General sheep thread

DJ98

razor8 wrote: »

The theory is they eat more to keep warm and as a consequence growth faster

Would they have to be a certain weight to be suitable for shearing?

Western Pomise

Willfarman wrote: »

I was in Borris yesterday for the show sale. A great display of stock. You could safely bring home any pen of farmers sellers sheep. 150 to 250€

They make a great sort of a ewe to breed good store or factory lambs from.

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

Would they have to be a certain weight to be suitable for shearing?

I'd like my ewe lambs to be 35 - 45kgs this time of the year, 30kg would probably be the minimum, They look desperate when they're shorn but look really well when they're a month shorn

razor8

DJ98 wrote: »

Would they have to be a certain weight to be suitable for shearing?

Weight wouldn’t be my concern. They need a bit of flesh.

I know a guy bought thin stores and sheared end of September and they dropped like flies

wrangler

razor8 wrote: »

Weight wouldn’t be my concern. They need a bit of flesh.

I know a guy bought thin stores and sheared end of September and they dropped like flies

I wouldn't shear end of september, first week of september is late enough.
I've never lost a ewe lamb from shearing

Dinzee Conlee

Shear the store lambs I buy every year. I do it purely so they don’t end up caught in briars over the winter - they’re out wintered over a few acres, and you couldn’t travel the place every day to check if they got stuck...

Try to shear early Sept, but have done it a bit later once or twice... also give them access to a shed after they’re shorn for a few days. Not sure they need it, but it’s no great hassle, they come into the shed as they please... it’s easier than worrying about em and constantly watching the forecast...

MayoAreMagic

I read a study on shearing lambs recently. It said they eat more because they are burning more calories to stay warm, but that they grew no faster than the non shorn ones...

That would suggest it is just a handy way of using up more meal..
Did you ever do any weighing on them wrangler? Or do you notice them being bigger? It wouldnt be the first study to report dodgey results!

Hard Knocks

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

I read a study on shearing lambs recently. It said they eat more because they are burning more calories to stay warm, but that they grew no faster than the non shorn ones...

That would suggest it is just a handy way of using up more meal..
Did you ever do any weighing on them wrangler? Or do you notice them being bigger? It wouldnt be the first study to report dodgey results!

2 years ago We sheared ewe kambs kept for breeding & left a few others
It was hard to tell the sheared from their mothers they’d grown that much the not sheared were a bit behind
Last year we sheared all

wrangler

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

I read a study on shearing lambs recently. It said they eat more because they are burning more calories to stay warm, but that they grew no faster than the non shorn ones...

That would suggest it is just a handy way of using up more meal..
Did you ever do any weighing on them wrangler? Or do you notice them being bigger? It wouldnt be the first study to report dodgey results!

They're cleaner when they're lambing and in the shed, so that's enough reason.
If they're not shorn they have to be crutched if your lambing them, nothing worse than getting a lamb up to a teat and the teat covered in dirty wool....... a feed of ecoli before the colostrum

Westernrock

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

I read a study on shearing lambs recently. It said they eat more because they are burning more calories to stay warm, but that they grew no faster than the non shorn ones...

That would suggest it is just a handy way of using up more meal..
Did you ever do any weighing on them wrangler? Or do you notice them being bigger? It wouldnt be the first study to report dodgey results!

I would agree with this study to an extent, they are definitely loosing energy so they need to consume more. I think as wrangler and razor have said weight and flesh cover are important as the lambs need to be a certain size/fat cover to allow them to have a high enough intake for growth plus heat lost. Smaller lambs lose more heat also as they have a bigger surface area to body mass ratio. One other thing is it’s important you have the extra feed in front of them all winter, no point shearing them to get them to eat more of it’s not there for them to eat!! I used to shear a lot of ewe lambs and stores for different men and some it suited some it didn’t there’s no right or wrong answer. I hope to shear my own this week as they’re 50-60kg and I have loads of grass but I didn’t shear last year as they were born later and grass was tighter here last backed.

wrangler

Hard Knocks wrote: »

2 years ago We sheared ewe kambs kept for breeding & left a few others
It was hard to tell the sheared from their mothers they’d grown that much the not sheared were a bit behind
Last year we sheared all

If a farmer does it once they generally keep doing it, says it all really.
Just an observation here, we find that the heavier ewe lambs are the ones that usually end up barren the first year for some reason

Buford T. Justice XIX

Looks like the back breaking part of shearing might be a thing of the past.
https://twitter.com/timhaines94/status/1163310077844975616?s=19

AntrimGlens

And breathe...

Just done a twenty minute phone interview with the Farmers Guardian and three Interviewers including Liz Genever from ADHB if you've ever heard of her.

I (my business) has been shortlisted as one of the four finalists for UK Sheep Innovator of the Year and they were doing a follow up interview and scrutinising my accounts. Put me over my flock health plan, scanning, weaning rates, antibiotic protocols, marketing and promotional plan, plus a load of other stuff about working with chefs, hotels, convenience foods etc.

Bloody hell i'm a nervous wreck now... Ah well at least there's a night out in Birmingham in October to get dressed up for, if nothing else.

Dinzee Conlee

AntrimGlens wrote: »

And breathe...

