General sheep thread

Dinzee Conlee

When is everyone looking to close up fields, and when would ye expect to be back out again?

I have a nice bit of grass now, its soft, but it'll hold the hoggets grand til mid-november (ish).

I would be looking to put them back onto the fields end Feb / start March, so closing mid Nov leaves just over 3 months... After that, it all depends on how the winter comes, as to spring grass...

Interested to hear peoples plans for spring grass, or how they manage grass in the autumn / spring.

Does anyone here strip graze?

roosky

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

When is everyone looking to close up fields, and when would ye expect to be back out again?

I have a nice bit of grass now, its soft, but it'll hold the hoggets grand til mid-november (ish).

I would be looking to put them back onto the fields end Feb / start March, so closing mid Nov leaves just over 3 months... After that, it all depends on how the winter comes, as to spring grass...

Interested to hear peoples plans for spring grass, or how they manage grass in the autumn / spring.

Does anyone here strip graze?

the aim here is 120 days closed

so my ewes lamb paddies day the ewes will skin each field as they go at this stage on average its 130 ewes on three acres at a time so they skin it fairly quick and closed behind them the first field is closed mid October and the last one mid December....roughly....obviously weather etc plays a part..

When ewes lamb mid march the go to heaviest covers first !

Lambman

Had a conversation with the neighbor today about the use off the ram effect... and he asked some questions I couldn't answer like the rule is let the ram till the ewes after 14 days and 70% in theory should be in heat with the remaining 6 days later in theory.... his question was hold the ram back for the first cycle so introduce him say day 28 till get the 2nd cycle off the 70% ewes in heat and there should be more chance off the rest off the ewes in heat by the 2nd cycle? Kinda makes sense till me... pros and cons?

Siamsa Sessions

Lost one ewe today and another not looking good.

Dead one seems to have just decided to die. She was grand yesterday and they're vaccinated for blackleg. Also checked her legs and skin for bubbling/crackling, which are supposed to signs of blackleg, and there was none of that. She was 3 years old and neither overweight or skinny.

The second one is down with dribble coming from her mouth. Nothing from her nose, but her breathing is very laboured. She's 2 and again in fine condition without being too fat. Decided to call the vet and he gave her calcium and magnesium, but was stumped beyond that really.

What we did throw around was possible fluke, but the ground is dry and there's no history of it on the farm. They're on good grass and have been so for a month now, with no changes to diet or stress of any sort.

They're been in their current field with 10 days and there's a good cover of grass. It got 3t lime/acre 6 weeks ago and 1.5 bags/acre of 18-6-12 5 weeks ago. Would this have any bearing on the quality of the grass? Could it have lead to high levels of any mineral that could have affected either of these two sheep?

I know sheep will die randomly for no apparent reason, but I'm a little concerned that these two going down in the space of 24 hours might mean something else is wrong and more might follow them.

Any ideas?

charolais0153

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Lost one ewe today and another not looking good.

Dead one seems to have just decided to die. She was grand yesterday and they're vaccinated for blackleg. Also checked her legs and skin for bubbling/crackling, which are supposed to signs of blackleg, and there was none of that. She was 3 years old and neither overweight or skinny.

The second one is down with dribble coming from her mouth. Nothing from her nose, but her breathing is very laboured. She's 2 and again in fine condition without being too fat. Decided to call the vet and he gave her calcium and magnesium, but was stumped beyond that really.

What we did throw around was possible fluke, but the ground is dry and there's no history of it on the farm. They're on good grass and have been so for a month now, with no changes to diet or stress of any sort.

They're been in their current field with 10 days and there's a good cover of grass. It got 3t lime/acre 6 weeks ago and 1.5 bags/acre of 18-6-12 5 weeks ago. Would this have any bearing on the quality of the grass? Could it have lead to high levels of any mineral that could have affected either of these two sheep?

I know sheep will die randomly for no apparent reason, but I'm a little concerned that these two going down in the space of 24 hours might mean something else is wrong and more might follow them.

Any ideas?

Post mortem for first one?

greysides

Siamsa, did she get antibiotics for pneumonia?

Green farmer

You say she was done for black leg , does that mean the heptovac 10 or similar ? I had a loss here recently. Brought them in and did fluke & worm and topped up the covinex 10. Seems to have stemmed whatever had caused it.

Siamsa Sessions

greysides wrote: »

Siamsa, did she get antibiotics for pneumonia?

Yes, should have said that - she did and in fairness the vet did mention it as another possibility. Is there anything in particular that could trigger pneumonia at this time of year?

Will see if she’s still with us in the morning and take it from there.

I’d consider a post-mortem on the first one but our vet doesn’t do sheep and the nearest lab is over 50 miles away.

They get Tribovax10 here - ewe lambs and bought in replacements get vaccinated with two shots in August and a booster then 4 weeks pre-lambing. Might give them a fluke dose this Saturday when we’ll have them in.

roosky

I am currently doing the ram effect and other years the ewes would be up sniffing around the rams and looking for "attention" but this time i haven seen any ewes up along the fence to the rams....any ideas

greysides

Going by what I see in the factory, unless you're North or West fluke shouldn't be a problem yet but there's a fair amount of mild to moderate pneumonia showing up. Of course, the bad ones wouldn't make the factory.

