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Reduce lamb losses by planting trees & hedgerows says the Woodland Trust
Outdoor lambing has become increasingly popular as it reduces labour costs and offers reduced disease build-up compared to housed lambing. Even in areas where outdoor lambing is impractical or indoor lambing is still preferred due to unpredictable weather, early turnout is increasingly common. Whole to be greater than sum of parts as five food and farm enterprises join forces.
G ood shelter is recognised as important for successful outdoor lambing and for young lamb survival as exposure to cold is one of the biggest causes of neonatal loss of lambs.
The Woodland Trust is working with a number of UK farmers to increase the number of trees and hedgerows on their land to protect their flock.
Senior Farming Adviser Helen Chesshire said:
“ Studies have shown that in cold, wet and windy weather, lamb losses can be reduced by up to 30 per cent if good shelter is provided.
“ Sheltered, well-drained fields provide the best physical conditions for lambing and good mothering. By creating the right conditions for ewes and young lambs, lamb mortality can actually be reduced compared to housed lambing.”
One farmer who knows from bitter experience that wind chill can decimate lambs
10 | Farming Monthly | February 2017 is David Noble, who farms at over 1,000 feet at the northern foot of the Lake District’ s Skiddaw range.
With a flock of 400 ewes and no artificial shelter, protection for newborn lambs is critical to the farm’ s economic success. David said:“ Hypothermia is a real risk in the first two to three days. It can take as many as 10 newborn lambs in a single night and that’ s a real economic loss. Improving the welfare of the flock and protecting these hill-bred lambs by planting trees has been a real positive for the farm.”
Working with the Woodland Trust, David planted a small strip of non-productive land with a mix of native trees and shrubs. Goat willow, hawthorn, hazel, oak, blackthorn and rowan were chosen to reflect the altitude and soil type and provide levels of shelter.
The trust has also funded a Masters of Research at Harper Adams University,“ Trees in the Farmed Environment”.
As part of her thesis“ Trees for shelter and other functional benefits in sheep and beef farming systems: An evaluation of the operational experiences and economic effects on a sample of farms in England and Wales”, student Rachel Glover interviewed a number of farmers about the role of trees on their land.
The owners of a 60 hectare farm in Kent explained that following a lambing season with harsh weather conditions in an exposed field, they had decided to lamb from a lower, more tree sheltered field the following season and experienced a higher lamb survival rate. This success was partly attributed to the shelter, with the farmer estimating the associated economic gain through higher survival rates. The farmer told Rachel:“ The first year we lambed outside … it was bitterly cold and we didn’ t really have much hedge so we did have a lot of loss. We lambed on a higher field and lost a lot of lambs so this year we have lambed down in the bottom fields where there is less wind and a lot more trees so we have had less loss. Economically we have probably saved 2 or 3 hundred pounds in dead
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