Just done a twenty minute phone interview with the Farmers Guardian and three Interviewers including Liz Genever from ADHB if you've ever heard of her.

I (my business) has been shortlisted as one of the four finalists for UK Sheep Innovator of the Year and they were doing a follow up interview and scrutinising my accounts. Put me over my flock health plan, scanning, weaning rates, antibiotic protocols, marketing and promotional plan, plus a load of other stuff about working with chefs, hotels, convenience foods etc.

Bloody hell i'm a nervous wreck now... Ah well at least there's a night out in Birmingham in October to get dressed up for, if nothing else.

Oh, thats great, the very best of luck Antrim!

Green farmer

If you had a link, would like to hear the interview, Best of luck and congratulations in being shortlisted !!!

razor8

AntrimGlens wrote: »

And breathe...

Just done a twenty minute phone interview with the Farmers Guardian and three Interviewers including Liz Genever from ADHB if you've ever heard of her.

I (my business) has been shortlisted as one of the four finalists for UK Sheep Innovator of the Year and they were doing a follow up interview and scrutinising my accounts. Put me over my flock health plan, scanning, weaning rates, antibiotic protocols, marketing and promotional plan, plus a load of other stuff about working with chefs, hotels, convenience foods etc.

Bloody hell i'm a nervous wreck now... Ah well at least there's a night out in Birmingham in October to get dressed up for, if nothing else.

Any links?

Congrats

orm0nd

wrangler wrote: »

If a farmer does it once they generally keep doing it, says it all really.
Just an observation here, we find that the heavier ewe lambs are the ones that usually end up barren the first year for some reason

snap

AntrimGlens

Green farmer wrote: »

If you had a link, would like to hear the interview, Best of luck and congratulations in being shortlisted !!!

Don’t think I want to hear that interview again never mind anyone else. I think they just use the interview to back up the application form and accounts for judging purposes. If you go to www.britishfarmingawards.co.uk/finalists/ you’ll see who all was shortlisted but nothing in detail about what they do. I think they’re releasing articles about the finalists over the coming months.

Typical, just realised that the awards night is two nights before I have a marathon through the mourne mountains that I’ve spent six months training for. Not much porter for me so.

ganmo

The link didn't work for me
https://www.britishfarmingawards.co.uk/finalists/

Best of luck Antrim!

DJ98

What is most lads procedure when bringing home new rams, do you put them in the shed or let them straight to grass and would you give meal? Is it different for ram lambs and older rams?

ganmo

DJ98 wrote: »

What is most lads procedure when bringing home new rams, do you put them in the shed or let them straight to grass and would you give meal? Is it different for ram lambs and older rams?

Drop them into the shed, give them a bit of meal then bring the rams hell be running with in to the shed too and let them get to know each other without being able to hurt each other

DJ98

ganmo wrote: »

DJ98 wrote: »

What is most lads procedure when bringing home new rams, do you put them in the shed or let them straight to grass and would you give meal? Is it different for ram lambs and older rams?

Drop them into the shed, give them a bit of meal then bring the rams hell be running with in to the shed too and let them get to know each other without being able to hurt each other

Would you leave them in until mating?

ganmo

DJ98 wrote: »

Would you leave them in until mating?

3/4 days

wrangler

ganmo wrote: »

Drop them into the shed, give them a bit of meal then bring the rams hell be running with in to the shed too and let them get to know each other without being able to hurt each other

A small shed, give them no chance to have a run into a puck......I've seen some need 48hrs restricted before they're safe

DJ98

What sort of meal would you feed to rams, oats or something else?

wrangler

ganmo wrote: »

3/4 days

Why leave them in, I'd get them used to the existing rams and then good grass and .5kg/day of whatever lamb ration I'd be using.
Make sure they're vaccinated, the stress of being taken away from they comrades can bring on pnuemonia or one of the clostridials, ask the seller. The number of breeders that don't vaccinate their Ram lambs is unbelievable

ganmo

wrangler wrote: »

Why leave them in, I'd get them used to the existing rams and then good grass and .5kg/day of whatever lamb ration I'd be using.
Make sure they're vaccinated, the stress of being taken away from they comrades can bring on pnuemonia or one of the clostridials, ask the seller. The number of breeders that don't vaccinate their Ram lambs is unbelievable

We find it helps quieten them down a bit. Hogget cheviot rams can get lively

DJ98

One last question when buying a ram would you recommend buying a ram lamb, hogget or older sheep?

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

One last question when buying a ram would you recommend buying a ram lamb, hogget or older sheep?

Hoggets are better value, they seem to be around the same price as lambs and will serve more ewes, however they can be the culls of the previous years lambs. ie If you saw a January born hogget you'd wonder why he didn't make the sepember sales as a lamb but if the hogget was march born he probably wasn't old enough for service in September

DJ98

wrangler wrote: »

DJ98 wrote: »

One last question when buying a ram would you recommend buying a ram lamb, hogget or older sheep?

Hoggets are better value, they seem to be around the same price as lambs and will serve more ewes, however they can be the culls of the previous years lambs. ie If you saw a January born hogget you'd wonder why he didn't make the sepember sales as a lamb but if the hogget was march born he probably wasn't old enough for service in September

How many ewes would a ram lamb cover?