General sheep thread

DJ98

Would ewes being housed in the coming days need a fluke dose? They were dosed with supaverm in September before going to the ram.

Dinzee Conlee

Lambman wrote: »

Anybody any pictures off homemade molasses feeders?

You mean this kinda setup?

https://m.facebook.com/FarmlineAgriSupplies/photos/molasses-feedersweve-been-asked-many-times-about-these-and-have-finally-managed-/1639194826360295/

joe35

We use to feed molasses years ago. Used them 5 gallon drums with the ball in them. Feck I remember we'd always end up destroyed in molasses. We use to poor over hay too.

What's the benefits of feeding molasses

Tileman

joe35 wrote: »

We use to feed molasses years ago. Used them 5 gallon drums with the ball in them. Feck I remember we'd always end up destroyed in molasses. We use to poor over hay too.

What's the benefits of feeding molasses

You use up bad silage or hay 😀

wrangler

There's an article in IFJ this week from Sheep Ireland,
It's ironic that the picture on it is of our sheep in 2012, as you know I'm not an advocate of sheep Ireland and they know it.
I just thought 'the bloody cheek''

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

There's an article in IFJ this week from Sheep Ireland,
It's ironic that the picture on it is of our sheep in 2012, as you know I'm not an advocate of sheep Ireland and they know it.
I just thought 'the bloody cheek''

Never read the Journal. Waste of money in my eyes. Would learn more asking questions on here.

wrangler

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Never read the Journal. Waste of money in my eyes. Would learn more asking questions on here.

You need to be very careful taking advice off discussion forums, I've seen advice that was dead wrong.
IFJ s very succesful and put a lot of money into research and back to farmers.
I always get it here and would even know most of the information on it.
There's very little new in the practical side of farming now, even in discussion groups you'd be hashing the same stuff over and over every year

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

You need to be very careful taking advice off discussion forums, I've seen advice that was dead wrong.
IFJ s very succesful and put a lot of money into research and back to farmers.
I always get it here and would even know most of the information on it.
There's very little new in the practical side of farming now, even in discussion groups you'd be hashing the same stuff over and over every year

Id take everything i read online with a pinch of salt tbh but find a few threads on here excellent. This one and the gunthering thread are great for asking questions on.

DJ98

Have rams housed here and feeding with Hay, beet and a handful of lamb nuts, one ram in particular will eat a small amount of the nuts but will act like he's choking on them and will spit them back up in a thick phlem, only noticed him doing it the past couple of days. He will eat the day and a piece of beet no bother and is in good condition overall. Suffolk ram. Anyone any ideas?

Dinzee Conlee

DJ98 wrote: »

Have rams housed here and feeding with Hay, beet and a handful of lamb nuts, one ram in particular will eat a small amount of the nuts but will act like he's choking on them and will spit them back up in a thick phlem, only noticed him doing it the past couple of days. He will eat the day and a piece of beet no bother and is in good condition overall. Suffolk ram. Anyone any ideas?

Is he horsing into the nuts when you give them to him, and then making himself sick?
Seen lambs do it a few times, and that’s what I always put it down to...

If he’s doing it the whole time, and doesn’t seem to be eating enough to make himself sick - maybe you could change feed. Maybe oats or something?

clonagh

DJ98 wrote: »

Would ewes being housed in the coming days need a fluke dose? They were dosed with supaverm in September before going to the ram.

Can anyone make a recommendation on this?

Tileman

clonagh wrote: »

Can anyone make a recommendation on this?

Depending on ground conditions where they were but in general the recommendation is yes you should dose them for fluke at this stage of year.

razor8

clonagh wrote: »

Can anyone make a recommendation on this?

Shouldn’t be dosing adult ewes for worms also. Use a straight fluke dose

Depends on your land type but here in Leitrim I don’t go more than 8/9 weeks without dosing for fluke. I Alternate between closantel & Ntroxynil based products

Young95

Grass is gone here now for my dry replacement ewe lambs so starting feeding them 250g of a 15% ration and ab lib hay outside. Would that amount of meal be enough to keep them ticking over till April? Or could I reduce the meal abit ?

kk.man

Young95 wrote: »

Grass is gone here now for my dry replacement ewe lambs so starting feeding them 250g of a 15% ration and ab lib hay outside. Would that amount of meal be enough to keep them ticking over till April? Or could I reduce the meal abit ?

I have those types a few years now. Here's what I have done when grass goes. Mine are not in lamb.

I feed them 0.3kgs of 12% general purpose ration in one feed. I build them up slowly to it ie at 4 weeks. I don't give them any hay except if snow is on the ground. They have a good run in fields of 5 acres approx which I change them every 2 odd weeks. A small amount of grass with the meal keeps them ticking over. I usually finish up with the ration around mid March depending on the weather and grass growth.

roosky

I have been advised to feed whole barley to dry ewe replacements but lads talking here about a ration? Would barley do them ?

wrangler

roosky wrote: »

I have been advised to feed whole barley to dry ewe replacements but lads talking here about a ration? Would barley do them ?

