Farmer Focus: John O’Connell – Scanning, feeding and managing ewes in Co. Leitrim

Co. Leitrim native John O’Connell who runs a mixed sheep and dairy contract rearing system in Ballinamore joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s episode of OviCast. John who is also a participant in the BETTER farm Sheep Programme starts by discussing the importance of having ewes in the right body condition and maintaining this during mid-pregnancy. John discusses his scanning results and subsequent management. He also explains the role of high-quality silage in his system and the ration specification he is using this year. John puts great emphasis on ensuring ewes have sufficient quantities of high-quality colostrum and takes us through his feeding regime, in particular how he manages singles to facilitate cross fostering. He moves on to discuss managing pregnant ewe lambs in his flock before finishing up explaining how these and triplet rearing ewes are managed post-lambing. For more episodes from OviCast, visit the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/ovicast-sheep-podcast/