General sheep thread

Farmer Dan

I've ewes lambed about 3 weeks, out on grass and meal. One of them this morning didn't eat much meal.
She's bright and alert and feeding her lambs. I Noticed her stretching herself a good bit, whats that the sign of? Never seen it before. TIA

arctictree

White Clover wrote: »

A first crop N.Z. Suffolk lambed during the night, the first of the season. She was all about the lambs but kept going around in circles when they were trying to suck. She also gave a good 6 hours roaring, very frustrating to listen to and watch.
A texel first crop lambed after, not a sound out of her and stood like an aged ewe while the lambs sucked!

Each one is different. I'm lambing a big batch of ewe lambs this year and they would test you at times. Some seem to have no interest but let the lamb suck no bother and others are mad into the lambs but won't let them suck!

farawaygrass

arctictree wrote: »

Each one is different. I'm lambing a big batch of ewe lambs this year and they would test you at times. Some seem to have no interest but let the lamb suck no bother and others are mad into the lambs but won't let them suck!

That’s for sure. I find moving hoggets after lambing to the pens can be tricky as they are too afraid to follow. Saying that, others are very easy work with. I had to give a suck to a lamb on a hogget earlier snd she just stood there like a seasoned pro

Dickie10

Llyenns are super as ewe lambs/hoggets for lambing on thier own 6 years now lambing them as replacements to HD ram and each year amazed at how they get on with the job, majority re placid for ewe lambs. very roomy in back end for ewe lambs too.

arctictree

farawaygrass wrote: »

That’s for sure. I find moving hoggets after lambing to the pens can be tricky as they are too afraid to follow. Saying that, others are very easy work with. I had to give a suck to a lamb on a hogget earlier snd she just stood there like a seasoned pro

I think the old 'follow me' trick just doesn't work on ewe lambs. They just have to be manhandled into the pens.

weatherbyfoxer

Dickie10 wrote: »

Llyenns are super as ewe lambs/hoggets for lambing on thier own 6 years now lambing them as replacements to HD ram and each year amazed at how they get on with the job, majority re placid for ewe lambs. very roomy in back end for ewe lambs too.

First year with llyen rams and llyen x texels ewes here,very impressed with the lambs coming so far easy lambed and very lively lambs..the llyen x texel ewes are easiest ewes we have had to work with around lambing...type of ewe you would pick to lamb and put into a pen at 3am

farawaygrass

Dickie10 wrote: »

Llyenns are super as ewe lambs/hoggets for lambing on thier own 6 years now lambing them as replacements to HD ram and each year amazed at how they get on with the job, majority re placid for ewe lambs. very roomy in back end for ewe lambs too.

Did you buy a llyen ram and put them on texel ewes for replacements is it? It seems hard to come by lleyn hoggets for sale and the society seems very small in Ireland. Their website sends you to the uk sales events.
They are a very prolific breed I believe?
How are they to be rated against the Mayo mule for replacements?

Kevhog1988

We have a few lleyns here and they are fierce good mothers. I brought one in last year as she had a touch of foot rot and she took the 2 week old lamb in the pen next door along with her own Single without an adoption crate. Never seen that happen before

Dickie10

farawaygrass wrote: »

Did you buy a llyen ram and put them on texel ewes for replacements is it? It seems hard to come by lleyn hoggets for sale and the society seems very small in Ireland. Their website sends you to the uk sales events.
They are a very prolific breed I believe?
How are they to be rated against the Mayo mule for replacements?

yes i bought a Lleynn ram in Ballingarry in north tipperary in 2013, so first crop of lambs were 2014 i still have some of these ewes. put the lleynn on texel cross sheep it seems the best cross although i do have lovely cheviot cross lleynn ewes but they wont last longer than about 4-5 year old , as they are light in bone and put everything into the lambs. a borris type ewe crossed with a llyenn also left great ewe. i will prob put the 1/2 lleynn ewes back to llleynn again now next year. there prolific in doubles. this year i scanned 73 doubles from 105 ewes, 11 triplets, 21 singles

arctictree

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

We have a few lleyns here and they are fierce good mothers. I brought one in last year as she had a touch of foot rot and she took the 2 week old lamb in the pen next door along with her own Single without an adoption crate. Never seen that happen before

Very easy to foster but I tend to have more triplets than singles. Hard to catch the singles too as some can lamb very fast.

Sami23

arctictree wrote: »

Very easy to foster but I tend to have more triplets than singles. Hard to catch the singles too as some can lamb very fast.

Trying for foster a 2nd lamb onto a single here at the minute. The single had just been born when I got to the shed so I put what I could of the lambing fluid on the Foster Lamb but the ewe didn't buy it so I'm holding her 4 times a day to let the lamb suck now.

What are my chance of it working out from yer experiences or any tips for me please

Young95

Dickie10 wrote: »

yes i bought a Lleynn ram in Ballingarry in north tipperary in 2013, so first crop of lambs were 2014 i still have some of these ewes. put the lleynn on texel cross sheep it seems the best cross although i do have lovely cheviot cross lleynn ewes but they wont last longer than about 4-5 year old , as they are light in bone and put everything into the lambs. a borris type ewe crossed with a llyenn also left great ewe. i will prob put the 1/2 lleynn ewes back to llleynn again now next year. there prolific in doubles. this year i scanned 73 doubles from 105 ewes, 11 triplets, 21 singles

Was that off a man with the surname Clarke ? If so he has so serious setup!!

wrangler

Sami23 wrote: »

Trying for foster a 2nd lamb onto a single here at the minute. The single had just been born when I got to the shed so I put what I could of the lambing fluid on the Foster Lamb but the ewe didn't buy it so I'm holding her 4 times a day to let the lamb suck now.

