Increasing the number of lambs reared when breeding from ewe lambs in a lowland situation usually leads to improved profitability. The effect of pre-mating shearing on lambing rate, lamb birthweights and their subsequent growth rates was evaluated.

Two hundred and twenty (Blue-faced Leicester x Swaledale) ewe lambs were purchased in early mid-September over a period of 3 years (1988-90). They were offered 225 g of whole barley per head daily until housing in early January. Half of each intake was shorn approximately 7 days after arrival and on average 31 days prior to joining with entire Suffolk rams. Ewe lambs from both treatments were run together as one group and remained with the rams for three cycles.