Conor Hennessy is a part-time farmer in Tullogher, South Kilkenny, running a family farm with his father, who has farmed the land all his life. They keep Texel, Suffolk, and Belclare sheep alongside Charolais cattle. The land is generally good, but there’s a well-known copper and selenium deficiency in the area. Conor purchases his Natural Stockcare products through his local Tirlán branch.
“In the last five years here on the farm we switched to mineral drenches,” Conor says. “We noticed across our livestock, sheep and cattle, every animal — I could see the benefit from the mineral drench.”
Twin Plus: Litter Sizes and Scan Rates Climbing
Conor uses Twin Plus as part of the flock’s pre-tupping and pre-lambing programme. The first dose goes into the ewes four to five weeks before they go to the ram. “It brings up the body condition score — the ewes to 3 to 3.5, where we want it at lambing.”
A second dose follows a month before lambing. “This ensures that there’s less risk of twin lamb disease here on the farm, but also gives highly vigorous lambs.”
The numbers back it up. “We’ve seen the litter sizes and scan rates increase in the flock since we began to use the product. We’re up around two to two point one lambs per ewe now every year.”
On a part-time farm where labour is limited and every lamb counts, getting ewes into the right condition before tupping — and keeping them there through late pregnancy — is the foundation everything else is built on.
Stockline: Addressing Copper Deficiency Before Sales
Copper deficiency is visible on the farm through the summer months. “A lot of our cattle, weanlings and calves, their coats go a small bit brown,” Conor explains. “That’s due to the lack of copper here in the land.”
Stockline addresses that directly. The product includes copper alongside a broad vitamin and trace element profile, and Conor uses it in the summer months — specifically six weeks before sales.
“When using Stockline, it increases the daily liveweight gain in the animals and it helps animals meet their target weights.” The coat colour comes back too, which matters when stock are heading for the ring.
For land with a known copper deficiency, supplementing through the drench rather than relying on boluses or licks gives a more consistent intake across the group — particularly important with weanlings and younger cattle that may not take to licks evenly.
Two Years In, Sticking With It
Conor has been using both products for two years now. “We’ve seen an increase in the average daily liveweight gain. We’ve seen an increase in the scan rates in our flock. It’s a really easy product to use and we’ll definitely continue using it going forward.”
To find out more about Twin Plus and Stockline, visit the full product range or get in touch with the Natural Stockcare team.