What are my chance of it working out from yer experiences or any tips for me please

It's probably too late now but you can get a ewe licking again if she's a while lambed by putting your hand into her same as lambing her and moving it around.
She'll start forcing first and eventually (it could take five minutes) she'll lick her lips. It helps to take your hand out every so often and rub it in her nose, she'll eventually lick your glove, she's then ready for a lamb. have the lamb prepared beforehand
If the lamb is dry, wash him in salty water, she'll like the salt and the lambing fluids is absorbed better into a wet fleece. Tie his legs so he can't get up, get as much lambing fluids as you can onto him.
Take away her own lamb and give her the foster lamb, let him up in 10 mins.
after another ten mins give her back her own

Green farmer

Young95 wrote: »

Was that off a man with the surname Clarke ? If so he has so serious setup!!

I bought a lleyn ram off him a few years ago. If I was looking for another lleyn , I'd go back to him again. Good quality stock selected to run on a proper commercial basis.

arctictree

wrangler wrote: »

It's probably too late now but you can get a ewe licking again if she's a while lambed by putting your hand into her same as lambing her and moving it around.
She'll start forcing first and eventually (it could take five minutes) she'll lick her lips. It helps to take your hand out every so often and rub it in her nose, she'll eventually lick your glove, she's then ready for a lamb. have the lamb prepared beforehand
If the lamb is dry, wash him in salty water, she'll like the salt and the lambing fluids is absorbed better into a wet fleece. Tie his legs so he can't get up, get as much lambing fluids as you can onto him.
Take away her own lamb and give her the foster lamb, let him up in 10 mins.
after another ten mins give her back her own

Exactly this but in my experience you really need to catch her lambing. These older ewes with singles can be quick!

wrangler

arctictree wrote: »

Exactly this but in my experience you really need to catch her lambing. These older ewes with singles can be quick!

Yea if you miss her lambing, anything after is more diffficult, but still worth trying,

MIKEKC

If ewes were gone 100 days at scanning how accurate would the result be?. At what stage would the result decrease?

farawaygrass

Dickie10 wrote: »

yes i bought a Lleynn ram in Ballingarry in north tipperary in 2013, so first crop of lambs were 2014 i still have some of these ewes. put the lleynn on texel cross sheep it seems the best cross although i do have lovely cheviot cross lleynn ewes but they wont last longer than about 4-5 year old , as they are light in bone and put everything into the lambs. a borris type ewe crossed with a llyenn also left great ewe. i will prob put the 1/2 lleynn ewes back to llleynn again now next year. there prolific in doubles. this year i scanned 73 doubles from 105 ewes, 11 triplets, 21 singles

Are they a very big ewe? I’d imagine if they were crossed with a borris type they would be smashers but would be as big as an elephant

Young95

Green farmer wrote: »

I bought a lleyn ram off him a few years ago. If I was looking for another lleyn , I'd go back to him again. Good quality stock selected to run on a proper commercial basis.

Yea he has some size of an enterprise !!

JayBally

If your ewes are out on very good grass and ad lib Lick would you still be feeding concentrates they are borderline fat?

wrangler

JayBally wrote: »

If your ewes are out on very good grass and ad lib Lick would you still be feeding concentrates they are borderline fat?

before or after lambing

JayBally

Before due the 28th of this month out during the day in at night? Ad-lib hay at nighy

wrangler

JayBally wrote: »

Before due the 28th of this month out during the day in at night? Ad-lib hay at nighy

I'd be giving meals to the ewes carrying doubles and triplets anyway

JayBally

Ya my fear is they are very big too big in my opinion afraid of trouble lambing

Green farmer

farawaygrass wrote: »

Are they a very big ewe? I’d imagine if they were crossed with a borris type they would be smashers but would be as big as an elephant

Theres abit of variation in the lleyns. I've seen ones that look as they've abit of cheviot blood infused at some stage and I've seen others that might have abit of texel in them. Matter of individual opinion which one suits after that.

Dinzee Conlee

JayBally wrote: »

Ya my fear is they are very big too big in my opinion afraid of trouble lambing

Oats?

Its low in protein, but if they were on good grass would this supply enough protein?

Tileman

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Oats?

Its low in protein, but if they were on good grass would this supply enough protein?

That is what I was thinking. A bit of oats and soya meal mixed would do a good job.

charolais0153

Tileman wrote: »

That is what I was thinking. A bit of oats and soya meal mixed would do a good job.

As well of buying a sheep nut, minerals in that too, last thing you want is ewes with no milk

MIKEKC

MIKEKC wrote: »

If ewes were gone 100 days at scanning how accurate would the result be?. At what stage would the result decrease?

Any opinion welcome

wrangler

MIKEKC wrote: »

Any opinion welcome

You should really ask your scanner, most farmers wouldn't let them go past 100 days,