General sheep thread

wrangler

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

https://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/arid-31009852.html this gives an average profit per acre on it. I wonder does the €125 per acre for sheep farmers include a wage for their own labour.

If everyone was average we'd all be walking around on less than two legs.:D
The average lamb crop per ewe in Ireland is 1.3lambs/ewe so if it costs €100/ewe to get her through the year, her profit is 25 euros if you get €100 /lamb. that's why it's important to get lambing percentage up to 1.8 -2

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

If everyone was average we'd all be walking around on less than two legs.:D
The average lamb crop per ewe in Ireland is 1.3lambs/ewe so if it costs €100/ewe to get her through the year, her profit is 25 euros if you get €100 /lamb. that's why it's important to get lambing percentage up to 1.8 -2

I only have a few as only have a small amount of land but as im a qs by trade so i find them articles interesting. Am tracking all my costs for the year on a spreadsheet now to see if i actually turn any money on the sheep excluding the repayments i have on the land.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

He'll take his share any day of the year, if you let him. I prefer to see if I have a problem at lambing first rather than shooting anything that moves before lambing. There will always be another fox ready to move in.

The amount of foxes that will actually kill lambs is low enough....but the ones that do,will kill almost every night until stopped



When we used lamb outdoors,the biggest challenge was the weather,one wet,sleety night out waiting in a sheep to settle into lambing at 3 or 4 am,is not good for man or beast,no mind a week of them

wrangler

wrangler wrote: »

If everyone was average we'd all be walking around on less than two legs.:D
The average lamb crop per ewe in Ireland is 1.3lambs/ewe so if it costs €100/ewe to get her through the year, her profit is 25 euros if you get €100 /lamb. that's why it's important to get lambing percentage up to 1.8 -2

that and keeping death rate down....amount of lads that accept a death rate of 5 to 10% in first 2 weeks is high enough

Even on a 100 ewe farm scanning to 1.5 lambs,thats between 8 and 15 lambs,a knock on of upto e1500 off your sales at e100 a lamb

orm0nd

Young95 wrote: »

Oh definitely. Pre lambing maybe not or the same . But once lambing begins there is . No moving ever ewe and lamb to individual pens having to feed and water them . Bedding and cleaning out etc . All those small daily jobs add up in time saved when there outdoors I think anyways. And if you can manage I’d right also outside with them lambing on paddocks with high covers of grass and a feed blocks with them there would be no carrying meal around either . Just walk through them few times a day .

greycrows, mink, pinemartins, fox.

head out and ewe doing 50km around the field. + many more

---

would never ever go back to out door lambing here even if lambing in june

eire23

orm0nd wrote: »

greycrows, mink, pinemartins, fox.

head out and ewe doing 50km around the field. + many more

---

would never ever go back to out door lambing here even if lambing in june

Your spot on there ormond. I lamb the blackface ewes out, they start the first of April. No problem with them, they haven't a high scan rate, no triplets, they hardly ever need handling but the thought of lambing the lowland ewes out would be torture.

Green farmer

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The amount of foxes that will actually kill lambs is low enough....but the ones that do,will kill almost every night until stopped



When we used lamb outdoors,the biggest challenge was the weather,one wet,sleety night out waiting in a sheep to settle into lambing at 3 or 4 am,is not good for man or beast,no mind a week of them

pushing it back to april the odds stack abit more in your favour. Also nice sheltered fields with trees and plenty of hiding places away from the elements also help alot. I remember @ razor commenting here before that his Romney's used to stand over their lambs in wet weather to shield them from the rain, whilst some terminal ewes just legged it, thinking of themselves and left their lambs behind bawling in the middle of the field getting soaked. Also heard other lads reckon lleyns etc love rushy land as sheltered hiding places for their lambs.

charolais0153

[Deleted User] wrote: »

that and keeping death rate down....amount of lads that accept a death rate of 5 to 10% in first 2 weeks is high enough

Even on a 100 ewe farm scanning to 1.5 lambs,thats between 8 and 15 lambs,a knock on of upto e1500 off your sales at e100 a lamb

The ones tht say they keep it below 5% are the ones that I find hard to believe

charolais0153

charolais0153 wrote: »

The ones tht say they keep it below 5% are the ones that I find hard to believe

tbh id be disappointed to have over 3% die ....people wouldnt tolerate losing 5 to 10% of calves on suckler farms


If you have 500 lambs and let 5% die for preventable reasons,its a load of lambs to factory per annum lost


