How autumn flock resilience plan cuts lambing and cake bill
© MAG/Michael Priestley Prioritising fertility and challenging ewes to milk off forage has halved an autumn lambing flock’s labour requirement and saved on 27t of bought-in feed.
Focus has shifted from aiming for high daily liveweight gains to cost control and simplicity for Joe Dufosee and the team at Farnicombe Farm, Warminster.
Recent commodity price spikes made Joe adopt a lower input, more extensive mindset.
“Prices passed £600/t for organic ewe nuts,” he recalls.
“There was not much profit left over, so we challenged the sheep to perform off forage and they proved they could do it.”
See also: Dorset outdoor lamber lifts scan 20% with Belclare
Farm facts
Farnicombe Farm, Warminster
- Renting 1,214ha, including 450ha of low-productivity Ministry of Defence land on Salisbury Plain
- 400 Signet Recorded Poll Dorsets
- Selling 20-30 rams off farm and eight to 10 at pedigree sales
- 210 North Devon suckler cows
- Four full-time labour units
- 20ha oats, 20ha rye and 35ha forage peas and barley
- Lambs sold deadweight to Waitrose
- Beef and lamb sold direct through Farnicombe Farm Meat
- In Mid Tier Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive
Autumn lambing
The Dufosee Dorset flock (Blackhill prefix) has two tupping periods, lambing sheep in either September or November.
Scanning is typically about 170-175% and the flock rears 150%, producing 19kg carcasses to primarily R3L and U grades.
Twin-bearing ewes are brought to a 10ha (24-acre) field next to the farm for lambing.
Many lamb outside but are housed at night so weights can be recorded and parentage verified in a well-lit area.
The same lambing paddock is used each year, but it is rested over summer and grazed once by cows for parasite control.
Singles and triplets lamb inside to help Joe and the night lamber to foster lambs on.
The breed is sufficiently hardy to be turned outside in winter with lambs at one or two days old in most conditions.
Lambs are finished from mid-January onwards on herbal leys and creep, so some lambs are at finishing weight when supply tightens and demand from religious festivals lifts the price in the spring.
Herbal leys mean finishing times are of less importance, as feeding costs are lower and finish can be put on lambs to hit peaks in the spring market.
Lambs are typically 16-20 weeks old when they reach slaughter weights of 40-45kg.
Resilience plan
Based on the edge of the Salisbury Plain, the Dufosees’ farming system stretches across more than 1,200ha (2,965 acres) of farmland.
Much is on farm business tenancies on Ministry of Defence land, which has the benefit of lower rents and environmental payments, but requires careful grazing plans to fit around military training schedules.
Since returning from college in 2012, Joe has trebled suckler cow numbers, taken on 200ha (494 acres) more ground and streamlined a 200-ewe Lleyn and a 200-ewe Dorset flock into one pedigree Dorset operation.
Joe Dufossee © MAG/Michael Priestley
However, with a business now stretching over seven landlords across a 10-mile radius – he clocked up 15,000 miles on an ATV last year – simplicity is key.
He has taken on two full-time members of staff, and in quieter times runs a contracting business undertaking work the team would do at home, such as scrub clearing, fencing, grain carting, and baling.
Satisfied with the current scale of operation, Joe has since looked at ways to lower risk, cutting out laborious tasks where possible and removing cost.
In the sheep flock, this has resulted in the following changes.
Cut early-lactation supplementation
Previous system
- Ewes would be fed 12t of ewe rolls each year.
- Grass was saved for the autumn lambing period, and bagged feed added as grass growth slowed in autumn.
What changed
- The business used 3t over two lambings in 2024.
How it was done
- Joe reduced concentrate feeding of one group in 2023 and left all ewes to perform off grass this year.
- About 120ha (297 acres) of herbal leys have been planted over the past four years under Countryside Stewardship and the Sustainable Farming Incentive to improve the energy level of the sward and diversify income.
Benefits
- Saving time and about 9t of feed from not having to feed sheep by the bag every day.
- Joe better understands which ewes are the best mothers, rather than which ewes have lambs that convert expensive creep the best.
- Mastitis rates have fallen from 8-10% to 1-2% because ewes are slightly less milky on a grass-based diet. This may have helped support growth rates with less concentrate feed (see “Reduced creep use”.
Shorter lambing season
Previous system
- Lambing started in September and ran for five weeks.
- Out-of-season lambing (Dorsets can breed year round, believed to be due to the Melatonin Receptor 1a gene) resulted in conception rates of 70-80% with teasers, compared with conventional flocks at 90%.
What changed
- A single lambing period was replaced with two 20-day lambings, in September and November (but still putting teasers in with ewes for 14 days before swapping them for rams).
How it was done
- Late lambers were culled to shorten the lambing period.
- In 2022, 542 ewes had an 86% conception rate in four weeks.
- In 2023, 578 ewes achieved a 69% conception rate in two-and-a-half weeks, and a second November lambing period was introduced, rather than having one long lambing.
- In 2024, 382 ewes had a 75% conception rate in three weeks.
Benefits
- Shorter lambing periods increase lamb uniformity.
- Because they are shorter, each lambing period is more enjoyable/less tiring.
- Having two lambing periods spreads risk in terms of weather and market exposure, and means later-born lambs can target premium spring markets.
- Empty ewes after the first tupping have a second chance, resulting in more lambs sold off-farm.
Reduced creep use
Previous system
- Lambs were creep fed at pasture from turnout at one to two days old. Lambs were housed to finish to maximise feed conversion to achieve daily liveweight gains (DLWG) of 0.5kg.
What changed
- Lambs are creep fed from weaning at 11-12 weeks.
- Creep is fed through restricted feeders to limit risk of acidosis.
How it was done
- Mindset was changed to trust in foraging ability of sheep.
- Creep was introduced later each year, and since 2018, this has been delayed until weaning.
- Joe took a hit on DLWG, with lambs growing 50g/day slower over their life, but they can still average 200g/day to weaning and up to 400-500g/day post-weaning on herbal leys.
- Lambs weaned at 22kg this year, about 2kg lighter than when creep fed.
Benefits
- At least 18t of creep has been saved, worth close to £11,000 at organic prices.
- Time is saved moving and filling hoppers.
- Herbal leys are also used for finishing cattle in spring/summer.
- Lambs are no longer housed, reducing incidence of lameness.
Next steps
Joe is keen to see how herbal leys can be used to maintain energy in swards and reduce creep use further.
He is also planning to try out a Charollais terminal sire on the second lambing block this autumn to help growth rates through hybrid vigour.