LLM Farm Vets October Newsletter 2019

Ewes News
Tupping Tips Refresher
Most of you will be very well
seasoned when it comes to tupping.
But there is never any harm in just
having a recap on the importance
body condition scoring pre and
post tupping. Pete gives us some
‘tup’tastic tips (sorry):
Pre-tupping
Get your hand on your ewes pretupping,
know where you sheep are! If
they are thin they may require additional
supplementation to prevent further
loss over the period; but remember
that the rumen takes a couple of
weeks to get used to any new feeds
and hence changes should be done
at least a fortnight before introduction
of the tups. Splitting ewes into groups
by body condition score is worthwhile
if you are able to manage their body
condition effectively over the weeks
to come. Any ewes who are very over
conditioned or very thin; should be
considered for culling as they may be
problem ewes going forward.
Flushing is feeding ewes on a higher
plane of nutrition prior to tupping
to improve the number of lambs
conceived, gaining an average of 0.5
Body condition score points across the
group, in the 3 weeks before tupping
starts. This has been shown to improve
lambing percentage.
It should be noted that any ewes
starting flushing over BCS 4.0 or below
BCS 2.0 will have no benefit from
flushing.
By the time the tups are introduced a
target Body Condition Score of 2-2.5
for hill ewes, 2.5-3.0 for highland
ewes; 3.0-3.5 for lowland ewes and
3.5 for tups is generally advised for
best results.
Tupping
The first six to eight weeks of pregnancy
is as it is the time of fertilisation of the
eggs and implantation of foetuses,
hence they are at their most vulnerable.
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It is important to keep the quality of
grass and feed available to ewes
and tups good and at a constant
level over this period as any cause
of stress such as a change in diet
or unnecessary handling can cause
embryo resorptions and hence smaller
lamb numbers and more barren ewes
come springtime. Whilst the nutritional
demand of the lambs is low at this time
of year consistency to the diet over this
period is crucial.