Joining ewe lambs
At the end of June the SheepMetrix Team attended a workshop in Wagga looking at joining ewe lambs. The project is funded by MLA and is being delivered by Murdoch Uni (Andrew Thompson), neXtgen Agri (Mark Ferguson) and Farming Systems Analysis Service (John Young) to provide a Decision Support Tool focused on joining ewe lambs.
The key message of the day was that it is important to remember that the option of joining ewe lambs is best done under the most optimal conditions and therefore, should be done OPPORTUNISTICALLY in ideal seasons. There are also more risks associated with joining ewe lambs and so it is recommended you not try this until you are confident with how you are managing your current enterprise, as joining ewe lambs will require more intensive monitoring and management.
What Ways to increase your Success with joining ewe lambs:
Have firm targets (early growth weights) and meet them !!
Increased attention to detail of the ewe lambs
Regular monitoring and recording targets
Use teasers 2 weeks prior to joining
Increase ram to ewe percentage; 2-3% rams recommended
When Should I join my ewe lambs?
Once your ewe lambs have reached 75% of their mature liveweight they hit puberty and are ready to be joined. This is why meeting early growth targets is essential with joining ewe lambs. However, once the ewe lamb reaches 8 months of age, she will have matured enough to reach puberty regardless of weight and so there will be no extra benefit in joining her any later as she should have the ability to get in lamb from 8 months onwards.
As ewe mature liveweights vary from farm to farm it is important for you to work out what your own farm ewe liveweight is when setting key target weights for your ewe lambs.
To help increase her chances of getting pregnant you should join them in March or April, when they are in their seasonal cycle.
Some research conducted so far indicates that if the ewes are at 75% of their mature liveweight, they are at an adequate weight to have reached maturity and be joined. With some results seen below:
What is the trade off if she doesn’t get pregnant?
Extra feed costs
Not lost as she will have used the extra energy provided to increase wool growth
Increased liveweight if you sell her because she was preg scanned as dry
Better two-tooth lifetime productivity as she had better nutrition from a younger age ie been fed better to meet target weights
What about the ewe lambs progeny?
The progeny from a ewe lamb will have:
Reduced lifetime productivity
Reduced wool cut by -0.4kg per year
Reduced growth rates
Take a longer time to reach a weaning weight
No effects on reproduction are seen after they reach two-tooth age
Tools available
There is currently a tool being developed to help determine the benefits of joining ewe lambs for your production systems.
New Project
SheepMetriX has partnered with Laura Broughton of Productive Livestock Systems, to apply for funding for a MLA Producer Demonstration Site (PDS) project looking at joining ewe lambs. The application has been successful and is currently in the planning stages.
The project will involve both merino and non-merino sheep producers and aims to monitor the productivity, in particular reproductive performance through various management techniques.
Please contact us if you are interested in more information