With breeding set to kick off on mid-season lambing flocks in the coming days and weeks, final preparations on farms will be in motion.
Most have rams ready and prepped for the weeks ahead and a good way to see how well these rams are performing is by using a raddle either using a harness or paste.
Rams that are raddled provide an indication of the number of ewes ‘tipped’.
By using a raddle, infertile rams can be identified early and removed straight away from the flock.
Unless a raddle is used, farmers must simply guess how their rams have performed until pregnancy scanning has been completed.
Farmers who have opted not to use a raddle may face the risk of ewes not going in-lamb, therefore reducing the productivity of the flock. This is particularly the case if rams were not switched between groups of ewes.
By using a raddle now, farmers will be able to identify any ewes that have not held to their first or second service – depending on how long the ewes and rams have been joined.
The use of a raddle can also reduce the number of empty ewes next spring. It’s a major concern if more than 15% of the ewe flock are being raddled towards the end of the breeding season, according to Teagasc.
If rams are still very active after two weeks of mating, there could likely be a problem with fertility.
Raddling
If raddling a ram, it’s important to start off with a light colour and progress to using a darker colour as the breeding season progresses, so as to make light work for yourself.
By changing the raddle colour – every 14 days – a farmer can: estimate the date the ewe had mated with the ram, calculate the approximate date that ewe will lamb down and understand whether a ewe has been served more than once – which may be a sign of a problem with the ram.
It is better to have a team rather than just one ram during the breeding season. If a ram is infertile or gets injured, it’s important to have another ram on the bench ready to come in.
Larger flocks will require more ram power anyway, rather than having just having one for the entire flock and should be able to avoid any major issues if one ram is posing a problem.