The trend of April lambing is becoming ever more apparent, according to west of Ireland vet, Conor Geraghty, of FarmGate Veterinary Group.

With the bulk of the lambing season complete for a considerable number of flocks, Geraghty indicated that the preference for April lambing is growing.

Speaking to Agriland, he said: "Nearly all of the early lambers are made up of pedigree breeders.

"While there would be a handful of commercial breeders, the numbers of these would be very few in my catchment area. 

"There is more of a trend for April lambing rather than March lambing at the moment," he added.

Geraghty explained that if you go back 20 years, the lambing date would have been February 20 for a lot of people.

"But that has slipped towards March 17 due to the lack of difference in price when it comes to rearing a lamb that early in the year," he continued.

"15 years ago, you would definitely have been finished all lambing duties by the end of May, but nowadays these jobs continue to rise their head in the first week of June and beyond."

Lambing

Discussing the lambing season in further depth, Geraghty explained other difficulties experienced by farmers.

"Where a number of farmers got caught is they couldn’t let lambs out to fields with their mothers - due to the bad spells of weather - and this caused issues when it came to overcrowding.

Moving forward, the Galway vet advised sheep farmers to be proactive when it comes to fluke this year, given its prevalence in recent months.

"There is danger where farmers get complacent when it comes to fluke and then by the time the problem becomes apparent, ewes have lost a lot of condition or you might have lost a few ewes," he said.

"A lot of farmers would benefit in considering a fluke dose in April for their ewes to clear out any remaining fluke in their systems."

While, generally, most farmers would wait until July to give a fluke dose it would be prudent to tackle it earlier this year, according to the vet.