General sheep thread

Siamsa Sessions

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Yeah... I bought a bunch of cheviots once...

ONCE! ! !

They were nice enough looking sheep, but fcuk it, I couldn't be dealing with them, the mad yokes...

Lots to be said for a slow-moving lowland ewe. I bought a few horny mountain ewes a few years ago and they were wicked awkward in the yard and the crush. They'd climb over each other and then try to dive back down to the ground in front of whatever misfortunate they had climbed over. It used be like a ruck in the crush at times.

Once was certainly enough to buy them and I had greater respect for the hill farmers after that who deal with them the whole time!

Dickie10

i had 4 or 5 absolute crackers of ewe lambs suffolk/cheviot from kerry/west cork area in my batch of store , weighed a few at weekend all well over 50kg as im waiting on fluke w/d , was very tempted to keep them but gone to late for breeding , they have to get the hook monday morning im afraid, couldnt look a them for 18 months to get a lamb out of them. €130 now thank you very much

Murang

farawaygrass wrote: »

Excellent really. Between the daughters kept of the sufflock ewe and Cheviot ram, and their daughter again, always scanned over 2.1 bar 2018 when I got toxo bad, got 2.17 one year. If I could get the ewes a bit smaller, more manageable size I would rate them as my favourite type ewe. Great feet, great mother’s, great milk.
For a good few years I would have sold all ewe lambs I didn’t keep myself later in the year for breeding. They had lovely speckled faces and always sold well.
Are the borris ewes you see advertised in the sales more medium size compared to the Cheviot?

What’s the difference between the north county Cheviot and Wicklow Cheviot

weatherbyfoxer

Murang wrote: »

What’s the difference between the north county Cheviot and Wicklow Cheviot

norths would be smaller buttier type of sheep,would much prefer these to the wicklow type to be honest still be a wild sheep doe. with the wicklow/carlow marts being the closest to me here i always ended up with some Cheviot x breed in my bought in ewes over the year's..have it nearly gone now thankfully..bought some lyen x texel ewes this year off a farmer converting to dairy and cant get over how quiet they are compared to the Cheviot x

Green farmer

Jjameson wrote: »

It’s the Suffolk that milk. But yes they are motherly, feet are no better or worse than any other. I used to favour them too but have all but cleared them. A Suffolk on belclare or Lyen make a tidier easier handled sheep. The borris ewes are enormous, you have a great cull and they do lamb fairly well but you need high pens!

The suffolk on a belclare would be a nice quiet sheep. The lleyns would be abit more lively, but probably have better feet. A tricky balancing act with sheep, the more self sufficient they are, the wilder, but the quieter, the more helpless, at times

eire23

Fee pics there of the nz suffolk on the lleyn. Big group is just factory lambs. Other pic is a few ewe lambs. Have suffolk crossed on to cheviot x horny ewes as well. They come more black in the face. Hope they turn turn out good ewes!

wrangler

eire23 wrote: »

Fee pics there of the nz suffolk on the lleyn. Big group is just factory lambs. Other pic is a few ewe lambs. Have suffolk crossed on to cheviot x horny ewes as well. They come more black in the face. Hope they turn turn out good ewes!

Lovely sheep, but you've an exceptional type of Lleyn too to breed them out of

eire23

wrangler wrote: »

Lovely sheep, but you've an exceptional type of Lleyn too to breed them out of

Probably but the suffolk is great to put a bit of size on lambs. The ewe lambs I kept out of the chev x horny ewes would be around 64kg now, some less and some a bit more. March born and never got feed. They are nice clean lambs too not like the traditional suffolks we had here years ago.