Theres nothing worse to sicken ya,than an animal dying of preventable causes....like obviously,you'll get odd lamb die being born/need putting down/infection sweep through place

...but if they come out alive and healthy,they should make it to a factory imo

charolais0153

[Deleted User] wrote: »

tbh id be disappointed to have over 3% die ....people wouldnt tolerate losing 5 to 10% of calves on suckler farms


If you have 500 lambs and let 5% die for preventable reasons,its a load of lambs to factory per annum lost


Theres nothing worse to sicken ya,than an animal dying of preventable causes....like obviously,you'll get odd lamb die being born/need putting down/infection sweep through place

...but if they come out alive and healthy,they should make it to a factory imo

You scan a certain number of lambs, you sell another number, the difference is the number of dead ones, and it ain't 3% at any number of ewes.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

The amount of foxes that will actually kill lambs is low enough....but the ones that do,will kill almost every night until stopped



When we used lamb outdoors,the biggest challenge was the weather,one wet,sleety night out waiting in a sheep to settle into lambing at 3 or 4 am,is not good for man or beast,no mind a week of them

That's why I pick ewes and rams that are easy to lamb, no way am I out at 3 or 4am looking at a sheep. Sheep have lambed themselves for thousands of years, it's only people make it complicated.

Doniekp

Hi all

What do people find are the best breeds of ewes and rams that are easier to lamb? Good mothers with plenty of milk and no much handling.
is there much difference between the easier lamb breeds and breeds that kill well in the factory?

Donie

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

That's why I pick ewes and rams that are easy to lamb, no way am I out at 3 or 4am looking at a sheep. Sheep have lambed themselves for thousands of years, it's only people make it complicated.

theres noway i could sleep in bed,if it was lashing rain and ewes lambing/lambs under a month old


Id have to get up and check em at least once

FarmerDougal

[Deleted User] wrote: »

theres noway i could sleep in bed,if it was lashing rain and ewes lambing/lambs under a month old


Id have to get up and check em at least once

Youd do more harm than good especially if raining.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

theres noway i could sleep in bed,if it was lashing rain and ewes lambing/lambs under a month old


Id have to get up and check em at least once

Not a problem in the world, once they have shelter and good nutrition, they'll lamb away happily.

wrangler

Deleted User wrote: »

that and keeping death rate down....amount of lads that accept a death rate of 5 to 10% in first 2 weeks is high enough

Even on a 100 ewe farm scanning to 1.5 lambs,thats between 8 and 15 lambs,a knock on of upto e1500 off your sales at e100 a lamb

our losses are usually 6 - 9% from scanning to weaning, nearer to 6% than 9%

Kevhog1988

Doniekp wrote: »

Hi all

What do people find are the best breeds of ewes and rams that are easier to lamb? Good mothers with plenty of milk and no much handling.
is there much difference between the easier lamb breeds and breeds that kill well in the factory?

Donie

Depends on your location and facilities i guess. we have a mixture of suffolks,belclare, lleyn and romney x ewes that were put to a zwarbtle ram last year. i fairly ruthlessly culled last year and got rid of anything that we had previous issues with. They all lamb outside in May/June when hopefully we have grass. Same ewes probably wouldnt handle rough weather anywhere hilly.

wrangler

Deleted User wrote: »

theres noway i could sleep in bed,if it was lashing rain and ewes lambing/lambs under a month old


Id have to get up and check em at least once

Same here would always check anything under a fortnight on a bad night at night time. OH goes to bed at 2 am and I get up at 4.30 am and both of us would go down the fields on a bad night...... often got one stretched

Doniekp

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

Depends on your location and facilities i guess. we have a mixture of suffolks,belclare, lleyn and romney x ewes that were put to a zwarbtle ram last year. i fairly ruthlessly culled last year and got rid of anything that we had previous issues with. They all lamb outside in May/June when hopefully we have grass. Same ewes probably wouldnt handle rough weather anywhere hilly.

We have suffolk ewes and char rams. Midlands area, lamb 40 ewes now and rest 110 from March on wards. Lamb indoors and feed nuts in troughs in open yards.

