General sheep thread

Ard_MC

wrangler wrote: »

They've had bad years too, I was in Blessington two years ago and lads were buying ewe lambs for stores at €60.
The same in Tullamore that year, I gave €200 and €160 for hoggets that performed appaling

Did you buy any this year?

wrangler

Ard_MC wrote: »

Did you buy any this year?

No, Purebred Lleyns are too small in my opinion.

Green farmer

farawaygrass wrote: »

A lump wouldn’t necessarily mean a cull here, unless I had more then enough replacements coming through. Depends on the lump, if it feels like a marble that moves around inside the bag isn’t at the top of the teat, she might get another chance. Saying that, obviously you’d prefer if no lump was there

After asking the question and waiting for a response here, I decided to google it. Turns out any lumps in udders means statistically higher % of poor thrive and lamb looses with a risk of passing injections on to other ewes. With cull prices are high atm and I've excess stock atm, my ewe got the tag. As wrangler said, not a great year to be buying stock, but not a bad one to be selling.

Separately, anything stopping sending a cull to a factory straight after shearing ? Think it remember something before, but could have been my imagination as well ?

charolais0153

Green farmer wrote: »

After asking the question and waiting for a response here, I decided to google it. Turns out any lumps in udders means statistically higher % of poor thrive and lamb looses with a risk of passing injections on to other ewes. With cull prices are high atm and I've excess stock atm, my ewe got the tag. As wrangler said, not a great year to be buying stock, but not a bad one to be selling.

Separately, anything stopping sending a cull to a factory straight after shearing ? Think it remember something before, but could have been my imagination as well ?

Does masttits spread between ewes?

Green farmer

charolais0153 wrote: »

Does masttits spread between ewes?

Apparently yes, particularly for Indoor lambing

razor8

wrangler wrote: »

Some will milk but won't rear two lambs and some will be dry

That’s the Beauty of management software. If a ewe has a lump I can check how her lambs thrived. More often than not you will find she reared one fine lamb and the other a straggler

I gave a ewe a second chance Last year that had one poor lamb & one good one. Her bag seemed perfect. She did the same this year. On close examination she had a slight restriction in one teat that interrupted flow. She went to Navan last week. €109

Buford T. Justice XIX

razor8 wrote: »

That’s the Beauty of management software. If a ewe has a lump I can check how her lambs thrived. More often than not you will find she reared one fine lamb and the other a straggler

I gave a ewe a second chance Last year that had one poor lamb & one good one. Her bag seemed perfect. She did the same this year. On close examination she had a slight restriction in one teat that interrupted flow. She went to Navan last week. €109

What software are you using? I'm probably going to switch over to the TGM package this year for the reason you outlined above. I need a better system of deciding which ewe lambs I'll be keeping than I'm using atm.

Green farmer

razor8 wrote: »

That’s the Beauty of management software. If a ewe has a lump I can check how her lambs thrived. More often than not you will find she reared one fine lamb and the other a straggler

I gave a ewe a second chance Last year that had one poor lamb & one good one. Her bag seemed perfect. She did the same this year. On close examination she had a slight restriction in one teat that interrupted flow. She went to Navan last week. €109

Wouldnt have that a great level of recording here, but just shows what your doing is paying dividends and proves what were thinking about keeping ewes with lumps , with solid evidence.

wrangler

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

What software are you using? I'm probably going to switch over to the TGM package this year for the reason you outlined above. I need a better system of deciding which ewe lambs I'll be keeping than I'm using atm.

My OH helped George mc Garry TGM with the sheep package when we had 5 -600 ewes, It works well here

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

Wouldnt have that a great level of recording here, but just shows what your doing is paying dividends and proves what were thinking about keeping ewes with lumps , with solid evidence.

When we cut down from 500+ to 50 ewes, we had 120 ewe lambs here and we kept only the 25 ewe lambs whose mothers and grandmothers were doubles themselves. the improvement was immediate in maternal and milk

Young95

Have lambs here that are constantly picking in the ditches. Some have scaly ears even tho they all got a 6 month cover bolus in July . Anyone ever seen this before?

Tileman

Young95 wrote: »

Have lambs here that are constantly picking in the ditches. Some have scaly ears even tho they all got a 6 month cover bolus in July . Anyone ever seen this before?

It’s lack of cobalt. Oral dose every two weeks for a few turns.
The blouses can be hit and miss. I’ve noses away from them

charolais0153

razor8 wrote: »

That’s the Beauty of management software. If a ewe has a lump I can check how her lambs thrived. More often than not you will find she reared one fine lamb and the other a straggler

I gave a ewe a second chance Last year that had one poor lamb & one good one. Her bag seemed perfect. She did the same this year. On close examination she had a slight restriction in one teat that interrupted flow. She went to Navan last week. €109

Do you think there's more losses cause of tagging at birth?

