Bedding and lameness.

Nekarsulm

Hi everyone, just throwing out a question. Last year I bedded the ewes on a mixture of barley and oaten straw, and had a good bit of lameness. At one stage it seemed like 10% were limping about. This winter, due to the good weather last summer, I had cleared up a few rushy fields and round baled it. Bedded the sheep on the rushes, some of which had a nice bit of hay included, and had only one lame ewe. was I just lucky, or is there any other explanation?

Username John

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Hi everyone, just throwing out a question. Last year I bedded the ewes on a mixture of barley and oaten straw, and had a good bit of lameness. At one stage it seemed like 10% were limping about. This winter, due to the good weather last summer, I had cleared up a few rushy fields and round baled it. Bedded the sheep on the rushes, some of which had a nice bit of hay included, and had only one lame ewe. was I just lucky, or is there any other explanation?

Would there be a link between how much straw you used vs how much rushes you used?
When rushes are plentiful, did you throw it out a lot heavier than the straw? :P

Nekarsulm

That may be a significant factor, all right...:) But at the same time, they were never "dirty" on the straw. On the plus side, I have enough bedding for the next 5 years in the shed:o

A lad who would know a lot more about sheep that I would, claimed that straw always seemed to cause CODD in sheep.

eire23

Nekarsulm wrote: »

That may be a significant factor, all right...:) But at the same time, they were never "dirty" on the straw. On the plus side, I have enough bedding for the next 5 years in the shed:o

A lad who would know a lot more about sheep that I would, claimed that straw always seemed to cause CODD in sheep.

It probably makes great bedding alright but when its thrown in the dungheap and then spread back on the land are you not just spreading rush seed on land that might previously have no problem with rushes? Thats the bit that would bother me!

razor8

eire23 wrote: »

It probably makes great bedding alright but when its thrown in the dungheap and then spread back on the land are you not just spreading rush seed on land that might previously have no problem with rushes? Thats the bit that would bother me!

That point came up at our last stap meeting and lads using it were convinced it doesn't spread once it is dried and dead. Would be wary or chancing it myself

Nekarsulm

Well you hear statistics quoted, form time to time, that rush seeds survive 30 years in the soil, and that there could be something like 10,000 seeds per sq. yard of land, So I think that as long as the conditions are not favourable for them to germinate, (waterlogged, pH wrong, etc) spreading the bedding probably won't make much difference.
The wet year, 2012, the buggers grew in places that they were never seen before, even grew in the lawn outside the house.

I would hazard a guess that every single field in Drumlin country has a load of seed quietly sleeping away.

Conmaicne Mara

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Well you hear statistics quoted, form time to time, that rush seeds survive 30 years in the soil, and that there could be something like 10,000 seeds per sq. yard of land, So I think that as long as the conditions are not favourable for them to germinate, (waterlogged, pH wrong, etc) spreading the bedding probably won't make much difference.
The wet year, 2012, the buggers grew in places that they were never seen before, even grew in the lawn outside the house.

I would hazard a guess that every single field in Drumlin country has a load of seed quietly sleeping away.

You're being terribly optimistic

8,500 seeds per fertile shoot per annum, 4-8 million seeds per square meter per season, seeds can remain dormant but viable for 60 years (I have seen 80 years mentioned elsewhere).

Our little friend is the cockroach of the plant world, a born survivor.

http://www.ucd.ie/ferg/Research/Projects/BOGFOR/Juncus_McCorry_Renou.pdf

Nekarsulm

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

You're being terribly optimistic

8,500 seeds per fertile shoot per annum, 4-8 million seeds per square meter per season, seeds can remain dormant but viable for 60 years (I have seen 80 years mentioned elsewhere).

Our little friend is the cockroach of the plant world, a born survivor.

http://www.ucd.ie/ferg/Research/Projects/BOGFOR/Juncus_McCorry_Renou.pdf

Feck sake! I actually own no soil based land at all! Its 99% rush seeds!

How come the wonderfully efficient satellite based mapping system cannot recognise that my land area is increasing by about 5% per year?:D

Although, every sq. metre probably doesn't have 1000 rushes on it.