Expert assessment of the livestock farm of Mr Szücs. Hungary, Balmazujvaros 17/11/15. Table of contents

Transcription

1 Expert assessment of the livestock farm of Mr Szücs Hungary, Balmazujvaros 17/11/15 Table of contents 1 History of the farm Description of the farm The farmers and their team: Surface areas: Buildings: Farm Livestock: Numbers: Reproductive schedule: Lambing: Rearing of the lambs: Identification Selection: Data collection: Sorting of lambs: Sales: Feeding of ewes: Analyses: Assessment of the consistency between the dietary requirements of the livestock and feed supplies Efficiency of the accelerated reproductive system: Productivity = first factor of economic profitability Facilities / work organisation Animal care Farms Data collection Selection /05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 1

2 1 History of the farm Before 1993, Mr Szücs owned 147 purebred Hungarian Merino and German Merino ewes. In 1993, purchase of one Ile-de-France origin ram, one Suffolk ram and 30 Suffolk ewes. The choice of breed has focused on the Ile-de- France origin, because this breed seemed best suited to the breeding conditions and appeared very fertile. Since then, a purebred Ile-de-France flock has been created, through grading up: systematic use of purebred Ile-de-France origin rams on all ewes in the flock. Today, this stock is officially part of the nucleus for the Ile-de-France origin breed in Hungary. 2 Description of the farm 2.1 The farmers and their team: 2 farming couples 2 shepherds 2 drovers = personnel working on the sheep farm: equivalent to 5-6 people 2.2 Surface areas: 420 hectares of utilised agricultural land: o 345 hectares of crops o 75 hectares for the sheep breeding farms: Corn: 20 hectares Alfalfa: 20 hectares Pastures: 35 hectares Feed supplies: 410 tonnes harvested; approximately 370 tonnes of Dry Matter o 1,000 bales of alfalfa hay; 220 tonnes o 200 bales of natural grassland hay; 40 tonnes o 600 bales of cornstalks; 100 tonnes o 120 wrapping bales: 50 tonnes (first year testing) 2.3 Buildings: 6 sheep folds available at 2 sites each with a capacity of 200 ewes or 120 ewes with their lambs. All animals are housed during the winter. Pigpen facilities converted into sheep folds: o Batch separation of 60 ewes with their lambs 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 2

3 o Distribution of the feed into wooden troughs laid out in the middle of straw-bedded areas o Special pens for the lambs with a trough for pellets, another for hay, and a water trough o Use of light metal barriers in order to create temporary lambing pens Sales pen for the sale of rams: o Several small folds with outdoor show pens Feed shed mainly for the storage of alfalfa hay bales in order to guarantee their quality 3 Farm 3.1 Livestock: Numbers: 570 brood ewes 100 to 110 replacement ewe lambs reared every year; replacement rate: 19% 12 rams: 9 purchased and 3 reared on the farm Reproductive schedule: Mating August September December January April May Lambing January February May June September October Objective: lambing of ewes every eight months for an intensive rate of lambing Implementation: o Ewes are mated in batches of 20 with a single ram (in order to obtain known bloodlines), as soon as the lambs are weaned, i.e. 80 days after lambing. o As the lambs are weaned or sold, the flocks of ewes are increased per segment of 20 up to a maximum of 60 ewes per ram. o The mating period lasts six weeks in order to cover two ovulation cycles. Ewe lambs are bred for the first time at the age of 10 months Lambing: Number of lambs: January % % % % February May June % % % % September % 83-9% 99 11% % October Total lambs 1, Productivity (number of lambs produced / ewe / year); 570 ewes Rearing of the lambs: o Exclusively in folds o Suckling until weaning; no longer than 80 days 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 3

4 3.1.5 Identification o Distribution of pellets (80% corn) in the pen separate from the ewes, until weaning or selling to Italian buyers o Unsold lambs are switched to an adult diet in order to limit the problems caused by excess proteins or starch (enterotoxaemia) and/or excess phosphorus (urolithiasis) This takes place during the first two days after lambing: o Two small tags, including one with a microchip; one on each ear o Painted marking of the ewe s lambing order number on the back of the lamb and its mother. All breeding animals have a big tag and tattoo corresponding to the number of the small tag. 3.2 Selection: Data collection: Births are recorded in a lambing book: o Birth order number (painted on the back) o Number of the mother o Number of the lamb o Sex o Date of birth o Classification of deaths o Classification of the best ewes This data is recorded in the book of the association of breeders Lamb weights at 40, 80 and 120 days in order to calculate an Average Daily Gain, then a growth index Sorting of lambs: Ear marking (notch) on lambs whose mothers are fertile in order to have visual information related to the ewes performance. 3.3 Sales: The best lambs are kept for reproduction, replacement and sale. The others are offered on the Italian market, at 80 days Ewe lambs Rams Total : there are still currently 320 lambs for sale. Rams are mainly sold on the Hungarian market. Ewe lambs are sometimes exported to neighbouring countries or to Turkey, Russia, 3.4 Feeding of ewes: Brood ewes: 400g of corn once a day in addition to alfalfa hay Lactating ewes: 400g of corn twice a day in addition to silage, alfalfa hay and cornstalks Minerals and salt licks in all adult and lamb flocks 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 4

