Finishing lambs inside

eorna

Anyone here finish lambs inside? any tips? have a few lambs left on ad lib outside but thinking of bringing them inside as they have slowed down a bit and weather not helping and wont get better from now on..

rangler1

eorna wrote: »

Anyone here finish lambs inside? any tips? have a few lambs left on ad lib outside but thinking of bringing them inside as they have slowed down a bit and weather not helping and wont get better from now on..

I've done it a few times,
Once they're use to eating plenty of meals, I believe they're better off, I used straw as roughage, I think the fact that they're not getting drowned with rain improves the thrive

eire23

Done it two or three years ago when we were short on grass and needed it for the ewes, christ when they get going they can eat some meal and they do thrive well but wouldnt they want to.

eorna

With lambs scarce enough and prices rising i believe its worth the gamble of finish them instead of selling them as stores.. As stores some other lad will finish them and get the few extra pound i can get myself.

Green farmer

In a similiar situation here. Their on meal outside in a bare field. Thriving away, ( mostly37-42kg) but very slow to get up to 45kg-50kg. Thinking of putting them into a shed and swapping them to silage and meal, as meal cost is stacking up ( lamb maize finisher €296 a tonne around my area) and unsure if I'll see it in sale price at other side. Only thing is I'm abit unsure of is extra work worth it, between straw bedding regularly etc and possible health setbacks like foot root etc, compared to walking into field with a bag of meal for 5 minutes a day ?

Dickie10

thinking of soing this with my last few ram lambs, what do u lads think ? what do i need to watch for when finshing lambs indoors?

Green farmer

Been finishing some outdoors this year. Found indoors a lot of work as I wasn't set up right. Plastic slats are the way to go, but not sure the economics stack up. Silage with abit of meal thing didn't work out. Only kept them thicking over. Only way is pour the meal into them with a small bit of a fibre source and get them gone.

roosky

I had 48 ram lambs in a group fed for six weeks outside they put on about four kg in the 6 weeks.

I housed three weeks ago, they have grown on average 2kg per week since housing and some lambs last week done 2.5kg in the week.

They are on straw bed getting hay and they are eating meal ad lib, (2/3 intensive pellet and 1/3 barley)

It may seem a lot of meal and expense but I only have 14 of them left now and anything over 46Kg at the minute will be gone in two weeks

Dickie10

yeah thats what im thinking myself im goiun put a few in and get them going, any feet issues?

roosky

Oh ya forgot to mention had 8 lambs lambs so far in 3 weeks, gave them 4cc of oxytet and grand the next day

Inchilad

roosky wrote:

I housed three weeks ago, they have grown on average 2kg per week since housing and some lambs last week done 2.5kg in the week.

With the weather weve been having lambs must be expending a lot energy in just staying warm.when housed just putting energy into weight gain

DJ98

roosky wrote: »

I had 48 ram lambs in a group fed for six weeks outside they put on about four kg in the 6 weeks.

I housed three weeks ago, they have grown on average 2kg per week since housing and some lambs last week done 2.5kg in the week.

They are on straw bed getting hay and they are eating meal ad lib, (2/3 intensive pellet and 1/3 barley)

It may seem a lot of meal and expense but I only have 14 of them left now and anything over 46Kg at the minute will be gone in two weeks

Why do you feed barley with the nuts, asked about doing that a few weeks ago but got no responses

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

Why do you feed barley with the nuts, asked about doing that a few weeks ago but got no responses

Cheap energy

Dickie10

how about ventilation in the shed, i have a door at the end of the shed im thinking of for them should i open it and put a gate up instead?

roosky

DJ98 wrote: »

Why do you feed barley with the nuts, asked about doing that a few weeks ago but got no responses

Barley is a great energy source and feeding it with the nuts reduces the overall cost of the feed.

daviddenis

Finishing 50 Lambs inside brought them in this week but noticed few coughing a lot.

Could it be worms? This time of year.



Would be worth giving them dose or let work away. Would need short withdrawal.

Any suggestion

eorna

Mine are out on creep feeders. I think the do well in the dry even if its cold as long as they have food and drink.
Inside do very well but its more work and expense.
Having said that if gets very wet will bring them in.

wrangler

daviddenis wrote: »

Finishing 50 Lambs inside brought them in this week but noticed few coughing a lot.

Could it be worms? This time of year.



Would be worth giving them dose or let work away. Would need short withdrawal.

Any suggestion

Dose them if they haven't been dosed in the last month, I think most doses are at least 14 days apart from ZOLVIX and it's expensive.......it'll be a fortnight at least before they'll have the benefit of being housed and fed anyway, takes them time to settle down,
Coughing could be a virus either, just watch closely for sick ones, we've had coughing here in housed sheep and just had to treat one with a high temperature and it just took its course and cleared over a few weeks.

Just edited to say that the white doses are short withdrawal, they're just not working on some farms

sea12

wrangler wrote: »

Dose them if they haven't been dosed in the last month, I think most doses are at least 14 days apart from ZOLVIX and it's expensive.......it'll be a fortnight at least before they'll have the benefit of being housed and fed anyway, takes them time to settle down,
Coughing could be a virus either, just watch closely for sick ones, we've had coughing here in housed sheep and just had to treat one with a high temperature and it just took its course and cleared over a few weeks.

Just edited to say that the white doses are short withdrawal, they're just not working on some farms

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