Monitoring Flock Performance Vlog Series
28 August 2024In 2024/25 we will be following three farms through short vlogs focussing on how they monitor their flock performance, and how data helps make future decisions on breeding and management. Watch our introductory video to meet the farmers and understand their systems.
Farmer Vlogs
Michelle Bruce, Meikle Tillyeve (Ellon)
Weaning & Driving Flock Decisions
Michelle starts to think about the next breeding year at weaning time, with lamb performance and a weaning % calculation made, this helps decide who makes the A flock for tupping time. Hear about it, in this short video we made in August 2024.
Watch here >>
In our second vlog with Michelle, she is preparing for tupping. She has analysed her weaning data, and from this has made meaningful flock decisions to increase efficiency. She has chosen her A flock, ewe lamb replacements and her tupping team from this data. Watch here >>
Owen Gray, Saughland Farm (Midlothian)
Using Data for Flock Management Decisions
Lamb Growth & Parasitic Worms 2024
John Ritchie, Montalt Farm (Perthshire)
August marks weaning time also at Montalt. In the first central vlog of the series John takes us through how he monitors ewe's performance using predominantly body condition to ensure all ewes can withstand a grass only based system and the simple measures that can be put in place to select his breeding stock for the following breeding season. Watch here >>
Approaches to Monitoring Lamb Growth Rates
In this video, Poppy Frater discusses various approaches to assessing lamb growth, from the thorough method of weighing each lamb to the use of sales data for retrospective analysis. She suggests a target of 250g/day from birth to sale, but with regular weighing on your farm, you can develop targets to suit your specific context. Watch here >>
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