DJ98

Has anyone housed March lambing ewes yet? Don't usually house until after Christmas here but ground conditions are gone very wet and sloppy around feeders

serfspup

Murang wrote: »

What’s the difference between the north county Cheviot and Wicklow Cheviot

cheviots come in all types and sizes wicklow being the biggest ,north country park caithness, border type park, border hill type, lairg hill type and south country being the smallest.

there is variations within each type and a degree of interbreeding within each type ,northies bred to wicklows ,park types used on hill types etc.

park types tend to be more stylish & softer than hill types

Park type.JPG

wicklow.JPG

lairg.JPG

Siamsa Sessions

DJ98 wrote: »

Has anyone housed March lambing ewes yet? Don't usually house until after Christmas here but ground conditions are gone very wet and sloppy around feeders

Have had them in previously here for 3 months and it’s a pain to feed and bed them inside but it sets you up very well for grass for the year.

eire23

DJ98 wrote: »

Has anyone housed March lambing ewes yet? Don't usually house until after Christmas here but ground conditions are gone very wet and sloppy around feeders

Not yet, hope to house the first week of January. They were going in this time last year. It bes nice to keep them out till the end of december if possible.

RobinBanks

eire23 wrote: »

Not yet, hope to house the first week of January. They were going in this time last year. It bes nice to keep them out till the end of december if possible.

Sorry if this is a silly question but what is the reason for housing them in Jan if lambing in March? Is it so you can control feed intake or what? I thought sheep normally lamb out in march?

wrangler

RobinBanks wrote: »

Sorry if this is a silly question but what is the reason for housing them in Jan if lambing in March? Is it so you can control feed intake or what? I thought sheep normally lamb out in march?

Housing sheep in winter enables you to mind your land and protect it from being damaged in wet winters such as this one,
It also enables you to graze more sheep during the grazing season in summer.
Feed management is important too in that ewes that are carrying 3 lambs need a lot more feed than ewes that have one lamb in them. Housing facilitates having them in different groups. Proper feeding in the final six weeks of pregnancy is very important.
Housing sheep is also easier for the farmer

RobinBanks

wrangler wrote: »

Housing sheep in winter enables you to mind your land and protect it from being damaged in wet winters such as this one,
It also enables you to graze more sheep during the grazing season in summer.
Feed management is important too in that ewes that are carrying 3 lambs need a lot more feed than ewes that have one lamb in them. Housing facilitates having them in different groups. Proper feeding in the final six weeks of pregnancy is very important.
Housing sheep is also easier for the farmer

Thanks for the detailed reply. I never had inlamb ewes hence why I asked. I normally buy store lambs to graze off the grass over the winter so that I have better quality silage and grass for cows

Good job I didn't buy inlamb hoggets or j would be rightly screwed. Have no space to house them.

wrangler

RobinBanks wrote: »

Thanks for the detailed reply. I never had inlamb ewes hence why I asked. I normally buy store lambs to graze off the grass over the winter so that I have better quality silage and grass for cows

Good job I didn't buy inlamb hoggets or j would be rightly screwed. Have no space to house them.

Depends on the stocking rate, you'll get away with a lot more at 1 ewe/acre than at 6 ewes/acre.

eire23

RobinBanks wrote: »

Sorry if this is a silly question but what is the reason for housing them in Jan if lambing in March? Is it so you can control feed intake or what? I thought sheep normally lamb out in march?

Wrangler has it well explained in the two posts above! Father put up the first slatted shed for sheep in 1985. Haven't out wintered a sheep on grass since.

wrangler

eire23 wrote: »

Wrangler has it well explained in the two posts above! Father put up the first slatted shed for sheep in 1985. Haven't out wintered a sheep on grass since.

I was at a sheep conference years ago, one of the speakers, who had circa 900 ewe was asked did they consider outdoor lambing and she replied that she considered it...... for about five minutes,
David k1394 could tell you who the speaker was, he'd know her very well

eire23

wrangler wrote: »

I was at a sheep conference years ago, one of the speakers, who had circa 900 ewe was asked did they consider outdoor lambing and she replied that she considered it...... for about five minutes,
David k1394 could tell you who the speaker was, he'd know her very well

Different ball game lambing outside alright, not hard to see where she was coming from. If the ewes are fed right and your on top of hygiene indoor lambing works very well.

wrangler

eire23 wrote: »

Different ball game lambing outside alright, not hard to see where she was coming from. If the ewes are fed right and your on top of hygiene indoor lambing works very well.

