Ram harnesses are a useful tool, helping to identify potentially dry ewes early and indicate lambing dates which helps with feed allocation, particularly in late pregnancy.
Ram harnesses can also show whether or not rams are working, which is valuable when single-sire mating.
Changing the crayon every seven to 10 days will indicate when ewes were mated and their expected lambing dates. This allows for targeted feeding, particularly in late pregnancy, which can help optimise birth weights and ewe condition. Ewe body condition influences lactation and pre-weaning growth rates.
Ewes mated in the first cycle or colours can be drafted off, to help manage autumn feed.
Harness colours can also be used to identify which ram mated which ewes. This can be useful when using terminal sires to avoid keeping terminal-cross ewe lambs as replacements.
At the end of mating, unmarked ewes are unlikely to be pregnant. This means they can be drafted off and sold early, rather than waiting until scanning. This reduces late autumn and early winter demand.
Ram harnesses are a particularly valuable tool when mating hoggets. Hoggets without a mark can be managed on lower liveweight-gain targets over winter (or sold) while their pregnant flock mates can be priority fed.
Even if not mating hoggets, use of a teaser with a harness can help identify which hoggets cycle – an indicator of higher lifetime fecundity.
More information
- Making every mating count (PDF, 2.1MB).
- Optimising flock performance in challenging environments (PDF, 247KB).