Sheep Photo Thread

OneMan37

razor8 wrote: »

IMO there’s a balance. Running a 60kg ewes means your selling most of offspring after Xmas or selling small stores putting pressure on grass

Are you not better keep a bigger ewe and have your lambs off the farm end of sept finished?

I know what you mean. But selling after Christmas would generally give you more for your lamb than selling in September anyway.

But maybe that just me as I lamb late anyway to catch the price rise after Christmas anyway.

Green farmer

razor8 wrote: »

IMO there’s a balance. Running a 60kg ewes means your selling most of offspring after Xmas or selling small stores putting pressure on grass

Are you not better keep a bigger ewe and have your lambs off the farm end of sept finished?

Maybe, no right or wrong answer. I suppose whatever ewe suits your setup best really. I just like working with the medium sized ewe and content with a 18-20kg lamb.

weatherbyfoxer

razor8 wrote: »

IMO there’s a balance. Running a 60kg ewes means your selling most of offspring after Xmas or selling small stores putting pressure on grass

Are you not better keep a bigger ewe and have your lambs off the farm end of sept finished?

a 60kg ewe is an awful small sheep especially for a lowland ewe...especially when you'd be looking for a ewe lamb to weight 50kg+ going to a ram

wrangler

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

a 60kg ewe is an awful small sheep especially for a lowland ewe...especially when you'd be looking for a ewe lamb to weight 50kg+ going to a ram

Our ewes average 70k and ewe lambs 43+ kg, they do the same job with half the work. always selling the lambs at max weight

weatherbyfoxer

wrangler wrote: »

Our ewes average 70k and ewe lambs 43+ kg, they do the same job with half the work. always selling the lambs at max weight

a 70-75kg ewe would be what we are aiming for here...some of muled here are 85kg+. a recent observation here was the extra time the mules spent at the bales of haylage compaired to llyen type ones.

razor8

Are you not better have the majority of your lambs gone in sept/Oct rather than carrying that amount of lambs into the next year. I would imagine you are curtailing your stocking rate substantially

What ever gains you are making in a better price after Xmas you are losing on the number of lambs sold?

OneMan37

Agree Razor. But it’s better for me to only lamb 50/60 ewes. Lambing is the most intensive work wise. Not a lot of work involved keeping lambs until they are 50kg Hoggs in March.

razor8

OneMan37 wrote: »

Agree Razor. But it’s better for me to only lamb 50/60 ewes. Lambing is the most intensive work wise. Not a lot of work involved keeping lambs until they are 50kg Hoggs in March.

Agree with you there but your not farming to maximise profit made?

weatherbyfoxer

some of the inlamb ewe lambs that were brought in today..very happy with them considering they are only on a small bit of ration for the past 5 days

Kevhog1988

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

some of the inlamb ewe lambs that were brought in today..very happy with them considering they are only on a small bit of ration for the past 5 days

Theyre in great order

OneMan37

razor8 wrote: »

Agree with you there but your not farming to maximise profit made?

I’ve never seen any study’s or research to say profits are maximised either way. I know this way cuts down on a lot of work and sleepless night during lambing season tho. As I lamb less ewes, but get more for my finished lamb.

Dinzee Conlee

razor8 wrote: »

Agree with you there but your not farming to maximise profit made?

That’s an interesting one...

Are any perceived losses from reduced sticking rate, offset by an increase in sales price of the lamb?

I tried to maximise profit this year, and bought a few too many store lambs than I probably should have...
I think I might have been better off buying less and so have less inputs maybe...

Kevhog1988

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

That’s an interesting one...

Are any perceived losses from reduced sticking rate, offset by an increase in sales price of the lamb?

I tried to maximise profit this year, and bought a few too many store lambs than I probably should have...
I think I might have been better off buying less and so have less inputs maybe...

was it a mortality or cost to produce issue?. would have thought anyone with store lambs made a good margin on them this year provided they bought in at a decent price

Green farmer

OneMan37 wrote: »

I’ve never seen any study’s or research to say profits are maximised either way.

I've a friend that halved his ewe flock a few years back. He said that in the lambing year directly after that, he had near the same numbers amount of live lambs on the ground with half the ewes. They say a ewes biggest enemy is another ewe , Makes you wonder ?

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

I've a friend that halved his ewe flock a few years back. He said that in the lambing year directly after that, he had near the same numbers amount of live lambs on the ground with half the ewes. They say a ewes biggest enemy is another ewe , Makes you wonder ?