It's not rocket science, feed and good hygiene

Dinzee Conlee

What’s a good price for whole barley lads?

Rang a lad today, who quoted me 250euro/ton - that’s in small bags, so bit extra for the hassle of small bags I’d say...

But, is 250/ton a good price? Thought it was a bit on the dear side?

Ration in small bags would be about 350/ton I imagine, But I haven’t gotten a recent price on that...

Siamsa Sessions

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

What’s a good price for whole barley lads?

Rang a lad today, who quoted me 250euro/ton - that’s in small bags, so bit extra for the hassle of small bags I’d say...

But, is 250/ton a good price? Thought it was a bit on the dear side?

Ration in small bags would be about 350/ton I imagine, But I haven’t gotten a recent price on that...

250 seems high. Co-ops were only paying 170-ish for it in the harvest. I’m buying it direct from a tillage farmer here for 200 but collecting it myself in big bags. In Waterford if that’s any good to you

Young95

What are lads feeding there dry replacements ewe lambs from January on when grass is all gone ? I’m thinking maybe hay and fodder beet but I’m not sure if protein in beet would be enough fir them to grow well .

serfspup

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

big wild ewes alright,the cheviot are a hill sheep but not a mountain sheep..personally i think they are a waste of time as a breed,too big,wild and low cropping for lowland yet arnt fit to cut it on mountain.

wicklows are not the sheep they were 50 years ago .but for hill sheep Lairgs are seriously undervalued here.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

250 seems high. Co-ops were only paying 170-ish for it in the harvest. I’m buying it direct from a tillage farmer here for 200 but collecting it myself in big bags. In Waterford if that’s any good to you

It's a long time ago that mills were claiming it was costing €70 ton to put grain through the mill, If they paid €170/ton at harvest it was at 20% moisture, they're probably selling it out now at 15% so there's 5% gone plus drying.
They'd rather be putting it in a ration than selling it straight so you'll be lucky to get a keen price for it if they've a mill on site

Dinzee Conlee

Young95 wrote: »

What are lads feeding there dry replacements ewe lambs from January on when grass is all gone ? I’m thinking maybe hay and fodder beet but I’m not sure if protein in beet would be enough fir them to grow well .

Feeding Silage and fodder beet at the minute...
They are slow enough to get used to the fodder beet then, although they have started on it now all right...

Debating getting a creep feeder, tho k they could do with a bit extra...

Young95

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Feeding Silage and fodder beet at the minute...
They are slow enough to get used to the fodder beet then, although they have started on it now all right...

Debating getting a creep feeder, tho k they could do with a bit extra...

Are you feeding the beet whole or chopped?

Dinzee Conlee

Young95 wrote: »

Are you feeding the beet whole or chopped?

Whole.

They on stubble ground, so thrown out on the ground...

kk.man

I'm thinking of giving dry ewe lambs a cheaper general purpose ration this winter. Last few winters I gave them the top of the range lamb ration. I don't think they need it but it does contain minerals and its also ver patable to get them started.

I might start with the expensive and then go back to the cheaper stuff. At peak they be getting 0.3kgs per day. I don't feed fodder but ground is dry.

roosky

kk.man wrote: »

I'm thinking of giving dry ewe lambs a cheaper general purpose ration this winter. Last few winters I gave them the top of the range lamb ration. I don't think they need it but it does contain minerals and its also ver patable to get them started.

I might start with the expensive and then go back to the cheaper stuff. At peak they be getting 0.3kgs per day. I don't feed fodder but ground is dry.

Is silage or hay not enough for them through the winter....time enough to grow next summer ?