General sheep thread

Sami23

How soon after spreading ground Lime at 2t per acre would it be ok to let sheep back into the fields.
Or is it any harm to them at all ?

Siamsa Sessions

Sami23 wrote: »

How soon after spreading ground Lime at 2t per acre would it be ok to let sheep back into the fields.
Or is it any harm to them at all ?

It might not do much for ewes producing milk if they went into it straight away but I'd be guessing a few days, especially if there was rain a bit of growth, and you'd be OK.

Having said that, it might be best to leave it for as long as other grazing allows and leave the lime get properly broken down into the soil

clonagh

How much did the liming job cost per acre Siamsa?

k mac

Have a few hoggets i want to give a small shake of meal to every second day to keep them quiet and help with gathering. Whats the best to give them they are getting the last of a bag of intensive lamb at the minute but at €8.60 a bag i'm sure there is cheaper options. As i said they will have plenty of grass the meal is literally just for ease of handling.

Mad about baa baas

Hi all... I have a 4 week old lamb here behaving oddly.. he stands with head down for a bit then runs with head down .. then he he heads into the ditch and lies down under a tree of I go to catch him he sets off again and repeats the process.. clearly agitated by something...any ideas? Just noticed him having a very big wee and seems happier after it?

farawaygrass

clonagh wrote: »

How much did the liming job cost per acre Siamsa?

I paid 21 a ton delivered and spread

Mad about baa baas

Mad about baa baas wrote: »

Hi all... I have a 4 week old lamb here behaving oddly.. he stands with head down for a bit then runs with head down .. then he he heads into the ditch and lies down under a tree of I go to catch him he sets off again and repeats the process.. clearly agitated by something...any ideas? Just noticed him having a very big wee and seems happier after it?

Very short lived improvement.. he is back under tree now. Any thoughts welcome

Mad about baa baas

Mad about baa baas wrote: »

Very short lived improvement.. he is back under tree now. Any thoughts welcome

your lamb is sick......has it been attacked by wasps by any chance,we lost lambs this way before


Id catch him and give a shot of penstrep,if i couldnt see anything obvious wrong....they die quick enough,if not looked after correctly

Mad about baa baas

[Deleted User] wrote: »

your lamb is sick......has it been attacked by wasps by any chance,we lost lambs this way before


Id catch him and give a shot of penstrep,if i couldnt see anything obvious wrong....they die quick enough,if not looked after correctly

Thanks for that.. I caught him and cant see anything obvious but I did give penicillin.. when lying down he seems to be irritated by ear... then I wondered had he eaten anything odd..have an elderly neighbour coming shortly for a look and hes seen everything twice so hopefully he can shed light on the subject

Mad about baa baas

[Deleted User] wrote: »

your lamb is sick......has it been attacked by wasps by any chance,we lost lambs this way before


Id catch him and give a shot of penstrep,if i couldnt see anything obvious wrong....they die quick enough,if not looked after correctly

Thanks for that.. I caught him and cant see anything obvious but I did give penicillin.. when lying down he seems to be irritated by ear... then I wondered had he eaten anything odd..have an elderly neighbour coming shortly for a look and hes seen everything twice so hopefully he can shed light on the subject

Siamsa Sessions

farawaygrass wrote: »

I paid 21 a ton delivered and spread

What part of the country are you in?

I paid €26 for the same thing a few months ago. I’m in the south east

farawaygrass

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

What part of the country are you in?

I paid €26 for the same thing a few months ago. I’m in the south east

In Galway, no shortage of limestone around here!

farawaygrass

3rd lamb in as many days with meningitis. Pissed off. There was a bit of old silage on the ground from when I was feeding a bale earlier in the year. Have injected the one I found this evening with penstrep. Will ring the vet tomorrow you see.
Mad about the baa baas-would your lambs have a touch of the same? Is it long sick?

Mad about baa baas

farawaygrass wrote: »

3rd lamb in as many days with meningitis. Pissed off. There was a bit of old silage on the ground from when I was feeding a bale earlier in the year. Have injected the one I found this evening with penstrep. Will ring the vet tomorrow you see.
Mad about the baa baas-would your lambs have a touch of the same? Is it long sick?

