source: Teagasc