Nutritional Influencers of Lamb Birthweight

Mid- and late-pregnancy management does influence lamb birth weight; mid-pregnancy due to placenta development and late-pregnancy due to foetal growth.

Risk of large lambs (from a nutritional point of view) is when ewes have become too lean in mid-pregnancy and then fed well in late pregnancy.  This emphasises the importance of getting ewes on target condition before the last six weeks and therefore not having to play catch up and risk oversized lamb birthweights.

Managing according to scanning results and using raddle marks to target the nutrition appropriately in the last six weeks will help achieve target lamb birth weight (4-6kg).

Poppy Frater, poppy.frater@sac.co.uk