Start now for mid-season lamb

It may seem like a long way off, but it is now time to start planning breeding for mid-season lambing.

On large-scale lowland farms, there should be no problem in using one mature healthy ram for every 60 to 70 ewes, provided there are at least two to three other mature rams in any group.

A well-grown ram lamb can mate around 40 mature ewes without any problems. When purchasing a ram, you should opt for a pedigree ram with a high star rating in the Sheep Ireland index system.