Edward Earle, Gorey, Co. Wexford, works as a quality engineer and farms over 300 ewes in partnership with his parents.
What a way ground conditions can change in a few days, Storm Ellen has left a line of destruction in parts of the country, but we escaped the worst of it here in Wexford.
The amount of rain that has fallen in the last week has seriously impacted soil conditions.
On Monday, we got farmyard manure spread. It was a damp wet day and we would rather spread it when it is dry but with the weather forecasted for the week, we got it spread.
We spread dung on the silage paddocks with the exception of two that we reseeded two weeks ago.
As silage cuts take valuable nutrients off the land, it’s important to replenish these nutrients and farmyard manure is a great source.
We let the after grass get growing a bit before spreading the dung instead of spreading straight after cutting the silage. We find the dung breaks down quicker this way and also doesn’t slow down grass growth.
Shearing
Last weekend, we sheared this year’s replacements. We get a local shearer to do the shearing. We have been shearing the replacements for the last good few years.
We find that ewe lambs grow extremely well after being shorn. It also removes this group from the risk of getting maggots.
Dosing
We mineral dosed the ewe lambs with Turbo Thrive after shearing. We kept the ewe lambs in a shelter paddock close to the yard this week as to keep a close eye on them in case any might get pneumonia or something.
Ewe lambs
Thankfully, as they had a couple of fine days before the wet weather came, they have got on fine. The only matter left now to be decided is whether we let the ram with the ewe lambs this year. There is a lot of extra work with lambing ewe lambs and costs.
So, this is the topic of discussion around the kitchen table at the moment with one question, to lamb them or not?
