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Livestock - Grasstrac Booklet - 09

“I benefited from changing to Grasstrac Sheep Special”
John Nisbet - Berwickshire

Farm Profile
This 500-acre farm lies in the Scottish Borders at 350 feet. There are 200 acres of crops and the remainder grass. 80 acres are permanent and 220 acres rotational grass. The soil is a light to medium sandy loam and clover growth is good but cobalt deficiency is a big problem in the area.

The Stock
Livestock comprise 400 mainly Scottish Halfbred ewes put to Texel rams and 100 Hereford x Friesian breeding cows run with Aberdeen Angus bulls. Indoor lambing is quite tight, from 5th March to 5th April and the ewes and lambs are quickly turned out to fresh grass growth from mid-March. Lambing percentage is around 170% lambs reared. All lambs are sold fat off their mothers at St Boswells Auction.

The Problem
John used a cobalt spray but its rising cost and the fact that he did not have his own sprayer caused difficulties. He also used a wormer with added selenium.

The Grasstrac Sheep Special Experience
Since using Grasstrac Sheep Special, the lambs have a better bloom and oily skin finish rather than the ‘dried’ appearance which they often had previously. The lambs finish in more even batches for marketing and there are no tail-enders or stragglers.

Approximately 120 acres are treated annually. In the future John is considering using Grasstrac for his sucklers, which only get a slight benefit at present, when they graze treated fields periodically. John is also considering treating grass conserved as big-bale silage.