General sheep thread

DJ98

Looking ahead to the Breeding season, what would be the best ram to run with horny ewes, currently using a texel, any other options? Apart from bfl, was considering one aswell

Lambman

Dj98 I kept over a few off the best horned ewes from last year till put along with this year's and I let them run in a group off crossbred ewes with a charrlois ram and I'm seriously impressed with the lambs.

Green farmer

Lambman wrote: »

Dj98 I kept over a few off the best horned ewes from last year till put along with this year's and I let them run in a group off crossbred ewes with a charrlois ram and I'm seriously impressed with the lambs.

As long as you ain’t tempted to keep any for breeding, they make fine butchers lambs

_blaaz

Western Pomise wrote: »

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

A lot would prob be perfectly good like,id top it off

Around here,making excess bales is like a national pasttime at the min

Lambman

Yea green farmer none will be kept but yea it's a good cross plenty off wool cover on the lambs when there born aswell.

Green farmer

Lambman wrote: »

Yea green farmer none will be kept but yea it's a good cross plenty off wool cover on the lambs when there born aswell.

Using charly and Suffolk here across lleyns along with a separate maternal ram for replacements. The terminals giving nice shapes lambs. Wouldn’t keep any charly either, but the Suffolk gives you the option of replacements as well, even though I don’t keep them. Stopped using the texel also as he wasn’t suited to the type of sheep I keep.

MeTheMan

Any opinions on this.

Have a few kerry Hills of my own and I'm looking to breed a few replacements of them. They are ran with texels and make nice ewe lambs of them but don't want to keep them because of interbreeding. Cousin has texel/belclare cross ram lambs and I was going to have a look see.

What do you think a texel/belclare on a kerry Hill would be like for replacements?

My thinking is the kerry Hill is a lovely sized sheep. Nice length, don't show massive bags of milk but never seem to lack in it either, easy to lamb and have a lively lamb. Feet are rarely a problem. They are a nervous sheep to deal with and would hope the texel/belclare side would calm them a bit.
The reason I'd cross with a texel/belclare is to bring a bit more terminal side into there lambs and a better showing of milk aswell as uping the lambing rate a bit. I'd hope the texel/belclare would be better in the hoof department aswell then just a texel.

I've no experience in this department as we buy in replacements but with about 50% of our flock 7+ years old I think now is a good time to get our own replacements on the go.

AntrimGlens

Delivered this years and a bale of last years wool clip tonight. Barely covered the cost of the diesel, never mind the clipping. Works out at about 0.32p per sheep shorn (mixture of hoggs, ewe lamb and ewes), nearly all Scotch Blackface wool
Paid shearer £1.35 per sheep sheared.
There was a man locally rang me last week to see if I would be interested in selling it to him as he wanted to insulate a new build house with it. He wanted me to keep it to the spring as he wasn’t ready yet for it. Should nearly have let him take it, as I hate it lying about to the next year as it gets wet or dogs pull at it and destroy it.

Wonder what I could have charged him, surely more than the 30p/kg I got tonight?

Dinzee Conlee

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Delivered this years and a bale of last years wool clip tonight. Barely covered the cost of the diesel, never mind the clipping. Works out at about 0.32p per sheep shorn (mixture of hoggs, ewe lamb and ewes), nearly all Scotch Blackface wool
Paid shearer £1.35 per sheep sheared.
There was a man locally rang me last week to see if I would be interested in selling it to him as he wanted to insulate a new build house with it. He wanted me to keep it to the spring as he wasn’t ready yet for it. Should nearly have let him take it, as I hate it lying about to the next year as it gets wet or dogs pull at it and destroy it.

Wonder what I could have charged him, surely more than the 30p/kg I got tonight?

How was he going to treat it, as I imagine you’d have to do something with it?

As for price, you’d imagine you could charge a bit more, if only for storage til the spring...

AntrimGlens

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

How was he going to treat it, as I imagine you’d have to do something with it?

As for price, you’d imagine you could charge a bit more, if only for storage til the spring...

I had looked at using it when we were building a few years ago so i had a bit of a chat with him about it, to see if things had developed any since then. It needed to be washed and cleaned, then washed with salt and then treated with a fire retardant. He said the only place that could do this was down in Waterford I think, so there would be a bit of expense from his end too.

Farm365

Does anyone keep Cheviot Mules? Are they prolific? What are they like for mothering ability etc

DJ98

When do hill cast ewes suitable for lowland breeding start to appear in marts?

Lambman

Dj98 I'd say from end a nest month

Hard Knocks

Lambman wrote: »

Dj98 I'd say from end a nest month

Would the fencing have to be in great shape to keep them in?

Siamsa Sessions

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Would the fencing have to be in great shape to keep them in?

Bought a few last Sept and they behaved til up to about a month ago, when lambs were getting big and space in the field was getting small. Then they started testing the fencing alright.

Tested my patience too so I sold them at the mart a week later. That was always my plan anyway but it was at the worst possible time. Given the lambs they left, they just about paid for themselves. If I was buying more, I’d pay a little extra for better/younger ones and aim to get 2 years out of them

DJ98

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Would the fencing have to be in great shape to keep them in?

Bought a few last Sept and they behaved til up to about a month ago, when lambs were getting big and space in the field was getting small. Then they started testing the fencing alright.

