Lamb weight gain question

[Becs]

Hi,
I'm looking for some thoughts/advice regarding my lambs:
I got the younger lambs in yesterday to weigh and am a bit disappointed with their weights.
They were born in the first 2 weeks in April so oldest would be 11 1/2 weeks.
Mules x Charollaise, mule x suffolks and mule x texels.
Lambs have had FEC every 3 weeks and have not needed any treatments to date (Have Coxy buckets)
Weighed about 1/3 of the lambs which looked the biggest and their weights were from 29kg -35.5kg
They look very well - no loses since turn-out. Spotless backsides. Ewes have been in good condition throughout the lambing period, apart from the odd skinny.
No creep fed to lambs.
The sheep are on old permanent pasture land that only has cow muck spread on it. They get moved frequently and cattle graze in between.
From my calculations (maths isn't my stongest point!) if the lambs weighed on average 5kg, their weekly weight gain is only around 2.2kg, which seems pretty poor (I think?).
How can I improve this in future?
Is it down to breeding, the grass or should I look into blood-testing them? Some of the lambs have scabby ears (which I believe could indicate a deficiency) but only the charollaise ones who have pink, wool-less ears.

Thanks if you've got this far!

And finally, as the lambs have clean backsides, can I hold off the Clikzin for a bit?

 

[BAW]

If my calculator is right, if your lightest lambs are 80 days old that means they're doing 0.3g/day which is very good if you ask me, perhaps I've worked it out wrong

 

[cotswoldcs]

Awful. Stick them all on a lorry and you can swap with my oldest lambs, completely free of charge. ;-)

I don't think you are doing too badly. I'm not even considering weighing my light lambs as it will only depress me. What was the variation in the lambs - ie how small was the lightest?

No losses since turnout - you really aren't doing a bad job at all!

I'd get the Clikzin done in this weather provided you think you will sell them all before it wares off. Better to get them protected now. How about doing the lighter ones with Clik?

 

[GreenerGrass]

Every time I read about people on here finishing the lambs in extra quick time it invariably turns out that they are on new leys or have been sneaking them a few bags of cake or buckets. Funny they don't focus too much on that, but praise their super sheep and superb stockmanship!

My white sheep sometimes have scabby ears, I ran it past @bovine and he said it wasn't concerning. I blood tested my ewes earlier in the year and all was well there.

To try and improve my own flock performance I am increasing the clover in the permanent pasture, it seems the simplest thing to do and will benefit for years to come.

 

[Stewartry hill]

They are doing as well as mine or better young grass and creep feed will get them away faster you pay you're money and take your chances

 

[yellowbelly]

IMHO anything over 250g/day off nothing other than perm. pasture is fine. Fancy growth rates of 450-500g/day are perfectly achievable but you'd need to select tups with EBV figures for good growth rates and be offering ad lib creep. It would be a bit of a risk for april born lambs as they are likely to be ready when traditionally the price starts to slip. That way you incur the cost and stand not to benefit from the better price.
Expect them to average about 0.5kg/hd/day, with a FCR of 5:1 and be 40kg in about 100 days.
For those of us that have been creeping feb/march born lambs it has paid well this year but, rest assured, it is not always thus

 

[tepapa]

Sounds like your doing a good job, lambs averaging over 300g/day on permenant pasture.
Keep an eye on the weights, if their still growing at 2.2kgs a week the 35kg lambs will be 40kgs in a fortnight, if you keep them that long.

 

[AvonValleyFarmer]

I think your lambs are growing just fine. As for the clikzin I'd do them personally, dirty or not. It's expensive but the peace of mind it gives is priceless

 

[GrannyAching]

I think your lambs are growing just fine. As for the clikzin I'd do them personally, dirty or not. It's expensive but the peace of mind it gives is priceless

However, check the withdrawal period if you think you will want to send lambs to mart soon

 

[Becs]

Thanks very much for the replies and the reassurance that the lambs aren't as slow as I thought. I'll Clikzen this flock today then as they've got another couple of weeks before I draw from them. I'm going to weigh the lambs that are in my flock on rented ground this weekend and that were born last week in March to see if any of them may possibly be ready next week and, if they're not close to being ready either, they'll get their Clikzen too.
It would be nice to get some away before that price bottoms out!

 

[GrannyAching]

However, check the withdrawal period if you think you will want to send lambs to mart soon

Just checked for myself and clikzin is only seven days.

 

[DB67]

Clikzin is great for piece of mind even if your selling lambs in a few weeks. Doesn't take long for lambs to get struck, especially tight skinned ones.

Clik for longer keep lambs.

 

[scatterbrainedlass]

Personally I'd be happy with that, planning to weigh in the next few days and if our early April born lambs are in the region of 30kg I'll be happy. No creep, and grass is by no means exceptional!