Bespoke finishing diet drives fast lamb performance
For Martin Taylor-Lloyd, farm manager at Brockton House Farm near Telford, efficiency and fast lamb finishing is everything.
On his 2,000-acre unit, around 30,000 to 50,000 store lambs and ewes are finished each year. The scale of the operation means nutrition must be both consistent and powerful enough to achieve rapid growth without compromising lamb health.
“Our system is built around fast finishing and high turnover,” Martin explains. “We need lambs to gain weight quickly and leave the farm within three or four weeks of arrival. To do that, nutrition must be spot-on every time and support excellent daily liveweight gains (DLWG).”
Balancing performance and rumen health
Lambs are purchased from market, delivered and then given three days to settle on the farm before receiving a mineral drench, weight check and electronic ear tags. They’re then introduced to HJ Lea Oakes store finisher pellets, fed at around 1kg per head per day, before moving onto a newly developed finishing ration, Maximuscle 14, which contains Actisaf® live yeast.
“We weigh lambs weekly to track performance and ensure we’re doing our job properly,” says Martin. “We’ll start drawing from lambs for slaughter after only two to three weeks, depending on growth gains, and by week four everything is gone, off the farm.
“To achieve that turnaround we need strong DLWG, but the lambs also must stay healthy and settled. It’s about finding the right balance between energy intakes and maintaining rumen stability and health.”
Developing a new diet
Prior to feeding Maximuscle, Martin scoured the market for a finishing diet that would fit his system but couldn’t find anything that could deliver what he wanted.
“That’s when we started to look at the possibility of formulating a bespoke diet to support our lamb enterprise,” explains Martin. “So, I contacted HJ Lea Oakes to see if we could develop something specifically for our system, and luckily Joe took up the challenge.”
“Martin already had a very efficient finishing setup, but I felt it was time to really start pushing the lambs and start challenging what we could achieve,” recalls Joe Stone, Technical Sales Advisor at HJ Lea Oakes. “Our goal was to refine a ration so he could safely push performance even further.”
After an initial consultation period and analysis of the lambs’ current diet, the pair then spent more than a year testing different feed formulations.
“Early on we were getting around 200g DLWG, which was good but not good enough,” says Martin. “We kept adjusting and pushing the starch and sugar levels and reached 400 grams a day, but then we started seeing signs of acidosis and knew we needed to rein things in a bit.”
Joe continues: “We’d reached the tipping point where the ration was a bit too potent. In response, we reduced the starch and sugar levels slightly and doubled the dose of Actisaf® live yeast to help stabilise the rumen. The results were excellent, with no more acidosis, calmer lambs, better intakes and higher DLWG.”
The role of Actisaf and on-farm results
Actisaf® live yeast works by stimulating beneficial microbes, reducing lactic acid build-up and maintaining a stable rumen pH, all of which help prevent acidosis and improve digestion and feed efficiency. Trials in lambs supplemented with Actisaf® have recorded a 10% increase in average DLWG and over 1kg higher carcass weight per lamb across a typical finishing period.
For Martin, the benefits of including Actisaf® into the diet have been clear.
“Once we tweaked the ration and added more Actisaf, lambs became far more settled, and performance lifted again. We’re now consistently seeing between 400-500g DLWG, which is enabling us to get lambs finished quickly and give us the three-week turnaround we need.
“We supply lambs to Pickstock Foods, who we’ve got a really good relationship with. As such, we’re able to follow lambs all the way through to slaughter and see them hanging on the hook. The quality of the end product we’re producing and the feedback on carcass consistency is excellent.”
Launching Maximuscle 14
Following the success on Martin’s farm, HJ Lea Oakes has now launched Maximuscle 14 as a commercial product, available to all their customers.
“It’s been formulated using what we learned at Brockton House Farm,” says Joe. “It’s a low-protein, high-energy finishing pellet with a double inclusion of Actisaf® live yeast. The feed supports fast growth, strong rumen function and overall animal well-being.
Available as a 4mm pellet or 6mm nut, Maximuscle 14 also contains ammonium chloride to reduce the risk of urinary calculi in tup lambs, meaning ewe and ram lambs can be run together. A full vitamin and mineral package is included to support immune health and carcass quality.
“Our focus was to create a ration that gives serious finishing ability while also keeping stock healthy,” Joe adds. “By working closely with farmers like Martin and using proven ingredients such as Actisaf®, we can develop feeds that genuinely make a difference on-farm.
“At HJ Lea Oakes, we pride ourselves on the relationships we have with our customers. Their success is our success, and I’m so pleased by what we achieved with Martin.”
For Martin, the new ration has become central to the way his system now operates.
“It’s made a real difference to how we finish lambs,” Martin concludes. “The feed keeps them settled, improves efficiency and helps us hit the quick turnaround we’re aiming for. It’s now a vital part of how we run the business.”