RESEARCH PROVEN
NICK PILE
BVM&S MRCVS, director of Cliffe Veterinary Group T: 01273 473232 E: nick@cliffevets.co.uk www.cliffefarm.co.uk
ADVANCED EWE BREEDING SERVICE UP AND RUNNING
50
EXTRA HIGH ENERGY THE PERFECT PARTNER FOR LAMBING. Stimulates forage intake and digestibility, improving energy intake in late pregnancy Reduces the risk of Twin Lamb disease Optimises lamb birth weight to ensure healthy, vigorous lambs Maximises colostrum quality and lactation performance for improved lamb daily live weight gain Costs only 3-5p per ewe per day
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Crystalyx UK
FEBRUARY 2022 | WWW.SOUTHEASTFARMER.NET
It feels like the calm before the storm, or the relative calm! We know that come February, when calving and lambing kicks off, we will appreciate the buddy system that we run, with two vets on call for our out-of-hours service during the busy periods. Much of January has been taken up with training up two new approved TB testers who have been a great addition to our team of vets. In the past few weeks, Cliffe Farm Vets’ sheep clients have been calling in with their scanning results; something that we always encourage them to share with us. Early indications are that scanning has been pretty reasonable, with very few mule and mule cross breeders going over 200%, avoiding the subsequent headache of too many triplets. I have also been waiting patiently to assess the success or otherwise of our (ewe) artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) service. We have been AI-ing ewes now for five years, and once over the hurdles of Brexit and Covid-19 we have been able to launch ET. I have spent a number of weeks working for advanced breeding companies as far afield as Wales, the West Midlands and Scotland refining the procedure, and Cliffe Farm Vets was in a position to offer the service to sheep farmers across the South East last summer. Advanced breeding in sheep is a complicated affair and a vet-only procedure. The majority of my clients own pedigree breeding flocks. The benefits of using AI to amplify male genetics and ET to amplify female genetics is clear in this situation. The yield of a single flush is highly variable due to a lot of factors, including timing of AI, and can range from 0 to 30 implantable embryos. The average across all breeds is approximately six to seven embryos, and subsequent conception rates of recipient ewes are usually over 80%. The use of AI in some commercial situations should also not be overlooked. Some commercial clients are now able to share more valuable, higher-performing rams, especially for tightly synchronised lambing situations. Ram:ewe ratios for synchronised flocks should be as low as 1:10 for optimum conception rates. Due to the high number of rams needed, the “ram cost” per lamb born is high. The number of lambs born to one sire could therefore be only 17 lambs per year (assuming a 170% turn-out percentage). A good £650 ram will therefore cost £10 per lamb born over a four year period when ewes have been sponged for synchronisation. However, the same £650 ram used for fresh semen collection and AI could be used to inseminate up to 60 or 70 ewes on one day. This reduces the ram cost over the same period to £1.37 per lamb. The AI cost of inseminating large numbers of ewes is about £8 per lamb turned out, so it is possible to see that even taking AI costs into consideration it is comparable to natural service in terms of cost. In addition, some farmers may opt to club together to buy and share higher genetic merit rams while maintaining their own biosecurity. Sharing the purchase cost of an AI ram with a neighbour then means that the ram cost is halved again, as long as they are happy to lamb on different weeks! In addition to AI and ET we are now able to flush and freeze embryos over winter for implantation the following autumn. If you wish to know more about advanced breeding in sheep, please contact the practice.