Sheep Newsletter – September 2025

By Teagasc Sheep

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In this month’s edition:

• Grassland management
  For most sheep farms 2025 has been a big improvement on 2024 in terms of grass growth. With the exception of drier areas that may have suffered short periods of reduced growth due to drought, most sheep farms have good covers of grass coming into September.
• Options for lambs
  Strong factory and store lamb prices mean that there are multiple options for the remaining 2025 lamb crop. Heavier lambs (38kg+) are suitable for finishing on concentrate feed. Lighter lambs should be grown on before being supplemented intensively with concentrates.
• Preparing for mating
  The clock is ticking for getting ewes and rams into top shape for the upcoming mating season. Body condition or lack thereof is the biggest challenge on most farms. Thin ewes need to be fed top quality grass and lots of it to be able to regain condition.
• Internal parasites
  September is a good time to do a drench test on remaining lambs to see what wormers are working on your farm. This is a simple procedure, which involves taking two faecal samples from the same 10-15 lambs either two weeks apart (for clear or white drenches) or one week apart (for yellow drenches).
• BETTER Farm Update – Weaning performance looks good 
  Frank Campion, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway tells us about lamb weaning and ewe body condition on the BETTER sheep farms. The hill flocks in the programme are weaning their lambs at the time of writing and from an initial analysis of the weight and weaning rates, performance looks good this year. Ewe body condition score (BCS) is also being assessed across the lowland flocks at present, and thin ewes (BCS lower than 3.0) are being marked and separated for preferential treatment in the run-up to mating.
• Research Update – Lamb growth and replacement
  Sarah Woodmartin, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc Athenry, Co. Galway reports on the latest from the Sheep Research Demonstration Farm. Since weaning, lamb growth rates have averaged 161g/day on grass only, 198g/day on grass plus white clover, and 191g/day on grass plus white clover plus plantain.
• Health & Safety – Grant aid for PTO shaft covers
  The National Farm Safety Measure 2025 was introduced by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to incentivise the purchase and use of PTO shaft covers, which protect farmers and machinery operators from serious and fatal injuries.