Best Practice Guidance for Store Lamb Producers
25/11/05

photo courtesy of www.jennifermackenzie.co.uk

English store lamb producers selling into the New Year market are going to need to select the correct type and weight of lambs and achieve the right balance between finishing speed and feed costs if they are to make the most of their opportunities under the growing challenge of chilled imports. This is the advice from the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) in its latest practical guidance.

Best practice for long-keep store lamb production in the modern market, set out in the organisation’s newly-published Lamb Action for Profit resource at www.eblex.org.uk, suggests lambs should be acquired within 10-18 kg of their required slaughter weight, managed to gain 0.5-0.7 kg/week on minimal concentrates, and marketed as early as possible from February.

This approach will ensure lambs of a better weight for both the UK and export markets sold ahead of the time at which chilled imports increasingly come into play in the run-up to Easter.

Performance Targets for Long-Keep Store Lambs (EBLEX)

For greatest success with the long-keep store lambs, EBLEX advises producers to:

• Calculate how much can be paid for stores before purchasing, running a quick check budget of realistic costs and estimated returns;
• Quarantine all bought-in lambs from the rest of the flock to a strict biosecurity plan;
• Assess lamb health carefully on arrival and follow a clear health plan, keeping mortality rates down to 2% through good husbandry;
• Weigh lambs on arrival, group them by weight and degree of finish, and mark a proportion for re-weighing every two weeks to monitor progress;
• Make the best use of home-grown forage crops or arable by-products, introducing complementary concentrates as forage quality and supply declines and before lamb growth rates suffer;
• House stock where facilities are available if forage supplies prove inadequate, finishing them on forage supplemented with concentrates; and,
• Select lambs carefully for slaughter to ensure as many as possible meet the specific market requirements – 17-21kg E,U or R carcases of fat class 2-3L for the UK (and lighter 12-19kg carcases of similar grades for export to the Continent).

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