With lambing finishing up, this week’s OviCast podcast recaps on how well flocks have performed and where improvements can be made and to discuss this in more detail Ciarán Lynch is joined by Michael Gottstein Head of Sheep in Teagasc. Michael starts by outlining why it’s important to take stock of how flock has performed during lambing when it’s fresh in our minds and complete a simple lambing review. He discusses some of the key performance targets including issues around barrenness and ewes n...
Apr 27, 2021•26 min•Ep. 72
Teagasc's B&T advisor Tom Coll joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss some issues with lameness appearing in flocks at present. Tom discusses how scald is the main problem in young lambs at the moment and what some of the predisposing factors are. He highlights the need for early intervention and discusses treatment options. Tom puts particular emphasis on the importance of good handling facilities in tackling some of these issues on farms. With many of his clients having inves...
Apr 20, 2021•11 min•Ep. 71
Dr Orla Keane joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s episode of OviCast to discuss Nematodirus in lambs. Orla starts by explaining why it poses a risk for lambs in early spring, she explains the DAFM Nematodirus forecast and the implications that has for lambs this spring. She discusses the signs of infection in young lambs and the treatment options for this condition as well as discussing how the choice of treatment can impact the sustainable parasite control. As this occurs at a similar time to pos...
Apr 13, 2021•13 min•Ep. 70
With the grazing season well underway, on the latest OviCast episode Ciarán Lynch catches up with Dr Philip Creighton who highlights the need to focus on grassland management for the coming weeks to maximise lamb performance. They discuss the current grazing conditions on farms around the country and the impact opening covers has had on grass growth during March. Philip moves on to discuss forming grazing groups and what impact that has on grass and animal performance. He then outlines the curre...
Apr 06, 2021•20 min•Ep. 69
Tomás O’Leary who is farming outside Killarney in Co. Kerry joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast. Tomás who is a participant on the BETTER Farm Sheep Programme has always joined his ewe lambs and managed them alongside his mature ewes. He shares his experience on how to manage these ewes to achieve a high output. He also discusses his selection criteria to ensure his replacement ewe lambs are suitable to join, ram choice and joining period length. Tomás then detailed his scan result this ye...
Mar 30, 2021•15 min•Ep. 68
Dr Frank Campion joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast podcast to talk about reducing the number of problem ewes. As many of the problems seen in a flock occur during lambing, Frank highlights the importance of identifying these sheep for culling with a permanent means so that they don’t re-appear in the flocks for the coming year. Frank discusses the reasons for culling in flocks but also the importance of recording the reasons why these ewes were culled. He outlines why it’s important to r...
Mar 23, 2021•10 min•Ep. 67
Having a system in place to deal with surplus or orphan lambs is a must on many farms at this time of the year. On this episode of OviCast, Ciarán Lynch discusses this in more detail with Michael Gottstein Head of Sheep in Teagasc. Michael outlines the various options for artificially rearing lambs indicating the pros and cons of each. They discuss training lambs onto feeders, batching according to age and group size. As these are high cost systems, Michael outlines the weaning process, emphasis...
Mar 16, 2021•27 min•Ep. 66
Teagasc BETTER Farm Sheep Programme participant Des Powell who is running a mixed sheep and beef system in Co. Tipperary features on this week’s episode of OviCast. Des is also joined by Teagasc’s Dr. Frank Campion as they discuss plans for increasing flock size and implementing a breeding policy on the farm. With lambing already underway, Des discusses how he is selecting and identifying his replacements, while Frank highlights the challenge of expanding from within the flock and how it limits ...
Mar 09, 2021•17 min•Ep. 65
With lambing season well underway, the focus on this week’s OviCast episode turns to the subject of lamb mortality and ways to reduce it. Joining Ciarán Lynch is Dwayne Shields from Teagasc Sligo-Leitrim-Donegal who, during the course of his PhD studies, has examined the timing and causes of perinatal lamb mortality as well as farm surveys on common practices that can improve lamb survival. Dwayne begins by discussing the timing and main causes of lamb mortality. He delves into how some of these...
Mar 02, 2021•38 min•Ep. 64
Dr Philip Creighton joins Ciaran Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss some of the key factors to consider for fertiliser application this spring. Philip discusses some of the challenges this spring and the delay in fertiliser application. With both environmental and economic considerations, he outlines the importance of waiting until soil temperatures and ground conditions are suitable before applying fertiliser at the moment. He then discusses the options for farmers looking at split applica...
