General sheep thread

Green farmer

Bump .......

Green farmer wrote: »

anything stopping sending for ewes for slaughter straight after shearing ? Think it remember something before, but could have been my imagination as well ?

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

Bump .......

No, why would it, you're only taking the wool off

J.O. Farmer

wrangler wrote: »

No, why would it, you're only taking the wool off

Was there something a few years back about penalties because the skins were worth less.

Green farmer

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

Was there something a few years back about penalties because the skins were worth less.

I think there was something, but cannt remember what. Just have a few culls, but dont want to out anyone off bidding for them if there was any factory issue

wrangler

J.O. Farmer wrote: »

Was there something a few years back about penalties because the skins were worth less.

Yea the lamb skins, they had to have a certain cover,

Green farmer

wrangler wrote: »

Yea the lamb skins, they had to have a certain cover,

Not applicable for culls ? Or even lambs anymore, youd have to wonder at times about rules, never heard a factory complaining about a easycare sheep that ain't got too much cover. Thinking about it, these days you'll get penalised if you bring them a lamb that hasn't the wool removed around the tail and belly

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

Not applicable for culls ? Or even lambs anymore, youd have to wonder at times about rules, never heard a factory complaining about a easycare sheep that ain't got too much cover .

Lmbskins are worthless now, tbf when they were worth €12 you couldn't really blame the factory cutting the price if you devalued it.

Green farmer

wrangler wrote: »

Lmbskins are worthless now, tbf when they were worth €12 you couldn't really blame the factory cutting the price if you devalued it.

Not sure we ever saw much of that €12, sad to say the wools gone the same way now

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

Not sure we ever saw much of that €12, sad to say the wools gone the same way now

That's included in the price, if they were quoting 4.50 this week and itemise all the offal, the liver, the kidney, the head etc etc and came to the same price would you be any happier.
There's no way they ever had €12 hd profit

kk.man

Folks there are a few lads who are in sé Marts dealing in hoggets are unreal. They are after the medium hogget. They are nothing but leeches.

What's their margin? 20 é off mart sheet? It takes 5 é commission, 5 é diseal per head straight off the purchase price. Then enter them on done deal to offset the 5 é commission with the second entry and sometimes a second entry.

No one should purchase off these f+++s.
I see them preying on vulnerable farmers.

DJ98

What's the best thing to use to cure a sore on a rams brisket, have been spraying with blue spray

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

What's the best thing to use to cure a sore on a rams brisket, have been spraying with blue spray

Not easy

Did you get the spray from the vet, is there an antibiotic in it

roosky

How would lads feel about shearing ewe lambs with that mixed weather, I know another few weeks it will be gone too cold but I sheared last year in that wet mixed weather and got a lot of rain scald.

Is it worth the hassle ?

Dinzee Conlee

roosky wrote: »

How would lads feel about shearing ewe lambs with that mixed weather, I know another few weeks it will be gone too cold but I sheared last year in that wet mixed weather and got a lot of rain scald.

Is it worth the hassle ?

I posted the same debate last week - decided not to shear...
I don’t lamb mine - just run them dry over the winter...

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2058109434/1/#post114503265

kk.man

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I posted the same debate last week - decided not to shear...
I don’t lamb mine - just run them dry over the winter...

https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2058109434/1/#post114503265

IMO lambs need their wool for the winter. If you want a low cost system you need to keep them outside. With the price of wool and the hassle of shearing needs to be considered too.

Dinzee Conlee

kk.man wrote: »

IMO lambs need their wool for the winter. If you want a low cost system you need to keep them outside. With the price of wool and the hassle of shearing needs to be considered too.

Always out winter them, shore them the last 2 years.
I find it good for management - no worries about maggots or getting caught in briars...
Not shearing this year, just to see how we get on... Although found one of them stuck in fecking briars already...

Dickie10

hi all, have a lamb of my own which has lost power in back legs , front are ok just baack. about 38kg , what could i do for him?

Farmer_3650

Dickie10 wrote: »

hi all, have a lamb of my own which has lost power in back legs , front are ok just baack. about 38kg , what could i do for him?

Sounds like swayback which is a sign of a deficiency in copper

Dinzee Conlee

Dickie10 wrote: »

hi all, have a lamb of my own which has lost power in back legs , front are ok just baack. about 38kg , what could i do for him?

Oh, interesting - I have one the exact same...
She can just about get up. Is eating ok, and is alert...

Farmer_3650 wrote: »

Sounds like swayback which is a sign of a deficiency in copper

What should you do for them?