5 4 Analyses: 4.1 Assessment of the consistency between the dietary requirements of the livestock and feed supplies 580 adults (male + female) * (150 days of winter feeding + 80 days of lactation in May-June or September-October) * 2.2kg of feed = 294 tonnes (100 replacement ewe lambs young breeders for sale) * 200 days * 1kg of feed = 76 tonnes = 370 tonnes of feed required Pasture stocking rate: 7.6 ewes / hectare Observation: Feed supplies: 410 tonnes harvested; approximately 370 tonnes of Dry Matter o 1,000 bales of alfalfa hay; 220 tonnes o 200 bales of natural grassland hay; 40 tonnes o 600 bales of cornstalks; 100 tonnes o 120 wrapping bales: 50 tonnes (first year testing) Balance of lactation rations: o The input of alfalfa hay and corn makes it possible to obtain lactations ensuring strong lamb growth: balance between caloric and nitrogen intakes. o Lamb weights show high ADGs. Objective: higher than 240g/day for newborn twin lambs and 300g/day for newborn single lambs. 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 5

6 4.2 Efficiency of the accelerated reproductive system: Productivity = first factor of economic profitability o Principle of the system: Three lambing periods in two years for the ewes (one lambing every eight months) Two batches of ewes which lamb over three periods, per year Theoretical outline: Observation: Mating Number of ewes Lambing Number of ewes Number of lambs August September 280 January February December January 280 May June April May 280 September October 660 lambing 1,050 periods Annual productivity 1.16 lambings / ewe / year 1.84 lambs born / ewe / year The objective is to produce 1.84 lambs/ewe/year = first criterion of economic profitability (compared to 1.6 over the last three years) At least 80% of available (dry and empty) ewes should lamb at each period and have a prolificacy (reproductive rate) of at least 1.6 lambs per lambing At each lambing period, the batches of ewes should be equivalent otherwise this means that some of the available ewes were not impregnated and represents a production discrepancy, therefore a reduction in the lambing rate Ewes that have not been impregnated for two consecutive mating periods are culled Ewe lambs are bred at 11 months, but must not unbalance the batches of ewes. Sorting the replacement ewe lambs must be carried out over the three lambing periods: 30 to 40 of the best ewe lambs are kept per lambing During the last three years, we have actually observed an imbalance: o January-February lambing is very substantial and October lambing is very low o the period of rest from sexual activity in May (anoestrous season) is not effective Guidelines for May mating periods: dry off the ewes at least one cycle before the mating season carry out a flushing of the ewes at drying off by distributing 300g of corn per ewe / day until the end of the mating season limit all mating seasons to two ovulation cycles, i.e. five weeks encourage ovulation in the period of sexual anoestrous: ram effect o separate (smell + sight) the rams from the ewes for the whole lactation period o introduce a vasectomised ram among the ewes at the time of drying off in order to stimulate the ewes to come into heat limit the number of ewes per ram to carry out a flushing of the rams for at least two months before the mating season and during the mating season 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 6

7 use ultrasounds in order to detect the empty ewes in order to return them to the control right from the next period 4.3 Facilities / work organisation Animal care Due to the history of the farm, the buildings are old and therefore working conditions are difficult: o Manual distribution of feed, corn, pellets,, among the animals o Manual cleaning of troughs o Manual transport of bags of corn and pellets between the sheds and sheep pens o Manual cleaning and spreading of straw in the folds Farms o Existence of a building dedicated to the sale of rams: sales efficiency, allotment of animals, loading dock, chutes, outdoor show pens o Sheep fold: o no passageway allowing the animals to be moved from one batch to another o no restraining equipment: feeding rack, cattle crush, sorting pen o weighing areas for the weighing of lambs for selection and sale Data collection o Multiple identification (small and big tags, double marking), but no upgrading to microchips (high cost): o room for improvement o avoids reading errors o makes it possible to validate data through assessments and summaries o French example of BTO, genetic inventory 4.4 Selection Selection of the male bloodline: o Collective evaluation o Animal insemination 21/05/ C:\Users\François\Documents\Races Ovines des Massifs\Communication\outils de communication\site Internet\contenu site\expertise ferme M Szücs version anglaise.docx 7