General sheep thread

roosky

charolais0153 wrote: »

Plastic slats?
Concrete slats are cold anyways,i imagine mesh are too but that timber and plastic are more forgiving and wouldnt get as cold. I don't know what way youre doing it but a spot for ewes and lambs after lambing and single pens also. A spot for bales of straw too. Very handy to have everything you want in a shed without going outside.
No point having 24ft walkways and shoving silage down to them . 2 12 fts would be a lot handier amd a passageway beteen them. Means more feef space for ewes when mealing also. Make it plrnty big enough too. Have room for those few extra ewes. A lot handier to have that extra bay now when planning is paid for and shed drawn up and 60% grant. That might be a problem if your nearing the 80k limit but i dont think you will be

Ya plastic slats

Pens are 15 foot deep with walk through feeders

14 foot wide passage for lambing pens and have another shed right next door for straw and ewes and lambs etc..

Don’t know what you mean by 24ft walkways ??

Ya so I will have room for 160 ewes and I’d say that will enough for me........my big question is am I better with four bay of slats and four of straw to give options or would you go all slats

charolais0153

roosky wrote: »

Ya plastic slats

Pens are 15 foot deep with walk through feeders

14 foot wide passage for lambing pens and have another shed right next door for straw and ewes and lambs etc..

Don’t know what you mean by 24ft walkways ??

Ya so I will have room for 160 ewes and I’d say that will enough for me........my big question is am I better with four bay of slats and four of straw to give options or would you go all slats

We have 24ft walkways and are a pain pushing dilage down them.

Id say your better off with all slats. They only cost 40% whereas straw is 100% if ya get me.

Westernrock

roosky wrote: »

Ya plastic slats

Pens are 15 foot deep with walk through feeders

14 foot wide passage for lambing pens and have another shed right next door for straw and ewes and lambs etc..

Don’t know what you mean by 24ft walkways ??

Ya so I will have room for 160 ewes and I’d say that will enough for me........my big question is am I better with four bay of slats and four of straw to give options or would you go all slats

Slats,if you have solid floor shed elsewhere that you can put ewes and lambs on I don’t see the point having ewes using up straw before they lamb. Saw a shed beside us at home where the back two feet of the lambing pens ran onto plastic slats and then bedded over, seemed a good job as they stayed dry and straw is easily cleaned of plastic.

Green farmer

I’ve heard lads saying 8-10ft is deep enough for sheep pens, that are fed from the front, otherwise space at the feed barrier becomes an issue. That’s what I would do anyway. On plastic slats raised about 2-3ft off the ground max.

roosky

so slats is the way ......i had planned on an 8 foot tank to allow possibly putting cattle in shed in future but if going all slats its very expensive have any of ye used the 4 or 6 foot tanks, 4 foot meant to be very hard to aggitate

charolais0153

roosky wrote: »

so slats is the way ......i had planned on an 8 foot tank to allow possibly putting cattle in shed in future but if going all slats its very expensive have any of ye used the 4 or 6 foot tanks, 4 foot meant to be very hard to aggitate

We have a 6ft sump and rest of tank is 4ft.

Lambman

In your opinion is silage fed outside till horned ewes enough at this time a year still grass but was gonna throw in a bale till get them used till it wile there's still grass. Ewes will be dosed with minerals every 6 weeks from now till February then ewes will be split at scanning and housed. Trying not till go down the mineral/feed buckets route this year as it was very costly last year...

Young95

Lambman wrote: »

In your opinion is silage fed outside till horned ewes enough at this time a year still grass but was gonna throw in a bale till get them used till it wile there's still grass. Ewes will be dosed with minerals every 6 weeks from now till February then ewes will be split at scanning and housed. Trying not till go down the mineral/feed buckets route this year as it was very costly last year...

They mightn eat silage if they have grass and the silage will go off then. A bale of hay would be better.

Ard_MC

Lambman wrote: »

In your opinion is silage fed outside till horned ewes enough at this time a year still grass but was gonna throw in a bale till get them used till it wile there's still grass. Ewes will be dosed with minerals every 6 weeks from now till February then ewes will be split at scanning and housed. Trying not till go down the mineral/feed buckets route this year as it was very costly last year...

If they have grass, doubt they will look at it. Mine are down for the tippin but going back to hill then til mid feb. Then silage and meal.

Patbadger

What's the cost of sheep per head grazing.

DJ98

What's the best place to get fixed sheep handling equipment? Wanting to put in a handling yard, race, sorting pen, collecting pen etc

roosky

DJ98 wrote: »

What's the best place to get fixed sheep handling equipment? Wanting to put in a handling yard, race, sorting pen, collecting pen etc

I have bought off a few places....

