Ewes x hectare

[Kazak]

As title says.. how many ewes x hectare are people keeping here including replacements??

Keeping 10 to 11 x hectare here on old pp....starting to think if i’d be better off keeping less x hectare and reducing meal, dosing, fert etc..
They do eat grass quick enough at actual rate...[emoji12]

 

[Green farmer]

I keep 10 medium sized ewes / hectare on mixed lowland old permanent pasture, and struggle with that. don’t think she’d handle any more. If everything was perfect anything over 12 and the profitability apparently goes out of it.

 

[Sheep92]

Keeping 12 here but cutting back to 10 nxt year, costs gone out of control this year with extra meal and fert costs

 

[Al R]

10 ewes/ha of clean ground, all organic with some 35yo PP’s. Also 15-20% of the farm is always out of grass due to cereals/turnips.

 

[newbie]

Do you all keep them at 10/hectare all year or do they go on winter keep elsewhere?
I'm only at 5/hectare on old permanent pasture just off the moor. Could stock higher in summer but would make a real mess over winter if I had any more.
I guess it's a horses for courses type question this. There are so many variables.

 

[Al R]

Exactly there’s a lot of variables... mine are on it all year but some go onto the unclean ground which is like mountain/hill land so winters very well as no depth of soil.

 

[Green farmer]

Do you all keep them at 10/hectare all year or do they go on winter keep elsewhere?

Part of my ground is on gravel / sandy land, so that helps for wintering. So does having rotational paddocks. Getting lambs gone by September ( something I’m not great at ) would reduce burden on the land further. Then if you put sheep into a shed would make a difference as well. Running smaller sheep helps as well.

 

[Coximus]

I'm upping from 9 to 11 this year due to stricter rotation and dm/cover management with tight stocking in August to allow the fields to put cover on for winter. It also means after they come off tight stocking in Sept they flush on the grass. For me beyond this costs risee in line with increased income and beyond 14 (trued 28 ewes at thus last year) the cost increase exeeds income rises.
Through better pasture management use and better seed in future I hope to aim for 12-14 on all grass and all grass winter but it is requiring smaller ewes and making sure the ground and grass variety are the best for the ground. So far witout any n fertilizer. Muck only brought in to fix fields at 0 index.

 

[Ysgythan]

3 to the Acre is about 7.5 per ha. Plus followers. More than enough.

 

[Aspiring Peasant]

5 (per acre) in summer until aftermaths available falling to 2 in winter. Most housed in Jan.