Lano Lynn

razor8 wrote: »

That’s the Beauty of management software. If a ewe has a lump I can check how her lambs thrived. More often than not you will find she reared one fine lamb and the other a straggler

I gave a ewe a second chance Last year that had one poor lamb & one good one. Her bag seemed perfect. She did the same this year. On close examination she had a slight restriction in one teat that interrupted flow. She went to Navan last week. €109

I am all for technology but shepherds were able to work that out generations ago, they herdedtheir flocks physically caught and checked individuals in doubt and culled them out. An iliterate 'herd could tell more about his flock than the learned Bishop. and with a flick of a knife an ear was notched and a ewe was destined for mutton.....nowadays clever chaps get magic injections and wonder potions to overcome bad husbandry.

This is where the value of a good dog comes in. being able to go into a field of sheep and shed out an underpreforming ewe and lambs before she disappears into the flock and missed out at weaning or the cull mark is shorn off

razor8

Buford T. Justice XIX wrote: »

What software are you using? I'm probably going to switch over to the TGM package this year for the reason you outlined above. I need a better system of deciding which ewe lambs I'll be keeping than I'm using atm.

Using TGM for a number of years now. Can’t fault it. You get back what you put into it

razor8

charolais0153 wrote: »

Do you think there's more losses cause of tagging at birth?

Tagging at birth here for 5 years, never had an issue. I keep tags clean and never use any spray or the like. If a ewe has good quality colostrum the lamb will fight off most things

razor8

Lano Lynn wrote: »

I am all for technology but shepherds were able to work that out generations ago, they herdedtheir flocks physically caught and checked individuals in doubt and culled them out. An iliterate 'herd could tell more about his flock than the learned Bishop. and with a flick of a knife an ear was notched and a ewe was destined for mutton.....nowadays clever chaps get magic injections and wonder potions to overcome bad husbandry.

This is where the value of a good dog comes in. being able to go into a field of sheep and shed out an underpreforming ewe and lambs before she disappears into the flock and missed out at weaning or the cull mark is shorn off

Most part time sheep farmers don’t have the time to do them things anymore

Jd310

Looked into buying the TGM system few months back and was given a number to ring but never got around to it, can a ewe's lamb(s) be tagged at birth and matched to the ewe at birth and have it recorded? Be great job if it could i usually sell all as ewes and lambs and is a torture to try get everything matched up.

wrangler

Jd310 wrote: »

Looked into buying the TGM system few months back and was given a number to ring but never got around to it, can a ewe's lamb(s) be tagged at birth and matched to the ewe at birth and have it recorded? Be great job if it could i usually sell all as ewes and lambs and is a torture to try get everything matched up.

Yes and have the information on your phone as well so you have it with you all the time in the field, say when you find a sick lamb
We've an agrident reader here that can read the ewes and lambs tags and record them and the information is then downloaded to the program.
But the reader is about €900

charolais0153

razor8 wrote: »

Tagging at birth here for 5 years, never had an issue. I keep tags clean and never use any spray or the like. If a ewe has good quality colostrum the lamb will fight off most things

Would their ears not be sore, and not inclined to get up and suck?

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Would their ears not be sore, and not inclined to get up and suck?

We tag and castrate them at 24 hrs old, never a bother

Jd310

wrangler wrote: »

Yes and have the information on your phone as well so you have it with you all the time in the field, say when you find a sick lamb
We've an agrident reader here that can read the ewes and lambs tags and record them and the information is then downloaded to the program.
But the reader is about €900

Yeah got told 900 for one reader and 1100 for another both same brand I’m nearly sure, I was told to ring and ask the difference cause salesman didn’t know

razor8

charolais0153 wrote: »

Would their ears not be sore, and not inclined to get up and suck?

Not if tagged properly and careful not to hit the vein. Always tags on top of ear apart a 3rd of way from head

foxirl

Jd310 wrote: »

Yeah got told 900 for one reader and 1100 for another both same brand I’m nearly sure, I was told to ring and ask the difference cause salesman didn’t know

Less than 600 for the apr600 from tgm. Got one recently. Small flock but I'm recording everything and find it good. Haven't bought the software but for my size flock I download the data to excel and work from there.

Young95

What pre tupping mineral drenches are youz giving your ewes ?

charolais0153

Young95 wrote: »

What pre tupping mineral drenches are youz giving your ewes ?

Turbo

farawaygrass

Are ye finding ewes going lame? Getting a lot of cases here. Putting it down to all the rain but could be way off. They are sore enough, but just a bit between the toes.

wrangler

farawaygrass wrote: »

Are ye finding ewes going lame? Getting a lot of cases here. Putting it down to all the rain but could be way off. They are sore enough, but just a bit between the toes.

Yep , worst year ever,
Long wet grass will do it alright, we're footbathing very often here but still bad enough

Kevhog1988

if you put your disposal book somewhere safe where would you have put it..........

Nevermind the mother had them put away

Dinzee Conlee

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

if you put your disposal book somewhere safe where would you have put it..........

Nevermind the mother had them put away

Sure t'was the mother Kevin...

Sure...

:rolleyes: