General sheep thread

wrangler

Mad about baa baas wrote: »

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

You should sheet the side with flat galvanise when you have the chance, modern timber doesn't last long outside

weatherbyfoxer

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

done a deal on grennans 20% for this years lambing...fed quinns 20% last year wasnt great

390kid

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

I found the ewes used to bag up fairly decent with frig all milk in it

sonnybill

memorystick wrote: »

Need to buy silage feeder for hoggets. What’s the JFC bell type like?

What’s best price these feeders bought for now ?

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

I can also see why people complain of foot problems in the sheep indoors . It,s really difficult to control when feeding silage

First year here feeding silage to ewes inside and I've noticed a few lame already. They're in nearly a fortnight now.

Don't think I'd feed them silage again and would either buy in hay or go with straw/concentrate.

Siamsa Sessions

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

First year here feeding silage to ewes inside and I've noticed a few lame already. They're in nearly a fortnight now.

Don't think I'd feed them silage again and would either buy in hay or go with straw/concentrate.

Are they pulling under em.....we had some limited success by putting lime down at feeding barriers/water troughs etc

k mac

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

Siamsa Sessions

Deleted User wrote: »

Are they pulling under em.....we had some limited success by putting lime down at feeding barriers/water troughs etc

Yeah, they're pulling a bit in under them alright.

I'll try lime everywhere around the feed barrier and hopefully that'll help.

Thanks. Should have thought of that myself. My head is mithered at the moment between frozen water pipes, feeding silage, and now home-schooling again.

Is it March yet???

Although I noticed a small stretch in the evening yesterday evening

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

First year here feeding silage to ewes inside and I've noticed a few lame already. They're in nearly a fortnight now.

Don't think I'd feed them silage again and would either buy in hay or go with straw/concentrate.

We're just after been through it ourselves, footbathing every two weeks. have 6 out of 80 injected despite the footbathing........ there's probably a place for footvax

Ard_MC

k mac wrote: »

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

A fluke dose might be no harm.

roosky

k mac wrote: »

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

Im having the same issue....are they getting caught in briars and pulling the wool that way.....also keep an eye for scratcing or biting at them selves, could be lice or scab etc

Siamsa Sessions

k mac wrote: »

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

No stupid questions on here!

Are you feeding them meal? If so, make sure they have enough room around the troughs.

And as stated above, a fluke dose might be no harm either.

k mac

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

No stupid questions on here!

Are you feeding them meal? If so, make sure they have enough room around the troughs.

And as stated above, a fluke dose might be no harm either.

They were dosed for fluke in mid December. I have only really seen I scratching on a post but this ones wool is intact. They might get caught in the odd briar but there is not many around. 2 6ft meal troughs in the field between 17 ewes so they should have enough room. Would I be safer dose all with ivermectin/nuromectin? Thanks for the replies

Young95

k mac wrote: »

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

They have a fine pick of grass ! Your lucky to have it .

k mac

k mac wrote: »

Have a store ewe lamb with its wool gone all torn and ragged looking. What would be the cause, is it anything I need to worry about. Sorry if it's a stupid question, am new to sheep

Looks like that lamb is pulling wool off themself....but without seeing happening in person,impossible to tell

Birdnuts

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Yeah, they're pulling a bit in under them alright.

I'll try lime everywhere around the feed barrier and hopefully that'll help.

Thanks. Should have thought of that myself. My head is mithered at the moment between frozen water pipes, feeding silage, and now home-schooling again.

Is it March yet???

Although I noticed a small stretch in the evening yesterday evening

I feel your pain - i chucked in the early lambing gig 10 years ago on the back of such hardship.

Dickie10

anecdotel stories from my scanner before xmas saying a lot of lads in west , (east galway and rossis) going for early lambs. theres fierce hardship of lambs in january i think, at least mid feb its bright at 7am and bright til 6pm

Green farmer

Dickie10 wrote: »

theres fierce hardship of lambs in january i think, at least mid feb its bright at 7am and bright til 6pm

It's like two different worlds in a cold shed on a dark night in february compared to doing the same a month or so later after clocks go forward. Used to lamb early indoors years ago, but let them work away themselves in april onwards now.

