A herb and legume sward mix increased ewe milk production and ewe and lamb live weight gain to weaning compared to a ryegrass dominant sward

This study investigated the potential of a mixed herb sward to improve production of multiple-bearing ewes and their offspring compared to a ryegrass dominant sward. Forty four twin-bearing (twin) and 42 triplet-bearing (triplet) mixed-aged Romney ewes that were a maximum of 140 days pregnant (P140) were randomly allocated to one of two nutritional treatments being: a mix of chicory, plantain, white and red clover (Herb), or a ryegrass dominant sward (Ryegrass) to form the following groups: twin Ryegrass n = 22, triplet Ryegrass n = 20, twin Herb n = 22 and triplet Herb n = 22. Ewes and their lambs remained on these herbage treatments until 66 days after the mid-point of lambing (L66). By L66, ewes grazing the Herb treatment compared to ewes on the Ryegrass treatment were heavier (P<0.05; 70.9 ± 1.17 kg versus 66.1 ± 1.15 kg) and had higher (P<0.05) body condition scores (2.8 ± 0.07 versus 2.4 ± 0.07, respectively). Ewes grazing the Herb treatment produced more milk (P<0.05) at each of the three sampling periods (3137 ± 161.3 versus 2613 ± 148.1 at day 7, 3280 ± 148.8 versus 2483 ± 153.1 at day 14 and 3237 ± 131.8 mL versus 2428 ± 136.2 mL at day 21). Lambs from ewes grazing the Herb treatment were heavier (P<0.05) at L22 (10.36 ± 0.274 kg versus 9.29 ± 0.272 kg) and L66 (20.67 ± 0.490 kg versus 17.55 ± 0.493 kg). The higher live weights (LW) were due to higher (P<0.05) LW gains of Herb lambs between birth and L22 (298 ± 10.8 g/day versus 245 ± 10.7 g/day) and between L39 and L66 (268 ± 16.2 g/day versus 179 ± 15.9 g/day). Herb triplet-bearing ewes produced more (P<0.05) total lamb LW by L66 than Ryegrass triplet-bearing ewes (45.70 ± 3.051 kg versus 28.26 ± 3.203 kg, respectively). Results demonstrate that a herb sward mix can improve multiple ewe and lamb performance compared to a ryegrass dominant sward.