General sheep thread

DJ98

When should lambs born from early March to mid April be weaned?

Siamsa Sessions

DJ98 wrote: »

When should lambs born from early March to mid April be weaned?

12 weeks but tis a farm-level decision more than anything else. If they were near 40kg I’d leave them with the ewe and sell them straight off her at this time of year.

Are ewes under pressure? Might be better to wean then and give them a chance to recover rather than leaving lambs with them.

Few different factors I guess

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

12 weeks but tis a farm-level decision more than anything else. If they were near 40kg I’d leave them with the ewe and sell them straight off her at this time of year.

Are ewes under pressure? Might be better to wean then and give them a chance to recover rather than leaving lambs with them.

Few different factors I guess

Mine were 10 - 14 weeks and have settled well, they're grazing the paddocks ahead of the ewes, also they're eating half pound meal now as well, be weighing next Tuesday.
Ewes are leaving paddocks the same as if they're mowed, They're in good condition so don't want them any fatter

Western Pomise

Do people here give mature ewes or rams a worm dose during the Summer?....

Even though it’s a dry enough year some of my ground is damp enough so I usually just give them a fluke dose this time of the year.

Green farmer

Western Pomise wrote: »

Do people here give mature ewes or rams a worm dose during the Summer?....

Even though it’s a dry enough year some of my ground is damp enough so I usually just give them a fluke dose this time of the year.

Spotted a ewe with bottle neck the other day. Don’t know if it was a carryover from earlier this year or something picked up more recently. Either way I was disappointed to see it.

razor8

Green farmer wrote: »

Spotted a ewe with bottle neck the other day. Don’t know if it was a carryover from earlier this year or something picked up more recently. Either way I was disappointed to see it.

what product did you use last?

Green farmer

razor8 wrote: »

what product did you use last?

Tribex !!! I’ve stopped using it and swapped duotech, which is working much better. Hadn’t planned on dosing them until the winter though, as it’s only early spring that I’ve past issues.

Buford T. Justice XIX

I thought I'd fire up this tweet from Teagasc with a podcast on summer dosing and avoiding resistance.
https://twitter.com/teagasc/status/1149008041473445894?s=19

MeTheMan

Weaned, wormed and cobalt-ed all the lambs today. Born early March time. One ewe with a really bad rash/scab on her face. Vet said give her fluke dose and get cream for it. He said she is allergic to sunlight. Felt bad for her. Scratching her face constantly. Hopefully the cream works quickly.

Dinzee Conlee

MeTheMan wrote: »

Weaned, wormed and cobalt-ed all the lambs today. Born early March time. One ewe with a really bad rash/scab on her face. Vet said give her fluke dose and get cream for it. He said she is allergic to sunlight. Felt bad for her. Scratching her face constantly. Hopefully the cream works quickly.

Put her in a shed - I assume she was a white faced ewe?

razor8

Green farmer wrote: »

Tribex !!! I’ve stopped using it and swapped duotech, which is working much better. Hadn’t planned on dosing them until the winter though, as it’s only early spring that I’ve past issues.

Triclabendazole A waste of time imo

razor8

wrangler wrote: »

Mine were 10 - 14 weeks and have settled well, they're grazing the paddocks ahead of the ewes, also they're eating half pound meal now as well, be weighing next Tuesday.
Ewes are leaving paddocks the same as if they're mowed, They're in good condition so don't want them any fatter

When weaning do you keep ewes out of sight & ear shot for a few days or just separate them and run along side each other with just a fence between them?

MeTheMan

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Put her in a shed - I assume she was a white faced ewe?

They are all in the shed now to dry up for a few days. She won't be getting out till it clears up. Not white faced. Brocky type.

wrangler

razor8 wrote: »

When weaning do you keep ewes out of sight & ear shot for a few days or just separate them and run along side each other with just a fence between them?

We tried to put them as far away as we could, not easy on ten acres but it's all we can do.
Ewes were well sick of the lambs and didn't respond to them much,, I think you'd need more than just a fence between them though for a while, they're beside them now though and no remarks passed

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

We tried to put them as far away as we could, not easy on ten acres but it's all we can do.
Ewes were well sick of the lambs and didn't respond to them much,, I think you'd need more than just a fence between them though for a while, they're beside them now though and no remarks passed

Similar here - as far away as possible but they could still just about hear each other bawl in the distance.

24 hours later though and they were all too busy grazing to be bawling much!

Western Pomise

Western Pomise wrote: »

Do people here give mature ewes or rams a worm dose during the Summer?....

Even though it’s a dry enough year some of my ground is damp enough so I usually just give them a fluke dose this time of the year.

Just bumping this.

razor8

wrangler wrote: »

We tried to put them as far away as we could, not easy on ten acres but it's all we can do.
Ewes were well sick of the lambs and didn't respond to them much,, I think you'd need more than just a fence between them though for a while, they're beside them now though and no remarks passed

thats why i was wondering with just 10 acres, thought maybe you put them in a yard on hay for a couple of days or something like that.

roosky

razor8 wrote: »

thats why i was wondering with just 10 acres, thought maybe you put them in a yard on hay for a couple of days or something like that.

