Farmers urged to optimise ewe nutrition following low scanning rates

Reports of early scanning rates being 20-30% lower than usual prompted Bryn Hughes, Wynnstay’s national sheep and beef specialist, to remind farmers of the importance of good ewe nutrition.

Mr Hughes explained that low scanning percentages and high input costs might tempt farmers to cut out feed in the run-up to lambing. However, when looking at the bigger picture, he warned this small cost saving could lead to bigger losses on the other side of lambing.

“While there’s not much that can be done about scanning percentages now, you can work to keep the lambs you’ve got,” he pointed out.

Mr Hughes highlighted that farmers have a one-month window after scanning to increase the body condition score (BCS) of ewes without causing problems from overly large lambs.

“Therefore, a good starting point is to body condition score (BCS) ewes now, taking extra care of thin ewes by offering supplementary feed for one month after scanning,” he recommended.

Mr Hughes said lowland ewes should have a BCS of 3.5 at lambing, while hill ewes can safely lamb with a score between 2.5 and 3. He added that an increase of 1 in BCS is equivalent to a 10% increase in bodyweight, which can be challenging to accomplish with thinner ewes.

“Proactive management of ewes is essential to retaining lambing percentages and making sure that ewes lamb in good condition with plenty of high-quality colostrum,” he said.

According to Mr Hugh, a good way of managing ewes after scanning is to allocate them to different groups, with thinner ewes and those carrying twins marked for special treatment.

“These can be fed supplementary concentrate feed, fodder beet, or extra forage,” he said, suggesting that farmers offer up to half a kg of concentrate feed to each ewe per day.

“Reaching target body condition score at lambing will result in better colostrum quality, increased milkiness, and better survivability,” he concluded.