Handling unit from O'Donnell, stay clear i have it 7 years and welds are broke and its not standing the test of time

Also their feed barriers are badly designed clearly designed by a non sheep man as they have the spacing perfect but then put a 4 inch lug on it to hang it like a field gate so the feed barrier is 4 inch too high.......a lot to a sheep

Cormac stuff is good and IAE/pratly is the FENDT but prices to match

roosky

Patbadger wrote: »

What's the cost of sheep per head grazing.

7 to 10 c per head per day depending on grass quality/fencing etc

I have 100 ewes left to a farm and paying him €60 a week fro it. hard for non sheep men to understand the price per head per day thing as at 8c it sounds pointless

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

What's the best place to get fixed sheep handling equipment? Wanting to put in a handling yard, race, sorting pen, collecting pen etc

Got ours from cormac. As good as the day it came in

Green farmer

How about this crowd up north ? Seems like really good quality stuff.
https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

razor8

Green farmer wrote: »

How about this crowd up north ? Seems like really good quality stuff.
https://youtu.be/D_gUxuCb3gU

have used mostly cormacs and wh jenkinsons in armagh, cant really fault either

its all WH REA Engineering penning in balmoral for sheep and pigs and looks very strong stuff, if they were competitive and wouldnt mind trying some of their stuff

Green farmer

razor8 wrote: »

have used mostly cormacs and wh jenkinsons in armagh, cant really fault either

its all WH REA Engineering penning in balmoral for sheep and pigs and looks very strong stuff, if they were competitive and wouldnt mind trying some of their stuff

I rang Rea’s a few months ago and think their basic race was the abit cheaper then cormac. I cannt remember fully, but think the Rea has more features to allow you to adjust the side sheeting in and out, where the cormac one doesn’t.

DJ98

What would you actually be looking at paying for a race? Thanks

Green farmer

DJ98 wrote: »

What would you actually be looking at paying for a race? Thanks

Think you can get basic non branded economy races for €650. then around €1000-€1200 for Richie, Wh Rea, cormac or Stanley. Plenty on DoneDeal and loads of info on older threads on here.

Lambman

What would people's usual % off ewes repeating be? I'm running less than 6% after 2 cycles which I think is very very good? The repeats came after first cycle so % won't rise even if the repeats repeat again on this cycle.

DJ98

What are peoples thoughts of the 5x3 quad sheep trailer, looking for something for outdoor lambing, are they worth the 950 euro they cost?

https://www.donedeal.ie/trailers-for-sale/new-5-x-3-quad-lambing-trailer/20253548

roosky

Lambman wrote: »

What would people's usual % off ewes repeating be? I'm running less than 6% after 2 cycles which I think is very very good? The repeats came after first cycle so % won't rise even if the repeats repeat again on this cycle.

Last few years i have pretty much 100% tipped first 17 round and then i would have about 88% lamb to first service so about 12% repeat:

To explain further:

100 ewes to ram
Lamb day 1 to 17 : 86
Lamb day 18 to 34: 11
empty/dont lamb: 3

Lambman

That's good roosky... what do u give the ewes pre tupping and did u use ram effect

DJ98

Is it still possible to join the sheep welfare scheme? Only got my own flocks number this year.

foxirl

DJ98 wrote: »

Is it still possible to join the sheep welfare scheme? Only got my own flocks number this year.

Yes but you'll have to wait for next year's scheme. Joined myself this year in January after getting flock number last year.

DJ98

foxirl wrote: »

Yes but you'll have to wait for next year's scheme. Joined myself this year in January after getting flock number last year.

Is your paynent based on the number of sheep you have on the first census?

foxirl

DJ98 wrote: »

Is your paynent based on the number of sheep you have on the first census?

Yes, will be based on your census this December.

Siamsa Sessions

foxirl wrote: »

DJ98 wrote: »

Is your paynent based on the number of sheep you have on the first census?

Yes, will be based on your census this December.

Is there any talk of a new or updated census reference?

We’ve added 20+ ewes since the original census and an extra 200 euro would be handy

Young95

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Is there any talk of a new or updated census reference?

We’ve added 20+ ewes since the original census and an extra 200 euro would be handy

Don’t think so but I’m in the same position have an extra 100 ewes here since the reference year.

AntrimGlens

DJ98 wrote: »

What are peoples thoughts of the 5x3 quad sheep trailer, looking for something for outdoor lambing, are they worth the 950 euro they cost?

https://www.donedeal.ie/trailers-for-sale/new-5-x-3-quad-lambing-trailer/20253548

I bought this for £450 five years ago. Worth every penny but I think €950 is a bit steep. Wouldn’t be without it at lambing time