BIG LAMB DRAFTS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 8

BIG LAMB DRAFTS

Exceptional early drafts of lambs have been made from a farm in the Malvern district this season. Some 1730 lambs have already gone to the works from a flock of 1800 ewes and it is estimated that they would have killed out at about 271 b overall. The ewes In the flock are mainly Corriedales with some Border Leicester Corriedale cross. They are all full mouth ewes. They were mated with Southdown, South Dorset Down and Southdown Border cross rams. Lambing started in the last week in July and was slow for a start, hut then in a period of four days 600 ewes had lambs. The lambing percentage was about 118. In one mob of ewes aiid lambs which were kept separate and run on lucerne there were 308 lambs and 208 ewes and most of these lambs were drafted, including twins. The 1730 lambs were drafted on October 21 and on Wednesday of this week. When the first draft was taken out no lambs on the property were three months old. The ewes were given selenium before being put out with the ram this year and out of 2000 ewes, including about 200 studs, only 45 did not have a lamb. The ewes were tupped on lucerne, old hay and sheep nuts and it is thought that a factor in the good lambing and subsequent progress of

the lambs may have been that the ewes were thinner at tupping this year. Most of the ewes with the lat»r lambs have been running on lucerne with the ewes with the earlier lambs being on grass. About 500 to 600 lambs remain to be drafted. A total of 1234 lambs were drafted off a farm on the north bank of the Rakaia at the end of last week and the beginning of this week. The farmer concerned, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he expected that they would average out all over at about 261 b. The lambs were out of a mixed flock of halfbred ewes, mainly four or five years old, which had been mated with South-down-Suffolk rams. Just over 1900 lambs were tailed from 1590 ewes. Lambing began at the beginning of August, but most of the lambs drafted were about two months old. The farmer said that he would have liked to have taken them on for another two weeks, but had decided to go ahead and draft them while they were still in good order. Now he said he hoped to draft again in about two weeks’ time and to wean the 200 odd that he hoped would be all that would be remaining at that stage. The best lambs out of those drafted had come off lucerne, he said.