It doesn't have to be a ration for ewe lambs, even if they lose a bit of weight they'll put it on very quick when the grass grows,
I don't know anything about feeding whole barley but they manage whole oats, I'm sure they'd be the same with barley. I'd imagine it'd be easier sicken them on barley so don't over feed

Green farmer

wrangler wrote: »

It doesn't have to be a ration for ewe lambs, even if they lose a bit of weight they'll put it on very quick when the grass grows,
I don't know anything about feeding whole barley but they manage whole oats, I'm sure they'd be the same with barley. I'd imagine it'd be easier sicken them on barley so don't over feed

Anyone experience of feeding straight maize meal to lambs ?

weatherbyfoxer

Green farmer wrote: »

Anyone experience of feeding straight maize meal to lambs ?

very hard to get lambs to eat straight maize meal

390kid

What ewe and lamb nuts are yous using? Have used Kiernan’s 20% this last few years but had mixed results last year

wrangler

390kid wrote: »

What ewe and lamb nuts are yous using? Have used Kiernan’s 20% this last few years but had mixed results last year

I got their literature last year, I wasn't impressed by the ingredients so didn't try it, I use Grennans here, their super ewe and lamb,
It looks to have very good ingredients

DJ98

wrangler wrote: »

I got their literature last year, I wasn't impressed by the ingredients so didn't try it, I use Grennans here, their super ewe and lamb,
It looks to have very good ingredients

Do you use the 18 or 20 % nut or ration from grennans wrangler?

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

Do you use the 18 or 20 % nut or ration from grennans wrangler?

20%, They use good ingredients and soya is No. 1 on the list of ingredients.
I was surprised at kiernans, The best performance I ever got from a ration was from Flynns in Mullingar, It was 18% and worked really well , The nutritionist that was in Flynns at the time is now in Kiernans.
We'd have to have it right because we don't feed silage, fed the last bale of silage today and not sorry to see the end of it,
I've learnt that it doesn't use anymore straw when silage isn't being fed, I can also see why people complain of foot problems in the sheep indoors . It,s really difficult to control when feeding silage

DJ98

wrangler wrote: »

20%, They use good ingredients and soya is No. 1 on the list of ingredients.
I was surprised at kiernans, The best performance I ever got from a ration was from Flynns in Mullingar, It was 18% and worked really well , The nutritionist that was in Flynns at the time is now in Kiernans.
We'd have to have it right because we don't feed silage, fed the last bale of silage today and not sorry to see the end of it,
I've learnt that it doesn't use anymore straw when silage isn't being fed, I can also see why people complain of foot problems in the sheep indoors . It,s really difficult to control when feeding silage

When feeding just hay then, should I be looking at using the 18 or 20%? And at what levels should they be getting at say 6 weeks out from lambing

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

When feeding just hay then, should I be looking at using the 18 or 20%? And at what levels should they be getting at say 6 weeks out from lambing

The recommendations here on this article is what I'd be feeding plus .5kg /day because their only roughage is straw, I use 20% P for the same reason.
The table for 65% DMD baled silage would probably the same as good hay, a lot of the good high DMD leaf is usually bet out of hay.

https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/sheep/nutrition/feeding-ewes-pre-lambing/

A good 18% ration will probably do the job with hay,
There was a huge difference between the ingredients in Grennans two rations last year as in more lesser quality products in the cheaper one, Mills will always have a cheaper option for those that buy on price

orm0nd

we're feeding 0.8kg of 20% nut along with baled silage, silage is good quality , but contractor had problems with baler and they're not chopped, all ewes lambed so far have loads of milk

wrangler

orm0nd wrote: »

we're feeding 0.8kg of 20% nut along with baled silage, silage is good quality , but contractor had problems with baler and they're not chopped, all ewes lambed so far have loads of milk

Recommendation for a ewe doubles is 200 grms protein/day for last two weeks, you've 160 grams in the meal and there must be more than 40 gms in the silage so you're well up on it

Young95

Any one here feed the liffey mills ewe and lamb nut to ewes pre lambing ? Any feedback?

Mad about baa baas

Recently got an old 7x4 trailer with roof on it.all boards etc will need doing.. but hey it's a nice project when not much else to do.. my question is it currently has a swinging rear door as opposed to a ramp...will this be a pain to load and should I try to reconfigure or leave it be.. door is actually in tact and would not need work

Nekarsulm

They'll jump up a step handier than run up a ramp, I find.
Only thing, smaller ones might duke under the back and escape.