What ewe bolus to use pre tupping

Paddy Donnelly pictured winning first prize in the "Ewe Lambs" flock competition 2019

I strongly believe that trace element supplementation contributes to the overall results of good farm management.

I have been using boluses for over a decade on my flock. There are plenty of options out on the market.

In Autumn 2017, I decided to trial out the new Mayo Healthcare All Guard Ewe bolus on part of my flock to see how it would compare to the Bolus I was currently using.

Initially, what attracted me to the bolus, was that it is the strongest Ewe bolus I could find on the market. I am a firm believer in the importance of cobalt, and the Mayo Healthcare Bolus has nearly double the cobalt of its nearest competitor. It is really easy to administer. The bolus has an extreme high density and therefore is a lot smaller than the previous pre-tupping boluses I used.

RESULTS

I was delighted with the comparison in Autumn 2017. The ewes with the Mayo Healthcare bolus scanned at 1.96 per ewe. They seemed to go in lamb more easily. Obviously, in Autumn 2018 and 2019, I just used the Mayo Health Care bolus and did not trial it against any other bolus.

The lambs were livelier and thrived a lot better when born. I noticed hoof health was a lot better, which could have been down to the addition of Zinc.

I used the “All Guard Ewe 5in1” which had 4g of copper on the Suffolks, and the “All Guard Ewe 4in1” which has no copper on the Texels.

Last year for the first time, I am started to use the Tupmaster drench along with the bolus. I was using an extremely good mineral drench from another manufacturer, but apart from the Higher Levels of Chelated Minerals and Vitamins, the most attractive thing about the Mayo Healthcare Drench, was the fact Propylene Glycol is the main carrier in their drench. It is pure energy for the Ewes, to help make sure their Energy levels are right.

Negative Energy Levels have a negative effect on fertility, so I am confident that using a propylene glycol based energy drench, helped to reverse any low energy status.

I have had great results from the “All Guard Ewe” on its own, but I think the combination of the bolus and Tupmaster together, meant I had a very tight lambing period, with only a few empties in the whole flock.

If anyone would like to know more about my results using the “All Guard Ewe” bolus and Tupmaster, or about my selection of Suffolk and Texel ram lambs and females available for sale, please feel free to give me a call on: (078) 02625521.