Feb 23, 2021•16 min•Ep. 63
Dr Frank Campion joins Ciaran Lynch on the latest episode of OviCast with an update on the hill sheep flocks in the Teagasc BETTER farm sheep programme. Frank discusses the farms involved and those that have recently finished up in the programme and with many of the flocks just finished pregnancy scanning, he discusses the results they achieved this year including fertility issues encountered in one of the flock along with the possible causes and follow up actions. He moves on to litter size, ma...
Feb 17, 2021•16 min•Ep. 62
Seamus McMenamin, sheep meat sector manager with Bord Bia joins Ciaran Lynch on this week’s episode of OviCast with a focus on the sheep market and an outlook for 2021. Seamus reviews some of the key highlights from the sheep meat trade during 2020 as well as overall throughput and imports from Northern Ireland. He discusses the growth seen in key markets and moves on to discuss the impact of global trade patterns on the competitiveness of Irish lamb. Seamus then outlines the influence of China ...
Feb 09, 2021•28 min•Ep. 61
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 specificati...
Feb 02, 2021•22 min•Ep. 60
Vet Charles Chavasse from Zoetis Ireland joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s OviCast to discuss the various aspects of vaccination. Charles starts by explaining how the vaccination process works and some of the differences between those commonly used vaccines at farm level. He highlights the role of safe handling and administration of vaccines and how that impacts their efficacy. Charles then discusses the process of passive immunity from the ewe to their progeny and the duration of cover of clost...
Jan 26, 2021•23 min•Ep. 59
Getting the feeding regime right in late pregnancy has a big impact on a successful lambing and flock performance and on this week’s OviCast episode, Ciarán Lynch discusses the various aspects of this with Michael Gottstein Head of Sheep in Teagasc. They discuss using forage analyses, scan results and expected lambing date to determine the amount of supplementation required as well as how to manage thin ewes in late pregnancy. Michael offers advice for farms with low feed value silages. He discu...
Jan 19, 2021•31 min•Ep. 58
Given the wet conditions this autumn and winter the level of fluke challenge on farms is high at the moment and on this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch catches up with Dr. Orla Keane to discuss this in more detail. Orla explains the best means of diagnosis and highlights the importance of previous farm history when considering treatment. She also discusses treatment of replacement and remaining lambs on the farm. Orla then examines the treatment options and their suitability for a number of differe...
Jan 12, 2021•11 min•Ep. 57
The practical aspects of housing and feed management are discussed on the latest episode of Ovicast with sheep specialist Damian Costello joining Ciarán Lynch. Damian begins by explaining why its important to match the number of ewes to pen capacity and he outlines the recommended feed and lying space guidelines. He then discusses feed management, access to roughage and introducing concentrates to the diet. With the cold snap in weather Damian highlights the importance of checking drinkers and e...
Jan 06, 2021•16 min•Ep. 56
On the final OviCast of 2020, Ciarán Lynch covers out wintering on forage crops with Teagasc advisor James Doran and BETTER Farm participant John Doyle. James begins by explaining the potential yield of the different crops and how they fit into the system. He outlines key management tips when grazing these crops to avoid digestive upsets and other health concerns. He also highlights potential issues around clean livestock policy and what actions can be taken. In the second half of the podcast, p...
Dec 29, 2020•25 min•Ep. 55
With many farmers pregnancy scanning their flocks during the coming weeks we discuss how to best make use of this information with sheep specialist Damian Costello. Damian starts by discussing the flock performance at scanning, some factors that influence it and benchmarking against targets. He then discusses the options for empty eyes and follow-up actions where issues occur before moving on to talk in more detail about using the results as part of a feeding plan for late pregnancy and how to p...
Dec 22, 2020•11 min•Ep. 54
A key step in late pregnancy nutrition for ewes is knowing the feed value of silage being used. In this episode of the OviCast podcast, sheep specialist Damian Costello joins Ciarán Carroll to explain the process of silage sampling in more detail, from the equipment needed to the process of taking the sample itself. Damian then highlights the importance of getting a representative sample and why it’s necessary to take a number of samples where silages from different harvest dates are being used....