Green farmer

Listening to mairead lavery on the radio yesterday, said theres a CSO survey or census sent to a farmers to measure agricultural output atm. Anyone get one ?, is it something everyone has to fill out or only a section of farmers ? Haven't got any here, wouldnt like it to hold up payments for the rest of year, if it got lost in the post ?

Farmer_3650

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

What should you do for them?

If it is swayback inject with Copper. However, it could also be a spinal abcess which I have also seen before. I would be very reluctant to do sheep with copper unless I was sure that was the problem, as they could end up being poisoned. My advice would be to see a vet or at least google swayback symptoms, suffolks are more susceptible to swayback than texels.

Siamsa Sessions

Green farmer wrote: »

Listening to mairead lavery on the radio yesterday, said theres a CSO survey or census sent to a farmers to measure agricultural output atm. Anyone get one ?, is it something everyone has to fill out or only a section of farmers ? Haven't got any here, wouldnt like it to hold up payments for the rest of year, if it got lost in the post ?

I got it here yesterday. Takes about 5 mins to fill out. It's nothing to do with payments and if you throw it in the bin, it won't affect payments as it's voluntary and is for the CSO rather than any Dept office.

If anything it shows the complete waste of money that goes on in Government. The Dept should have all this info so not sure why CSO are now spending time and money asking for it separately.

Dinzee Conlee

Green farmer wrote: »

Listening to mairead lavery on the radio yesterday, said theres a CSO survey or census sent to a farmers to measure agricultural output atm. Anyone get one ?, is it something everyone has to fill out or only a section of farmers ? Haven't got any here, wouldnt like it to hold up payments for the rest of year, if it got lost in the post ?

Got it - I seem to get one every year...

I dont think its anything to do with payments

Dickie10

i think it could be an injury. im going try and get her butchered by a home abbatoir

tractorporn

Hi folks, quick question?

What is the highest stocking rate people have gone to with only sheep?

We have heavy land but it can grow decent covers of grass.

Just wondering if really pushed how many ewes to the acre lads have carried?

Thanks

Siamsa Sessions

tractorporn wrote: »

Hi folks, quick question?

What is the highest stocking rate people have gone to with only sheep?

We have heavy land but it can grow decent covers of grass.

Just wondering if really pushed how many ewes to the acre lads have carried?

Thanks

Is it fenced into paddocks? Teagasc talk about 5 ewes/acre but that’s on good ground with plenty paddocks for rotation grazing.

We’ve a mix of heavy-ish and good ground here and I’d be happy with 3.5 ewes/acre.

But it all depends on your planned system. Wrangler on here has a very high stocking rate I think?

tractorporn

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Is it fenced into paddocks? Teagasc talk about 5 ewes/acre but that’s on good ground with plenty paddocks for rotation grazing.

We’ve a mix of heavy-ish and good ground here and I’d be happy with 3.5 ewes/acre.

But it all depends on your planned system. Wrangler on here has a very high stocking rate I think?

The land is fenced into the sizes of the fields which are all under 5 acres and wouldn't take a lot to sub divide them into smaller lots.

5 does sound very high but 3.5 does sound a lot more realistic. I would meal feed and creep lambs to drive it on if I could.

Siamsa Sessions

tractorporn wrote: »

The land is fenced into the sizes of the fields which are all under 5 acres and wouldn't take a lot to sub divide them into smaller lots.

5 does sound very high but 3.5 does sound a lot more realistic. I would meal feed and creep lambs to drive it on if I could.

The meal would help alright. Best of luck. Ask plenty questions on here - there’s plenty lads more than willing to help

Cyclist101

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

The meal would help alright. Best of luck. Ask plenty questions on here - there’s plenty lads more than willing to help

On a small scale, I operated at 7 to acre, but:
a) Housed over winter
lambed late Mar
C) housed ewes after weaning for 3 weeks
D) bought in all winter feed
E) cleaned offf a neighbours fields in late Nov / Dec

Each of above was key to my stiocking rate to build grass covers

roosky

3.5 to 4 ewes/ha is the ideal on my heavy ground, Anything above this and heavy ground struggles to carry that stocking rate in the shoulders of the year.

It takes 1 tonne of grass to keep a ewe to the HA so like if your growing 12 or 13 tonnes you will carry the 5 ewes to the acre but it takes good land and a lot of management to grow that much grass consistently across the whole farm.

I was up at 4.8 ewes/ac (12 ewes/ha) for a few years but land is heavy so I struggled in early spring and late autumn so i pulled it back a bit and found i was getting lambs away without meal which made up for carrying less ewes