Lambing tips to minimise losses

Farmers can pick up tips on how to minimise losses at lambing time at a series of virtual meetings being organised by sheep specialists at SAC Consulting over the coming months.

Poppy Frater and Kirsten Williams will be joined by some weel-kent farming faces and leading SRUC researchers at three webinars which will cover different lambing systems including indoor, the hard hill environment and lambing in the uplands.

The first event on 16 February will look at ‘Indoor lambing - Optimising live lambs’. Graham Lofthouse, of Bankhouse Farm, will explain how he achieves his exceptionally low lamb losses and high rearing rate, and SAC Consulting’s veterinary investigation officer Heather Stevenson will give an update on the latest findings on Joint Ill and Watery mouth prevention.

This will be followed by the ‘Maximise lamb crop in the hard hill environment’ event on 23 February, with presentations by SRUC PhD student Fiona Mcauliffe on the causes of unexplained lamb loss on Highland farms and crofts, along with Bobby Lennox from Shantron Farm, on Blackface sheep: genetics and management for rearing success.

The final event on 2 March will look at ‘Outdoor lambing in the Uplands’. Sheep breeder and Nuffield Scholar Neil McGowan of Incheoch Farm will cover how he achieves cost-effective rearing success outdoors, and Animal Behaviour and Welfare Researcher Cathy Dwyer will discuss ewe behaviour outdoors for a positive lambing season.

Each of the events will be held on Zoom and will run from 7.30-9pm