Lamb Production from Summer Lambing Ewes

Abstract

The majority of lamb production in Britain is concentrated in March and April resulting in a glut of lambs during July-September when the guaranteed price is at its lowest. Trials were carried out over 3 years to assess the feasibility of lambing hill and lowground ewes in early summer when grass is at its most productive and little concentrates are necessary prior to lambing.Trial 1 involved 20 bought-in Blackface (BF) ewes which were exposed to the tup in January/February in a sheltered field. Hay was available but no concentrates were fed. Ewes were outwintered and lambed in June/July when they were moved onto clean grazing. Concentrates were fed at the rate of 150g/d rising to 300g/d from 4 weeks pre-lambing to 10 days post-lambing. Results are shown in table 1.