Used to lamb in the fields years ago, was pure hardship in the wet cold weather.
even indoors you'd still have to give some lambs a lot of extra attention, giving them sucks on the ewe

Farm365

Looking at converting a shed here to house the ewes next year. How many ewes would you fit in a pen 25ft long by 15ft wide? They would have 25ft of barrier space.

weatherbyfoxer

Farm365 wrote: »

Looking at converting a shed here to house the ewes next year. How many ewes would you fit in a pen 25ft long by 15ft wide? They would have 25ft of barrier space.

the recommended space on straw is 1.3qm per ewe and feeding space of 600mm per head at the barrier..depending on the size of the ewes too..but wouldnt be pushing much below those figures

Dinzee Conlee

Folks,

How long would a silage bale be good for?

Am feeding lambs outside, and they have a small pick of grass and access to a bale of silage.
They do pick at the silage, but not a lot. The bale they have is there 4-5 days now, but is only half eaten...

How long is a bale good for?

Or maybe the better question is - if a bale goes bad, will they just not eat it, or could it do them harm?

Dinzee Conlee

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Folks,

How long would a silage bale be good for?

Am feeding lambs outside, and they have a small pick of grass and access to a bale of silage.
They do pick at the silage, but not a lot. The bale they have is there 4-5 days now, but is only half eaten...

How long is a bale good for?

Or maybe the better question is - if a bale goes bad, will they just not eat it, or could it do them harm?

Id say your nearly at your limit.....is it after heating by any chance??

Dinzee Conlee

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Id say your nearly at your limit.....is it after heating by any chance??

I don’t know to be honest Blaaz... I’ll have a check tomorrow...

Siamsa Sessions

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Folks,

How long would a silage bale be good for?

Am feeding lambs outside, and they have a small pick of grass and access to a bale of silage.
They do pick at the silage, but not a lot. The bale they have is there 4-5 days now, but is only half eaten...

How long is a bale good for?

Or maybe the better question is - if a bale goes bad, will they just not eat it, or could it do them harm?

They’re funny hoors when it comes to silage. I opened a bale for ewes here last week and thought it was a bit off on the surface so left it out in the yard beside where some dung is and got them another one.

What did they do?

Ate the “bad one” first before moving onto the good one. I shook my head after that.

I’d say leave that bale there. If they don’t eat the rest, roll it out and spread it around the field. The regenerative farming lads say that’s great for the soil.

Skipduke

Lambing about 400 hornys outdoors mid March and April. Find that it works out grand if you’re not too keen for bed. It’s only a few weeks a year..Plenty walking but it’s good for the heart.

Death rate varies. Avg 5-7% between predators diseases and a few that I’d miss.

Wouldn’t fancy a indoor setup, utter confusion with scents mixing if you don’t have good space. Also the risk of disease spreading.

Next door neighbours have a big flock, let them all lamb away unassisted. Fair to say they loose many many manyyy ewes and lambs.

Birdnuts

Skipduke wrote: »

Lambing about 400 hornys outdoors mid March and April. Find that it works out grand if you’re not too keen for bed. It’s only a few weeks a year..Plenty walking but it’s good for the heart.

Death rate varies. Avg 5-7% between predators diseases and a few that I’d miss.

Wouldn’t fancy a indoor setup, utter confusion with scents mixing if you don’t have good space. Also the risk of disease spreading.

Next door neighbours have a big flock, let them all lamb away unassisted. Fair to say they loose many many manyyy ewes and lambs.

Know the type - remember doing a fencing job about 20 years ago on a farm near my parents place. It was the end of March and the month had been pretty brutal with alot of snow and rain. Looked over the ditch at the neighbouring farm and saw a load of dead lambs and a couple of ewe carcasses just emerging from melting snow. Questioned the guy I was working with and he said it happens to a greater or lesser extent on that particular farm every lambing season

wrangler

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

the recommended space on straw is 1.3qm per ewe and feeding space of 600mm per head at the barrier..depending on the size of the ewes too..but wouldnt be pushing much below those figures

The oldest shed I have I used to put 28 ewes in 22ft by 15ft 9 with a 14ins wide walk through trough dividing it and it worked well, they had 1ft 6ins trough space. They were straw bedded and that worked for 30 years 112 ewes in a four bay shed

weatherbyfoxer

wrangler wrote: »

The oldest shed I have I used to put 28 ewes in 22ft by 15ft 9 with a 14ins wide walk through trough dividing it and it worked well, they had 1ft 6ins trough space. They were straw bedded and that worked for 30 years 112 ewes in a four bay shed

size of the ewes has a big effect on it too.

wrangler

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

size of the ewes has a big effect on it too.

Using Lleyns here only 15 years, used to be suffolk texel