Pasteurellosis is considered as a 'pneumonia'. It might be better to see it as a septicaemic disease that can localise in the lungs. That may not be pathologically correct but a bad dose of it will kill before you get any signs you'd take as pneumonia. Typically that form affects lambs at this time of year. Previous vaccination may confuse the signs seen too.

Basically, I'd always treat for it regardless.

Siamsa Sessions

Thanks again folks

Will give them a shot when they’re in tomorrow.

Tis a judgement call I guess, but in future we might give them a shot in August when ewe lambs/replacements get their shots, in addition to the pre-lambing shot they get. 60c per ewe and a little extra work seems cheap insurance now.

Thanks for the explanation too greysides. Nice to know the how/why behind incidents

DJ98

How many ewes to the acre on commonage?

Siamsa Sessions

Just to close out the event above - 2nd ewe died yesterday, which was expected in fairness.

All others got Heptavac P today before going to their respective rams.

Was checking back thru records and we lost a ewe and a fine ewe lamb in this same field two years ago. No guarantee it was related to pasturella but suffice to say we’ll be topping up the vaccine every August as well as pre-lambing now.

I know they cover different things but out of interest, is there any particular option people go for on here? Tribovax, Covexin, Heptavac, etc.?

sea12

It wasn't fluke by any chance. I lost a be during week to that. Had all being dosed during summer but had been out wintered in quite wet ground.

Lambman

Think heptavac only one that does pneumonia always use it here never no problems.

Green farmer

Need to pick up a ram lamb to put with a batch ewe lambs. Maybe a be charly or the like, as no offspring will be kept. Anyone know what type of money I’d pick up one in the mart ? Or indeed whatmoney pbnr rams are making atm ?

Willfarman

Give it a week and there will be aged rams being brought that guys are finished with. Get an aul charolais lad for 100 or so use him and then bring him back to market or even two to be sure..

Young95

Hi folks just looking for advise but those anyone ever winter dip there ewes later in year like December? Didn’t get around to giving dem der annual pre tupping dip due to work and rams going out Sunday. But I am thinking of dipping them say mid December after the rams are taken out using a sheep shower method. Can anyone see any problems because ewes be only in mid pregnancy by them or stress etc ? Any feedback would be appreciated.

roosky

Young95 wrote: »

Hi folks just looking for advise but those anyone ever winter dip there ewes later in year like December? Didn’t get around to giving dem der annual pre tupping dip due to work and rams going out Sunday. But I am thinking of dipping them say mid December after the rams are taken out using a sheep shower method. Can anyone see any problems because ewes be only in mid pregnancy by them or stress etc ? Any feedback would be appreciated.

i wouldnt like dipping pregnant ewes, just my view, if you bough nothing in and they are not itching id wouldnt bother and if they are just inject them or use a pour on

charolais0153

roosky wrote: »

i wouldnt like dipping pregnant ewes, just my view, if you bough nothing in and they are not itching id wouldnt bother and if they are just inject them or use a pour on

If they are itching id gp eith a proper dip. A lot better tgan some of them pour ons and ivomec etc

DJ98

Have alot of fencing to do before the end of the year, was just wondering if I'd be best to use cresoted stakes or the ordinary ones, there's a fair price difference but also a lifetime difference almost

ganmo

DJ98 wrote: »

Have alot of fencing to do before the end of the year, was just wondering if I'd be best to use cresoted stakes or the ordinary ones, there's a fair price difference but also a lifetime difference almost

only use the ordinary one in places where you don't want a fence to last more than 5 years.

Creosote all the way

Sami23

DJ98 wrote: »

Have alot of fencing to do before the end of the year, was just wondering if I'd be best to use cresoted stakes or the ordinary ones, there's a fair price difference but also a lifetime difference almost

Would you consider Larch stakes.
I did a nice bit of fencing last year with them but obviously too soon to know how long they'll last but they were recommended to me by a few people so well see.

Dinzee Conlee

Sami23 wrote: »

Would you consider Larch stakes.
I did a nice bit of fencing last year with them but obviously too soon to know how long they'll last but they were recommended to me by a few people so well see.

When you say larch stakes - do you mean treated or untreated?

Reason I ask is I have larch tress that feel in the storm last year, was going to cut em and put em in as stakes - see how long they last... They cant be any worse than the ones you buy...

Sami23

The ones I used from the sawmills were untreated.

Dinzee Conlee

Sami23 wrote: »

The ones I used from the sawmills were untreated.

Oh, interesting...

I’ll be cutting mine up and using em so... we’ll see how we get on...

razor8

Ye all are gone horrid quiet or very busy

Let the boys out today do it all starts again

Siamsa Sessions

razor8 wrote: »

Ye all are gone horrid quiet or very busy

Let the boys out today do it all starts again

Only thinking the same meself - Tis very quiet on here lately.

Rams out a week here today. Had them in earlier though as one of them and several ewes were a bit tender on the hoofs.

Anyone else find that feet suffer a bit during breeding season?

charolais0153

razor8 wrote: »

Ye all are gone horrid quiet or very busy

Let the boys out today do it all starts again

All the ewes tipped here. Not too many repeating.
Tis a quite time of year for farming in general

DJ98

charolais0153 wrote: »

All the ewes tipped here. Not too many repeating.
Tis a quite time of year for farming in general

How long do people leave rams with ewes?
Have 2 groups here and 70% of one group is covered compared to 40% in the other group
Mostly horned ewes in the second group