Dec 15, 2020•14 min•Ep. 53
Health and Safety Specialist Francis Bligh joins Ciarán Lynch on the latest episode of OviCast with advice on safety around machinery and on farm. Firstly, Francis discusses the HSA figures for accidents that have occurred in agriculture and the particular trends in the sheep sector during the previous 12 months - a stark reminder of the dangers encountered in the industry. Francis highlights some of the steps that can be taken to improve personal safety and how to reduce the risk of zoonotic in...
Dec 08, 2020•29 min•Ep. 52
With mating finished up on the majority of lowland farms our attention turns to an often overlooked area of ewe management during mid pregnancy and to discuss its importance, Professor Tommy Boland from UCD joins Ciarán Lynch on this week’s episode of OviCast. Tommy starts by discussing the importance of assessing ewe condition and why assessing ewe condition is a key management tool but one that’s not used frequently enough at farm level. He discusses the variation in ewe condition that we see ...
Dec 01, 2020•14 min•Ep. 51
As part of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Animal Health Awareness Week, Ciarán Lynch is joined on this week’s OviCast by Maresa Sheehan, Senior Research Officer in DAFM Regional Veterinary Laboratories. Maresa starts by explaining what animal health awareness week is and why it’s important. She discusses some of the current health issues that they are finding in the lab as well as some of the more seasonal conditions and they discuss how they might be prevented. Maresa explai...
Nov 24, 2020•24 min•Ep. 50
With the mating season finishing up on many farms, Ciarán Lynch catches up with Michael Gottstein Head of Sheep in Teagasc to discuss ram management post mating. Rams are a significant investment for any flock and Michael puts this into perspective on a cost per lamb basis. He goes on to outline the issues with ram longevity and the high turnover rate seen in flocks. He discusses how management practices during the post-mating period can influence this. Michael outlines the problems encountered ...
Nov 17, 2020•15 min•Ep. 49
To discuss the whole area of external parasite control at this stage of the season, Ciarán Lynch is joined on this week’s OviCast by Morgan Lane from Bimeda. Morgan describes the main external parasites that can be an issue in flocks at this stage of the season such as lice and sheep scab. He explains the various control measures that are available from topical applications, injectable treatments and plunge dipping. Morgan explains what each of these treatment options are suitable for, their cor...
Nov 13, 2020•20 min•Ep. 48
With the wet weather in recent weeks, Ciarán Lynch catches up with Dr. Philip Creighton to discuss current grazing management on the latest episode of OviCast. Philip discusses how to make the most of the remaining grass on the farm given the poor utilisation at present. He also discusses grouping up ewes to reduce residency period and managing graze outs. Philip explains the importance of closing out paddocks, in particular the first 40% to ensure grass supply next spring and what impact it has...
Nov 03, 2020•14 min•Ep. 47
This week’s OviCast focuses on a number of aspects of store lambs finishing with Prof. Michael Diskin sheep enterprise leader in Teagasc and Michael discusses the store lamb market this year and the renewed interest in this area. With the change in weather in recent weeks we discuss some of the key considerations for housing, ration composition and building up of feeding levels and general advice for housed lambs. There have been a number of large-scale finishing studies and Michael outlines the...
Oct 27, 2020•28 min•Ep. 46
Francis Gonely who is running a hill and lowland system in Co Sligo joins Ciarán Lynch for the latest Farmer Focus episode of OviCast. Francis is a participant in the BETTER Farm Sheep Programme and talks through the system he is running and the changes he has made over the past number of years. The hill flocks have seen numbers increase and a change in breeding policy that saw replacement blackface ewe lambs purchased. Francis discusses the changes, settling in the new stock and the plans for t...
Oct 20, 2020•20 min•Ep. 45
With the breeding season underway for many flocks, on this week’s OviCast, Ciarán Lynch catches up with sheep specialist Damian Costello to discuss mating management. Damian starts by outlining the final checks that should be conducted on the breeding flock of ewes and rams. He then delves into ram management in a bit more detail emphasising the importance of addressing any issues that may cause infertility. Following on from that, Damian explains the benefits of raddling, the options available ...
Oct 13, 2020•23 min•Ep. 44
Quad bikes are an extremely useful machine on many farms and on this episode of OviCast, Ciaran Lynch is joined by Francis Quigley machinery specialist, who chats about basic maintenance and some general advice on safe use and how to keep quads in good working order. Francis starts by discussing the importance of correct tyre pressure and why it should be monitored and adjusted to suit the needs of the specific task the quad is being used for, he also highlights the need to periodically assess t...
Oct 06, 2020•14 min•Ep. 43
