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HomeFarming NewsFarmer's Diary: 'Factory quotes are holding steady for good fleshy lambs'
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Farmer’s Diary: ‘Factory quotes are holding steady for good fleshy lambs’

Edward Earle, Gorey, Co. Wexford, works as a quality engineer and farms over 300 ewes in partnership with his parents.

Before the closing date for chemical fertiliser application, we spread some 18-6-12 on ground cut for silage this year.

We have spread CAN 27% to keep grass growing well into the autumn as we will hopefully keep ewes out well into December close to Christmas before housing.

Last year, ground conditions became so bad we had to house ewes on November 14th. As we do not sow any catch crops on the farm, ensuring we have a good supply of grass is important for autumn grassland management.

As rams will be going to the ewes in a few weeks’ time, it is important to have a good supply of quality grass to cover this period, as we want ewes to maintain their body condition score.

Factory prices and drafting

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We are continuing to draft lambs off grass as they become fit; reducing this grass demand will help with grass levels for ewes.

Factory quotes are holding steady for good fleshy lambs. The lambs we drafted last week were an average of 42kgs.  

Farm maintenance 

Around the farm, we have been re-surfacing gateways with gravel. Gateways are a great place for muck as we all know so a little bit of maintenance here is well spent.

As we are part of Bord Bia, we have to have a bait plan to control rodent pests. I checked bait boxes around the yard for this month and found half the boxes empty of bait. So needless to say, I topped them all up with fresh bait.

This is a good task to keep doing, especially during this time of year as we edge towards the winter months.

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