Dickie10

i lamb ewe lambs at easter whenever it falls as i have 2 weeks off , some years like two years ago it was like the middle of summer easter weekend. lambing outside, warm sun on lambs a few hours old. grass in abundance and real power in it.

Kevhog1988

Lambing now with no grass wouldnt be for me. I only put the ram in xmas week. Late lambs with loads of grass suit me.

Young95

Just wondering is there a way you can check if your ewes need a fluke dose or not ? Can feacal egg count be done the same way as for worms ?

joe35

How do you test a shed for ventilation. I remember reading somewhere about burning a specific smoking candle. If the shed fills with smoke, ventilation is inadequate.

Question is, would anyone know where would you get this 'candle' from, or how else would you test out for ventilation?? Thanks for any replies

farawaygrass

joe35 wrote: »

How do you test a shed for ventilation. I remember reading somewhere about burning a specific smoking candle. If the shed fills with smoke, ventilation is inadequate.

Question is, would anyone know where would you get this 'candle' from, or how else would you test out for ventilation?? Thanks for any replies

Screw fix do them I believe. If you google smoke bombs for ventilation you should get a few options

roosky

Young95 wrote: »

Just wondering is there a way you can check if your ewes need a fluke dose or not ? Can feacal egg count be done the same way as for worms ?

Feacal egg count will show adult fluke are in sheep laying eggs but won’t show immature fluke....so you could have a sheep riddled with early and mid stage fluke and no feacal egg count for it....if your on wet land I would be dosing them every 8/10 weeks over wet winter period

roosky

joe35 wrote: »

How do you test a shed for ventilation. I remember reading somewhere about burning a specific smoking candle. If the shed fills with smoke, ventilation is inadequate.

Question is, would anyone know where would you get this 'candle' from, or how else would you test out for ventilation?? Thanks for any replies

I bought them recently in the €2 shop, they were smoke bombs for kids, in same section as sparklers and stink bombs etc, got about 5 for €2

They were like a small cylinder of fire lighter but put out a huge amount of smoke when lit

joe35

Thanks all

weatherbyfoxer

valuable sheep farming lesson being learnt here at the moment...sponged and tipped 30 ewes as a trial last August..picked out 30 of mostly the "she got one more year in her ewes" for the job..never have i got as much hardship lambing a batch..between half the lambs are coming tail first with no legs and droopy elders.

Green farmer

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

picked out 30 of mostly the "she got one more year in her ewes" for the job..

I've a few of those ewes knocking around. Just missing the odd tooth. Just tipped the normal way and due from april onwards. Well, it's easy to spot them in the field now. Whilst my younger 2-5 year old year old ewes are fat and healthy looking, the older ewes are thin and weaker looking. I'm trough feeding every day, but thinking as they age, they loose the ability to fight for their equal share of the feed at mealing time, or their just slower at eating, so ending up getting less. Might have to even separate them from the rest of the flock and feed separately.

Kevhog1988

Green farmer wrote: »

I've a few of those ewes knocking around. Just missing the odd tooth. Just tipped the normal way and due from april onwards. Well, it's easy to spot them in the field now. Whilst my younger 2-5 year old year old ewes are fat and healthy looking, the older ewes are thin and weaker looking. I'm trough feeding every day, but thinking as they age, they loose the ability to fight for their equal share of the feed at mealing time, or their just slower at eating, so ending up getting less. Might have to even separate them from the rest of the flock and feed separately.

Had one last year like that. Melted after lambing as she put everything into the lambs. Swore id cull her but shes one of the first we had as a pet 6 yrs ago. In lamb again now and in good order but im going to put her on her own when she lambs.

wrangler

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Had one last year like that. Melted after lambing as she put everything into the lambs. Swore id cull her but shes one of the first we had as a pet 6 yrs ago. In lamb again now and in good order but im going to put her on her own when she lambs.

We've one with a tooth missing here too that never gives any trouble, she's had six triplets and had a double as a ewe lamb so I thought I owed her an extra year, thankfully she scanned a single this time , she was a pet herself