Depends on whether he was over stocked, also you needn't judge every year on this year, you saw lambs being a bad price through January february before..
We sold 130 lambs off ten acres last year, I can't see halving the numbers improving that unless the ewes start to breed and rear litters,
If you don't have the lambs you're not going to have profit, your fixed costs per acre aren't going to change that much, you're not going to get any better prices for lambs because there's a weight limit, the only way your friend doubled his output was that he neglected them the year before and let them die

Young95

wrangler wrote: »

Depends on whether he was over stocked, also you needn't judge every year on this year, you saw lambs being a bad price through January february before..
We sold 130 lambs off ten acres last year, I can't see halving the numbers improving that unless the ewes start to breed and rear litters,
If you don't have the lambs you're not going to have profit, your fixed costs per acre aren't going to change that much, you're not going to get any better prices for lambs because there's a weight limit, the only way your friend doubled his output was that he neglected them the year before and let them die

It’s funny I’ve a friend who is always going on saying there’s no money in sheep . Which for him is true since he’s only selling around 1.3 lambs from his ewes .. he’s no interest in changing either . A lot of sheep farmers are doing what there fathers on so on did before them !

OneMan37

Green farmer wrote: »

I've a friend that halved his ewe flock a few years back. He said that in the lambing year directly after that, he had near the same numbers amount of live lambs on the ground with half the ewes. They say a ewes biggest enemy is another ewe , Makes you wonder ?

Interesting. I’m lambing 55 ewes this year, will keep lambs until they reach Hoggs early 2022 or even keep some ewe lambs until summer 2022 and sell as Hoggs. This suits me as I have the ground. But if I changed this system and started lambing 70/80/90 ewes I’d get tired of lambing. Besides my shed can only lamb 35/40 ewes at a time anyway. Only other scenario is I could lamb out side.

Dinzee Conlee

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

was it a mortality or cost to produce issue?. would have thought anyone with store lambs made a good margin on them this year provided they bought in at a decent price

Ah, the good prices this year will save me Kev...

I made a few mistakes this year, had 2 dead that shouldn't have been..
But, too many mouths meant the grass didn't go as far, so bit more inputs...

We'll do ok this year, but I must remember not to be so confident next autumn

This isnt a bad year to be caught, but not al years have good prices. So store lambs is as much about how cheaply you can do them as anything...

Kevhog1988

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Ah, the good prices this year will save me Kev...

I made a few mistakes this year, had 2 dead that shouldn't have been..
But, too many mouths meant the grass didn't go as far, so bit more inputs...

We'll do ok this year, but I must remember not to be so confident next autumn

This isnt a bad year to be caught, but not al years have good prices. So store lambs is as much about how cheaply you can do them as anything...

Its something I want to do next year so I've a spreadsheet built to "forecast" profit/loss. Would need to be getting them at 25kg or over for under €65/70 to make a profit i think. The teagasc one didn't really include enough inputs for my liking.

Green farmer

Green farmer wrote: »

I've a friend that halved his ewe flock a few years back. He said that in the lambing year directly after that, he had near the same numbers amount of live lambs on the ground with half the ewes. They say a ewes biggest enemy is another ewe , Makes you wonder ?

A very sharp man I know said the best thing he ever did was reducing numbers. This guy would regularly top the prices at the local ram sales. I've been on his farm, his ewes reminded me of types my dad would have had back in the early 90's.

Dinzee Conlee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

A very sharp man I know said the best thing he ever did was reducing numbers. This guy would regularly top the prices at the local ram sales. I've been on his farm, his ewes reminded me of types my dad would have had back in the early 90's.

Big long sheep, or what kinda sheep Herd?

Dinzee Conlee

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Big long sheep, or what kinda sheep Herd?

Hill flock, the ewes would be longer yeah.

Kevhog1988

They want to be in the shed

20210209_085744 by Kevin Hogan, on Flickr

OneMan37

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

They want to be in the shed

20210209_085744 by Kevin Hogan, on Flickr

Thanks. Lovely photo. Large field some scope.

Kevhog1988

OneMan37 wrote: »

Thanks. Lovely photo. Large field some scope.

Brought them in today. Got a break from work as eir came to work on our line so I nipped out and brought them in. They're not spoilt for space in the shed but at least I need not worry about beast from the east weather they are forecasting.


https://flic.kr/p/2kAhVhF

eire23

Lambing about to kick off here, hoping weather picks up, had the horned ewes in for their hep vaccination last week as well. Bolused all the ewes late last year with the mayo 6 month bolus with high copper. Sheep seem In great shape whether it has anything to do with it or not but I'll be using it again.

Tileman

eire23 wrote: »

Lambing about to kick off here, hoping weather picks up, had the horned ewes in for their hep vaccination last week as well. Bolused all the ewes late last year with the mayo 6 month bolus with high copper. Sheep seem In great shape whether it has anything to do with it or not but I'll be using it again.

Are they on slats Eire?

eire23

Tileman wrote: »

Are they on slats Eire?

They are surely, a mix of timber and plastic

Kevhog1988

eire23 wrote: »

They are surely, a mix of timber and plastic

Which do you rate better?

eire23

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Which do you rate better?

