General sheep thread

MIKEKC

DJ98 wrote: »

Have a horned ewe here, one of her horns is growing very close to her eye, what would the safest way to remove it be? Would a vet be required to do it?

Cut an inch off with hacksaw. No blood there so no problem

MIKEKC

wrangler wrote: »

Feeding straw is a lifestyle choice here, much cleaner and easier.
The pound of meal replaces the silage so for 120 days it costs €16, plus about about €7 for straw which they'd have to be bedded anyway feeding silage.
So it's costing about €20/ewe to replace the silage

Why not feed hay?

wrangler

MIKEKC wrote: »

Why not feed hay?

Straw is easier, just bed the sheep and they'll pick what they need.
A lot of hay is not much better than straw, like most of it is cut well past its best stage

Lano Lynn

DJ98 wrote: »

Have a horned ewe here, one of her horns is growing very close to her eye, what would the safest way to remove it be? Would a vet be required to do it?

if you want to preserve her good looks get a paint stripper blow heater .shield her eye with a bit of wood and heat the end of the horn and bend it away from her face don't over heat the 'quick of the horn'

ganmo

DJ98 wrote: »

Have a horned ewe here, one of her horns is growing very close to her eye, what would the safest way to remove it be? Would a vet be required to do it?

Dehoring wire is the easiest way I reckon

greysides

ganmo wrote: »

Dehoring wire is the easiest way I reckon

For cattle, this is what I would do. Provided you only take an inch or two, it would be just like cutting a finger nail, no blood, no sensation.

RobinBanks

Hi All

Warning, stupid question incoming......

I have some lamb crunch left over and was going to throw it into trough for baby calves. Looking at ingredients there is no major difference between the lamb and calf crunch. Why is there specific rations for lambs and calves??? And is there a reason why you wouldn’t give one to the other???

ganmo

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hi All

Warning, stupid question incoming......

I have some lamb crunch left over and was going to throw it into trough for baby calves. Looking at ingredients there is no major difference between the lamb and calf crunch. Why is there specific rations for lambs and calves??? And is there a reason why you wouldn’t give one to the other???

Number one difference would be copper, feeding a calf ration to lambs would kill them eventually

Siamsa Sessions

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hi All

Warning, stupid question incoming......

I have some lamb crunch left over and was going to throw it into trough for baby calves. Looking at ingredients there is no major difference between the lamb and calf crunch. Why is there specific rations for lambs and calves??? And is there a reason why you wouldn’t give one to the other???

Could you mix in a small amount with the calf ration every day over the space of a few weeks?

Lambman

Bit off topic but does Netflix have any farming programmes on it?

RobinBanks

ganmo wrote: »

Number one difference would be copper, feeding a calf ration to lambs would kill them eventually

I had planned on feeding lamb crunch to calves not other way round

DJ98

How long do people leave between checking ewes at night?

Lambman

Set phone alarm every 2 hours or so and check the cameras on phone so dont have till get out off bed if nothing happening.

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

How long do people leave between checking ewes at night?

2.5 - 3 hours

farawaygrass

DJ98 wrote: »

How long do people leave between checking ewes at night?

After finishing up all other jobs I’ll check them after 3 hours, and try for max of 4 hours at night

ganmo

RobinBanks wrote: »

I had planned on feeding lamb crunch to calves not other way round

Lamb crunch is usually the dearer of the 2

Lambman

Withe the weather here and sheep lambing I've sheep in a shed were I just leave a round bale in the middle and have feeding barriers around it so they can eat whenever they want but I notice every single ewe that lambed in that shed is lambing at night wonder is it just coincidence?

Western Pomise

Lambman wrote: »

Withe the weather here and sheep lambing I've sheep in a shed were I just leave a round bale in the middle and have feeding barriers around it so they can eat whenever they want but I notice every single ewe that lambed in that shed is lambing at night wonder is it just coincidence?

Would say it’s just coincidence,what time of day do you give them their nuts?

kk.man

Western Pomise wrote: »

Would say it’s just coincidence,what time of day do you give them their nuts?

I know a dairy guy who feeds late in the evening as he recons it puts off calving for the day time. I don't know if their is scientific study on it but he swears by it.

Lambman

Feeding nuts morning and evening silage available all the time.

Dinzee Conlee

Lambman wrote: »

Feeding nuts morning and evening silage available all the time.

You don’t have the lights on at night so you?

Siamsa Sessions

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

You don’t have the lights on at night so you?

I turned the lights off last year and it seems to have encouraged them to lamb during the day, especially in the morning. Worked the same this year.

Could be wrong but I’m sure someone told me the natural time for them to lamb is morning as it gives the lambs maximum time before dark when predators come out again

Lambman

No lights are off at night shed would be badly lit anyways so camera works better with night vision than poor light so I turned off the lights. Same story last night 2 ewes lambed at half 4 nothing in that shed all day yesterday. Would once a day feeding make a difference if I were till just feed meal in the morning.

ganmo

We need to get some goat Gene's into our sheep, they dont lamb in the dark

Lambman

Bit the bullet as they say and hunted 22 ewes and 32 rams out to grass. Cold nights but giving it dry so gonna take the chance takes a bit off pressure off for now. Was mostly big single lambs that's why it's a bad ratio off lambs per ewe.

Sami23

Lambman wrote: »

Bit the bullet as they say and hunted 22 ewes and 32 rams out to grass. Cold nights but giving it dry so gonna take the chance takes a bit off pressure off for now. Was mostly big single lambs that's why it's a bad ratio off lambs per ewe.

How old are they ?

arctictree

I'm in bed at 10. Up at 3 for an hour and then back to bed until 7.

So far, there have been no lambs at 3am. I just use it to feed some young pet lambs. A lot of mine seem to lamb at about 5 or 6am as I often find lambs on the ground at 7.

Lambman

From 2 days till 8 days. Mostly singles and all outta texel ram so there plenty wool on them. Tempted till try another batch out in the morning again probably will let them at it. Have 1 lamb there small lamb as he was a double but lost other one anyways first 2 days he was grand moved him and ewe into larger pen with other lambs and ewes and noticed one morning he was stretched funny and not able till stand for too long so moved them back till a pen on there own. Was always able till get up and suck ewe but he cant walk anymore than a yard at a time. Any ideas what I should be giving him?

arctictree

Lads, any hope for a lamb with its guts hanging out the navel? I presume not....

thelegend1979

Needs a stitch asap to have any hope.