Is there need to house ewes on hay to wean them ..... i usually do but dont think ill bother this year if i put them at 40 to the acre for a week or 10 days surely that will dry them up, paddock will be fairly bare to start with.

MeTheMan

roosky wrote: »

Is there need to house ewes on hay to wean them ..... i usually do but dont think ill bother this year if i put them at 40 to the acre for a week or 10 days surely that will dry them up, paddock will be fairly bare to start with.

If ya have a bare field to put them on that should do it. We put them on the field just after silage was cut. Dryed up grand. Nowhere bare atm so she'd and hay for a few days.

How long after dosing should they be put back on the dirty ground? Would a day do?

Lambman

Still alot off lambs till wean here but with money so bad for them and grass so good I might run the whole lot together for another month hopefully get lambs into butcher weights. Anybody any cons on this?

roosky

Lambman wrote: »

Still alot off lambs till wean here but with money so bad for them and grass so good I might run the whole lot together for another month hopefully get lambs into butcher weights. Anybody any cons on this?

I done it two years and ewes hadnt time to get back into good condition for ram so they scanned crap

Also the ewe has "no" milk at 16 weeks so no point keeping the lamb with her, let the lambs ahead of the ewes and spoil them with grass they will get into weight quicker than lying beside a dry ewe in a stemmy meadow

Lambman

Some a My lambs not be 16 weeks even with another month... ewes in Savage condition already nearly 2 fat I'd say there giving no milk as it is. I said this year I wouldn't sell a lamb under €100 and I wont.

Dinzee Conlee

Lambman wrote: »

Some a My lambs not be 16 weeks even with another month... ewes in Savage condition already nearly 2 fat I'd say there giving no milk as it is. I said this year I wouldn't sell a lamb under €100 and I wont.

I’d they are only 12 weeks, you have time - but I would still wean in 2 weeks or so.
No point in not doing it - you’ll either have too fat ewes or too thin lambs.

Also - not sure if you castrate or not, but one year I didn’t and I was lazy weaning em. I ended up with lambs from some ewes at Christmas, from some of the stringer ram lambs...

wrangler

razor8 wrote: »

thats why i was wondering with just 10 acres, thought maybe you put them in a yard on hay for a couple of days or something like that.

I just put the ewes back in the last paddock that they were in before they were weaned, it'd usually be grazed down fairly well. A neighbour phoned during the week saying his ewes had started to go down after weaning, When questioned he had put them in and gave them straw for two days and then let them out, I told him it was either magnesium or calcium deficiency and to get a vet so it turned out to be calcium deficiency exasperated by the stress of fasting and weaning

Lambman

Tea I mean get them till a heavy weight and sell in mart

Dinzee Conlee

https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/sheep/japanese-market-opens-to-irish-sheepmeat-38310074.html

What does this mean, or does it mean fcuk all to us really?

Actually, can anyone explain to me how the meat market works, or does anyone know outside of the meat factories?

Western Pomise

Have stuck up a new thread on main forum regarding reacting to the huge growth rates this year.Welcome any sheep farmers thoughts on it.
Also wondering if people dose mature ewes or rams for worms at this time of year?

_blaaz

Western Pomise wrote: »

Have stuck up a new thread on main forum regarding reacting to the huge growth rates this year.Welcome any sheep farmers thoughts on it.
Also wondering if people dose mature ewes or rams for worms at this time of year?

Tbh i know its a complete no no,but ive topped few paddocks to stop.getting ahead and held off selling some culls until this week to tidy up toppings before grazing fresher growth with lambs



At a conundrum.as regards spreading fertilizer....dont want it too stemmy for flushing/tipping ewes...trying to time it now



Great complaint to have really :pac:

ganmo

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

https://www.independent.ie/business/farming/sheep/japanese-market-opens-to-irish-sheepmeat-38310074.html

What does this mean, or does it mean fcuk all to us really?

Actually, can anyone explain to me how the meat market works, or does anyone know outside of the meat factories?

The factories sell to distributors, the large retailers or subsidiaries like big al burgers for kepak.

in terms of exporting i'm not sure if the factories would seek out the Japanese retailers or distributors or would they leave that to a different company

Western Pomise

_blaaz wrote: »

Western Pomise wrote: »

Have stuck up a new thread on main forum regarding reacting to the huge growth rates this year.Welcome any sheep farmers thoughts on it.
Also wondering if people dose mature ewes or rams for worms at this time of year?

Tbh i know its a complete no no,but ive topped few paddocks to stop.getting ahead and held off selling some culls until this week to tidy up toppings before grazing fresher growth with lambs



At a conundrum.as regards spreading fertilizer....dont want it too stemmy for flushing/tipping ewes...trying to time it now



Great complaint to have really :pac:

Do mean it was a ‘no no’ to top perfectly good grass or was it stemmy stuff you cleaned off?