Plastic is prob better but at 3 times the price of timber it would want to be. Generally get 10 years out of the timber slats before they need replacing, not sure how long the plastic ones will last

razor8

eire23 wrote: »

Lambing about to kick off here, hoping weather picks up, had the horned ewes in for their hep vaccination last week as well. Bolused all the ewes late last year with the mayo 6 month bolus with high copper. Sheep seem In great shape whether it has anything to do with it or not but I'll be using it again.

How did your hilltex sheep scan

Look in super condition

eire23

razor8 wrote: »

How did your hilltex sheep scan

Look in super condition

Their wicklow cheviot Cross razor, They scanned 1.8, a few three's in but their not to bad for it. Their in good shape alright

Farmer Dan

Happier times..... last week.
Hopefully weather improves next week as promised.
Rough weather the last few days on lambs out.

Farmer Dan

Happier times..... last week.
Hopefully weather improves next week as promised.
Rough weather the last few days on lambs out.

Limestone Cowboy

3 week old pb texel ram lamb.

Green farmer

Nearly finished shearing himself

OneMan37

https://www.donedeal.ie/sheep-for-sale/hilltex-hogs/27787958

Selling these, not sure what to ask, or what they are worth tin todays market, payed 95e for them last Aug ?

Dinzee Conlee

OneMan37 wrote: »

https://www.donedeal.ie/sheep-for-sale/hilltex-hogs/27787958

Selling these, not sure what to ask, or what they are worth tin todays market, payed 95e for them last Aug ?

I dont have an answer for you am afraid, my first comment is you need to sell them Oneman?

I think the price for hog is going down in the factory, but I don't know if they would be factory fit? I dont know what price they might make in the mart, but you'd imagine it would be linked to the factory price.

On Donedeal, might as well ask the most you can, you can always come down... So maybe 160/170euro?
Have seen a few lads on here comment that the hogget trade come August should be good, but August is a bit away, especially when grass is tight...

eire23

Had the oldest of the lambs in today for a run through the foot bath, scald is a bit of the problem with the dry weather.didn't dose for nemo yet as no dirty arses shown yet. Majority of this lot are nz Suffolk x lleyn, some of them are shaping up well. Would have been born around 15th of March on.

razor8

eire23 wrote: »

Had the oldest of the lambs in today for a run through the foot bath, scald is a bit of the problem with the dry weather.didn't dose for nemo yet as no dirty arses shown yet. Majority of this lot are nz Suffolk x lleyn, some of them are shaping up well. Would have been born around 15th of March on.

Have you a creep feeder out?

eire23

razor8 wrote: »

Have you a creep feeder out?

No, their not as heavy as ya would think. Plenty of good grass under them though and their thriving well.

k mac

eire23 wrote: »

No, their not as heavy as ya would think. Plenty of good grass under them though and their thriving well.

Fine lambs. Will you factory them. If so when do you think they would be fit. That depends I suppose on if grass alone or creeping them

eire23

k mac wrote: »

Fine lambs. Will you factory them. If so when do you think they would be fit. That depends I suppose on if grass alone or creeping them

Ya I factory everything, might sell a few ewe lambs though. Hopefully be some fit from the middle/end of June all going well.

k mac

eire23 wrote: »

Ya I factory everything, might sell a few ewe lambs though. Hopefully be some fit from the middle/end of June all going well.

Just off grass or with meal

Kevhog1988

Screenshot_20210508-200752_WhatsApp by Kevin Hogan, on Flickr

Im impressed with the zwarbtle x lambs. Up and sucked within minutes

Bleating Lamb

eire23 wrote: »

Had the oldest of the lambs in today for a run through the foot bath, scald is a bit of the problem with the dry weather.didn't dose for nemo yet as no dirty arses shown yet. Majority of this lot are nz Suffolk x lleyn, some of them are shaping up well. Would have been born around 15th of March on.

The no 45 ewe earning her keep this year.....great pair of lambs:)

Kevhog1988

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Screenshot_20210508-200752_WhatsApp by Kevin Hogan, on Flickr

Im impressed with the zwarbtle x lambs. Up and sucked within minutes

Is it your first year with the Zwart? I had a ram for a few years but cashed him in early this year, he and anything out of him were always dirty which lead to fly issues each year.

Kevhog1988

Deleted User wrote: »

Is it your first year with the Zwart? I had a ram for a few years but cashed him in early this year, he and anything out of him were always dirty which lead to fly issues each year.

yeah first year with them but bought him off a fella i know with years who keeps a good few of them. he didnt have any issues with them thta way i dont think

weatherbyfoxer

few of the llyen x texels with their llyen lambs,hoping to change the whole flock to these over the next few years

eire23

Few pictures from the last while, handy uploading them now! First two are ewe lambs, cheviot x in the first amd nz Suffolk x in the second. Last two are some factory lambs... Lambs are flying the year apart from the heat wave. They seemed to stall that week I thought.