Sick since yesterday afternoon.. dont think its meningitis.. this comes and goes as in when neighbour arrived first we saw nothing wrong for 10 mins as we chatted and observed but then he took a turn.. is coughing intermittently too.. I think penicillin helped and I will go again today.. neighbour thinking throat ear or lung infection of some kind. Trying to pick away at grass in between episodes thanks

joe35

What do people feed ewes and lambs with. We're giving them ewe crunch. The lambs would be eating plenty of it now and just wondering is there anything better to give them

wrangler

joe35 wrote: »

What do people feed ewes and lambs with. We're giving them ewe crunch. The lambs would be eating plenty of it now and just wondering is there anything better to give them

Most ewe rations have magnesium in them this time of the year which will kill ram lambs. There should be an ingredients label on the bag.
Check that and see if there's magnesium in it. If you're trough feeding ewes and the lambs are eating a small bit while the ewes are eating it probably won't harm them, They won't be eating much of it in the few mins.
But if you want to feed the lambs properly get a lamb ration, feed them somewhere on their own in a creep feeder

clonagh

farawaygrass wrote: »

I paid 21 a ton delivered and spread

So it costs €42 per acre if spreading 2 ton to the acre?

Siamsa Sessions

clonagh wrote: »

So it costs €42 per acre if spreading 2 ton to the acre?

Yup.

Most places will only deliver a minimum of a load thou. That was 25 ton the last few times I got some, so approx €500-600 delivered and spread.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Yup.

Most places will only deliver a minimum of a load thou. That was 25 ton the last few times I got some, so approx €500-600 delivered and spread.

It releases a lot of nitrogen in the soil the first year that's locked up due to low Ph which takes some of the harm out of the cost

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

Most ewe rations have magnesium in them this time of the year which will kill ram lambs. There should be an ingredients label on the bag.
Check that and see if there's magnesium in it. If you're trough feeding ewes and the lambs are eating a small bit while the ewes are eating it probably won't harm them, They won't be eating much of it in the few mins.
But if you want to feed the lambs properly get a lamb ration, feed them somewhere on their own in a creep feeder

what do you feed rams?. Have the ram in the shed on good hay & oats the past while as ive no spare paddock.

wrangler

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

what do you feed rams?. Have the ram in the shed on good hay & oats the past while as ive no spare paddock.

We have a corner of a field that motorway construction left us with, thats where we keep them, it's ideal as it's out of smell and sight of the ewes as it's two miles away. Teasing is more effective if you can do that.
They came through the winter on .75kg/day each of lamb finisher ration, there was no grass, tiny paddock

All ewes dosed and bolused today, great job to get done, sun was splitting the rocks while I was at it.

Danzy

Do lads here leave some of their lambs intact
?

charolais0153

Danzy wrote: »

Do lads here leave some of their lambs intact
?

Might take the balls off a few runts , 10% I guess but leave the rest on

Sami23

charolais0153 wrote: »

Might take the balls off a few runts , 10% I guess but leave the rest on

Would you not find their backsides dirtier with the tails during summer and more prone to getting maggots

Kevhog1988

Sami23 wrote: »

Would you not find their backsides dirtier with the tails during summer and more prone to getting maggots

i find ewe lambs seem to get maggots quicker

joe35

Sami23 wrote: »

Would you not find their backsides dirtier with the tails during summer and more prone to getting maggots

We use to leave tails on ram lambs and only dock ewe lambs. Handy when weaning but torture when they needed to be clipped going to the factory. Every gets the tails ringed now

Sami23

joe35 wrote: »

We use to leave tails on ram lambs and only dock ewe lambs. Handy when weaning but torture when they needed to be clipped going to the factory. Every gets the tails ringed now

Same here all tails ringed along with the balls

joe35

Sami23 wrote: »

Same here all tails ringed along with the balls

Never ringed the balls here. How do you go about this. Is it the same ring you use for the tails. Same process?? I might ring a few late Lambers here see how they get on

Sami23

joe35 wrote: »

Never ringed the balls here. How do you go about this. Is it the same ring you use for the tails. Same process?? I might ring a few late Lambers here see how they get on

Yep same ring and try to do at couple days old to avoid extra stress on them.

On another subject - at what age do people usually go with their 1st dose to lambs at and I presume it would be a white drench you'd use such as Arrest ?