Early Lamb Producers to Gain from Earlier Finish
04/03/05

The vast majority of English early lamb producers could boost their profits by as much as £2.50/lamb by cutting just one week from the industry standard 20-week rearing time, according to the latest English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) calculations.

For a typical 20-week rearing system, EBLEX establishes that producing 38kg lambs one week earlier than normal will require an extra liveweight gain of only 13g/day; an improvement that is proven by on-farm studies to be easily achievable within almost any existing feeding and management regime.

With conservative estimates putting production costs at 12-14p/head/day for early lamb finishing on a fairly standard ration, reducing the finishing period by seven days offers the prospect of immediate economies of nearly £1/head. These will, of course, be very much greater with more costly finishing systems. At the same time, reducing days to slaughter gives additional economies in labour, finance and other overhead costs.

EBLEX stresses that the value of faster finishing is even greater when lamb prices are falling, as they invariably tend to in late spring/early summer. Selling 38kg lambs one week earlier into a market in which the average weekly liveweight sale price is dropping by 4p/kg, for instance, adds over £1.50/lamb to the bottom line.

Taken together with the immediate production cost savings, the overall benefit of the relatively modest reduction in days to slaughter can easily add up to £2.50/lamb (Table).

Table: The Extra Profit from Finishing a 38kg Lamb One Week Earlier

A recent Defra-funded project run by Signet Breeding Services has shown that using rams with high Eight Week Weight and Scan Weight EBVs can reduce the time to slaughter on already very efficient units by fully 13 days, as well as increasing carcase weights by an average 0.5kg. At a 12p/day production cost and £2.60/kg deadweight price, this gave an overall financial benefit of £2.86 for earlier finishing before taking account of any changes in the market price.

On the management side, EBLEX advises early lamb producers to introduce creep feed early; give lambs plenty of space and provide sufficient feeders in the creep area; extend the creep area as lambs get older; ensure good access to clean water; provide salt blocks to prevent urinary calculi; and use preventative treatments to reduce the coccidiosis challenge.