Shropshire Farming Talk: Top tips for tupping time

New rams should be bought at least eight weeks before tupping begins to acclimatise.

At entry on the farm, the feet, teeth, testicles and general health should be checked and the same goes for the other stock rams already on the farm.

Get your vet to also check fertility, as surveys have shown that up to 10% of rams are infertile.

As well as ensuring the high health status of the rams pre-tupping, good nutrition of the rams also plays a vital role in ensuring successful implantation of the eggs in the ewes.

At least four to six weeks before being introduced to the ewes, the feeding of the rams should be adjusted to achieve a condition score of 3.5 to 4 at the start of what is a very physically demanding period for the rams.

Normally, early lambing flocks are tupped when adequate grass is available either by reducing stocking rates, moving to fresh pasture or aftermath, or grazing on undersown forage crops.

Flocks can suffer from poorer lambing percentages if both rams and ewes are not prepared sufficiently for tupping in the previous autumn.

If grass is in short supply due to lack of rain, the condition of both ewes and rams will not be good enough to achieve the maximum numbers of eggs shed by each ewe. Semen quality will also be poorer, leading to fewer eggs being fertilised and, therefore, fewer eggs implanted to develop into healthy embryos.

In those circumstances, body condition can only be brought up to optimum levels through supplementary feeding up to 0.5 kg of NWF Classic Ewe Nuts or NWF Ewetrition Rolls.

The diets are formulated to include maize to improve fertility by minimising early embryo loss and Ultra Pro R a good by-pass protein. The ewe feeds include a mineral pack with Vit A, D, E, High Selenium and chelated Selenium.

Ideal for preparing pedigree rams and ram lambs ready for the autumn sales, we recommend feeding NWF Super Lamb Pellets, a highly palatable, high fibre feed.

At the same time, ewes in poorer condition at drying off must improve in condition at least three weeks before tupping; otherwise, ovulation rates will be reduced. On the other hand, excessively fat ewes will need to be kept on tight grazing otherwise ovulation and implantation of eggs will be reduced.

Huw Lloyd-Roberts, NWF Sales Specialist