Tested my patience too so I sold them at the mart a week later. That was always my plan anyway but it was at the worst possible time. Given the lambs they left, they just about paid for themselves. If I was buying more, I’d pay a little extra for better/younger ones and aim to get 2 years out of them

What ram did you put with them?

Siamsa Sessions

DJ98 wrote: »

What ram did you put with them?

Suffolk of all things. They were here as part of a research project.

There were 9 aged ewes - 4 had twins and 5 had singles. The singles were a bit big, with the ewes being fairly fed as well as carrying Suffolk lambs, and one died trying to have a big single lamb. I didn’t see her in time and that was one of the downsides with them - it was hard to see when they were really filling up the dugs and getting ready to lamb.

Some of the ewe lambs out of them will make decent ewes but more are a bit too close to the ground - more mountain than Suffolk in them

Lambman

Ya need wire for them that's for sure. I noticed mines when being rounded up tend till break away in groups instead of staying in a big group like the lowland ewes. This time a year especially bad if 1 ewe gets her lamb or lambs till go with her they could end up anywhere.

DJ98

Lambman wrote: »

Ya need wire for them that's for sure. I noticed mines when being rounded up tend till break away in groups instead of staying in a big group like the lowland ewes. This time a year especially bad if 1 ewe gets her lamb or lambs till go with her they could end up anywhere.

What age ewes would you buy Lambman?

davidk1394

I’m wondering if any of ye can help me out. The clock on the scales isn’t as accurate any more and I want to replace it with a new one. Any suggestions on where to go ? It’s a Ritchie scales and a salter clock. Ended up sending lambs that were over weight to Camolin

Lambman

Dj98 all ewes that woulda been pulled off the hill mostly full mouth some broken usually just keep 1 year get 2 outta some a them.

_blaaz

davidk1394 wrote: »

I’m wondering if any of ye can help me out. The clock on the scales isn’t as accurate any more and I want to replace it with a new one. Any suggestions on where to go ? It’s a Ritchie scales and a salter clock. Ended up sending lambs that were over weight to Camolin

A good decent hardware store or independant agri.merchant would be best bet id say

razor8

davidk1394 wrote: »

I’m wondering if any of ye can help me out. The clock on the scales isn’t as accurate any more and I want to replace it with a new one. Any suggestions on where to go ? It’s a Ritchie scales and a salter clock. Ended up sending lambs that were over weight to Camolin

Find these great

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoze-Digital-Crane-Weighing-Luggage/dp/B07MYSMV66/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?adgrpid=73883617161&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4rzNvLDN4wIVArTtCh1XJwtVEAAYASAAEgIKzfD_BwE&hvadid=347641662123&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1007850&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=11516569155829198516&hvtargid=kwd-316797106555&hydadcr=16906_1717163&keywords=crane+scale+300kg&qid=1563965228&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Westernrock

razor8 wrote: »

Find these great

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shoze-Digital-Crane-Weighing-Luggage/dp/B07MYSMV66/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?adgrpid=73883617161&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4rzNvLDN4wIVArTtCh1XJwtVEAAYASAAEgIKzfD_BwE&hvadid=347641662123&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1007850&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=11516569155829198516&hvtargid=kwd-316797106555&hydadcr=16906_1717163&keywords=crane+scale+300kg&qid=1563965228&s=gateway&sr=8-4

How do you find yours on batteries razor? Have to take them out after weighing here otherwise they are usually dead when you go weighing next time, no big deal but just wondering if others have the same issue or its just that I have a faulty one.

kk.man

davidk1394 wrote: »

I’m wondering if any of ye can help me out. The clock on the scales isn’t as accurate any more and I want to replace it with a new one. Any suggestions on where to go ? It’s a Ritchie scales and a salter clock. Ended up sending lambs that were over weight to Camolin

I stand corrected but the scales you are looking for is not the conventional one? Yours depends on suspension by use of a foot lever and the sheep ?
Most scales are standard depending on the suspension of the sheep to give the reading.

If yours is the later it maybe harder source.

razor8

Westernrock wrote: »

How do you find yours on batteries razor? Have to take them out after weighing here otherwise they are usually dead when you go weighing next time, no big deal but just wondering if others have the same issue or its just that I have a faulty one.

No issue with batteries here. A set will do me 12 months or more. Make sure you don’t forget to switch it off after each time

orm0nd

razor8 wrote: »

No issue with batteries here. A set will do me 12 months or more. Make sure you don’t forget to switch it off after each time

there's a hidden menu in most of them, you can set the time interval for the dial to turn off autmatically if not being used

Westernrock

orm0nd wrote: »

there's a hidden menu in most of them, you can set the time interval for the dial to turn off autmatically if not being used

Yea it would always be turned off and brought inside but now just take the batteries out as well, might Open it up and check is their any stray connections or just get another one they’re not expensive anyway

davidk1394

kk.man wrote: »

I stand corrected but the scales you are looking for is not the conventional one? Yours depends on suspension by use of a foot lever and the sheep ?
Most scales are standard depending on the suspension of the sheep to give the reading.

If yours is the later it maybe harder source.

Yeah mine works off suspension. Put the lamb into the crate and pull a lever to lift the crate about 2 inches. Scales gives me the weight of the lamb

kk.man

davidk1394 wrote: »

Yeah mine works off suspension. Put the lamb into the crate and pull a lever to lift the crate about 2 inches. Scales gives me the weight of the lamb

Thought that alright, I am not sure if those are on general sale. It might be worth trying some of the usual manufactures.