In the debrief afterwards we wondered if the losses had been underestimated and with the great feed surpluses might explain why the lamb kill is still so slow around here.
Then the rest of the spring remained reasonably dry when we could have done with a bit more rain.
I got the brassica crops into the ground just before the rule of thumb target of Labour weekend and though there was moisture further down it remained too dry for a decent strike.
Talk of the unusual but impeding El Nino and the ongoing dry was making us all nervous.
The only thing going in our favour was that the usual equinoctial gales hadn’t eventuated. El Nino really likes to fizz those up.
So, I was prudent and killed the two-year-old bulls a little sooner and lighter than I would have liked but my cattle operation has always been the flexible component of the farming system.
I went as deep into the lambs at weaning as I could, given the excellent schedules, but still killed only fifty percent of terminal lambs, whereas it is often more like 70%. Others reported similar difficulties and though they had sufficient feed levels right through the lambs just didn’t grow as well as expected.
Then the heavens opened after weaning at the end of November and it felt like it rained the whole time right up to Christmas day. Much of that rain was from impressive thunderstorms sweeping off the Ruahine Ranges.
We had 200mm of rain for December, which made it one of the wettest Decembers I’ve ever recorded, and other places got a lot more.
The crops struck and for a few weeks were looking fantastic.
Then, what looked like early ripening turned out to be drowning and rotting and they looked terrible again. The wet areas have remained devoid of crop but amaranthus obviously doesn’t mind wet feet and it’s a pity the stock don’t like to eat it.
In the better drained areas the crops recovered and don’t look too bad and now works lambs are into it and should be piling on the weight.
Since Christmas day I’ve recorded only 28mm and much of that was in one event in mid-January.
I sample weighed replacement ewe lambs the other day and, given the amount of clover in their diets since weaning, was surprised and disappointed they had grown at only 150g/day.
They will still make decent ewe hoggets for tupping but not the thumpers I might have expected. I guess being wet all the time for five weeks after weaning wasn’t what they might have enjoyed.
Given the amount of feed grown over the last two months I’m surprised the farm is under reasonable control.
There are just 200 15-month bulls and I could have done with 100 more but they have been on regular shifts and have done very well. The ewe flock has also been very well treated and is in great condition. Both classes have contributed to helping keep feed quality better than expected.
If everyone doesn’t get a very good tupping and high scanning rates this year then something needs to be looked at.
One factor could end up being facial eczema as I’ve heard of clinical cases in lambs around Waipukurau before Christmas, which is unheard of. Since then FE levels have remained modest but have the potential to rise rapidly when the rain returns.
However, we are content with good but somewhat scruffy feed levels, stock in good nick and schedules very good for this time of the year.
