Lambs under threat from snow

Sheep farmers across the country fear the present appalling weather will threaten the lamb crop next spring and produce a poor harvest from the hills - and Scottish Agricultural College sheep specialist Dr John Vipond believes there is every reason to be concerned.

The worry is two fold. In some parts of the country, especially in the hill areas, the rams have just been put out to mate with the ewes and there are worries about how active they will be in the deep snow.

But Vipond pointed out that even in areas where "tupping" time is over, the resulting embryos are very vulnerable just now, especially when the ewes are under stress.

"At this stage the embryo is about the size of a mouse.

"Loss of embryos now means fewer lambs next spring. If the ewes get severely stressed and are already in poor condition then the hormonal messages that maintain signalling between ewe and foetus get swamped by stress hormones."

"In many cases whatever food is available is under at least a foot of snow. Meanwhile silage, hay and straw are selling at high prices and transport costs are crippling. However, there are different options like feed supplement blocks available."

National Sheep Association Scottish development officer George Milne agreed with Vipond's concern and highlighted the need to keep the ewes in good condition even if it involved making early inroads into forage and feed stocks.

"We must ensure the ewes get supplementary feeding whether it is high energy blocks, haylage or dry feeding. But in some cases it is very difficult to get to the sheep with the amount of snow we now have."

At Crookston near Heriot, NSA Scottish chairman Jimmy Sinclair has just short of two feet of snow on the farm and he has already started feeding his ewes. His Blackie tups are out and he said they seemed to be working but admitted it was difficult to know.

His big concern was the forecast predicting no early let up in the weather as feed and fuel stocks would soon begin to run low. "We need to get snow cleared from the minor roads in this area so that we can get vehicles up to the farm."

The problem of access to livestock farms was also on Milne's mind when he called on local authorities to move as soon as they could from clearing primary routes to getting access on minor rural roads.