General sheep thread

Buford T. Justice XIX

farming93 wrote: »

Could anyone tell me the name of a company that sells the ram harnesses basically so I can put the ram out with the ewes for the ram effect and the harness prevents him putting anything in lamb. I seen the name of the company on the internet ages ago but for the life of me I just cant find it again. Thanks.

Agrihealth do them.

kk.man

roosky wrote: »

i have about twenty cull ewes some are mud fat, what is the trade like for them now, Icm navan where i send the lambs seem to pay very little for culls

Ballon quoted me 2.70 last week..I've opted 4 the mart

White Clover

What would ewes kill out at roughly? 45% ?

Mac Taylor

rangler1 wrote: »

Ewes have to be out of sight and smell of a ram for six weeks before hand and then a fortnight before mating put the rams beside them or in a pen in the field for two days and then put the rams with them in 14 days.
You can get attachments to put on ram harnesses to stop them serving ewes as well.
It definitely works if it's done right, tightens up the lambing and suppose to increase litter size

Rangler, just to clarify, after the 2 days, do you take the rams away completely again, (out of sight and smell) and introduce them again in 2 weeks for mating, Thanks, Mac

charolais0153

roosky wrote: »

i have about twenty cull ewes some are mud fat, what is the trade like for them now, Icm navan where i send the lambs seem to pay very little for culls

Athleague are great for ewes

rangler1

Mac Taylor wrote: »

Rangler, just to clarify, after the 2 days, do you take the rams away completely again, (out of sight and smell) and introduce them again in 2 weeks for mating, Thanks, Mac

sorry,meant two days minimum, I usually leave them in the next paddock for the full 14 days, They'd be chatting the ewes up through the sheep wire

roosky

charolais0153 wrote: »

Athleague are great for ewes

Thanks for that but would I be better holding on to them ( is price low) or getting shut, I could also bring them to the mart??

Green farmer

roosky wrote: »

Thanks for that but would I be better holding on to them ( is price low) or getting shut, I could also bring them to the mart??

Only you can decide that. If I had mud fat ewes, that were for culling I'd take the 40kg x 2.70 , or more wherever I'd find it and use it to buy nice new young sheep. ( as long as didn't need numbers for new sheep welfare scheme)

J.O. Farmer

roosky wrote: »

Thanks for that but would I be better holding on to them ( is price low) or getting shut, I could also bring them to the mart??

I'd be inclined to go to the mart with them. Fat ewes I think are a good trade enough.

Holding on to them your gambling that the price will go up and that the ewes won't start to lose condition as grass growth eases. For example why are they being culled any broken mouths?

Also you can only decide whether the grass they're eating would be better eaten by something else such as a younger replacement.

orm0nd

4 rams let off with 139 ewes today,

another 90 bolused & foot bathed ,

must say the sheep are in mighty order considering that they were mostly cleaning paddocks out after the dairy cows for last 6 weeks.

spudeater

Has anyone used footvax? Is it any good for scald or just Footrot?

Lambman

12 purebred ram lambs texels feb/mar born starting till get dirty coughing a bit as well so tested the dung negative in everything except p strongyle which came back at 50 which is nothing.... was advised till give them a cobalt dose might clean them up? Lambs are doing good there on good grass with just a scatter off nuts once a day till keep them quiet all roughly 55kg... any ideas what would help clean them up?

rangler1

Lambman wrote: »

12 purebred ram lambs texels feb/mar born starting till get dirty coughing a bit as well so tested the dung negative in everything except p strongyle which came back at 50 which is nothing.... was advised till give them a cobalt dose might clean them up? Lambs are doing good there on good grass with just a scatter off nuts once a day till keep them quiet all roughly 55kg... any ideas what would help clean them up?

Wet grass is the problem, have the same here,the wool is even starting to look bad from being wet all the time........ just when I want the ewes looking well for the sale....Sods law .
Don't think there's any solution apart from better weather
I'd dip mine now if there was a promise of better weather

Ard_MC

3 yr old Swaledale down with meningitis today,took him to the vet but not too hopeful for him. Have him since a shearling, 1 of the best rams i have had. Any ideas what would be the cause?

Lambman

rangler1 wrote: »

Lambman wrote: »

12 purebred ram lambs texels feb/mar born starting till get dirty coughing a bit as well so tested the dung negative in everything except p strongyle which came back at 50 which is nothing.... was advised till give them a cobalt dose might clean them up? Lambs are doing good there on good grass with just a scatter off nuts once a day till keep them quiet all roughly 55kg... any ideas what would help clean them up?

Wet grass is the problem, have the same here,the wool is even starting to look bad from being wet all the time........ just when I want the ewes looking well for the sale....Sods law .
Don't think there's any solution apart from better weather
I'd dip mine now if there was a promise of better weather

Yea I'd say ur right but would that cause the coughing? The dung sample doesn't test for lung worm so I might still dose them with cydectin and see does that help them any.

rangler1

Lambman wrote: »

Yea I'd say ur right but would that cause the coughing? The dung sample doesn't test for lung worm so I might still dose them with cydectin and see does that help them any.

Could be anything, are they vaccinated for pasteurella Pnuemonia, we're into that time of year now, OH says that lungworm should be visible in the FEC if they have it. She does FECs for farmers around here and would see a bit of Lungworm at the end of the year.
I had two lambs dead here yesterday morn, lab diagnosed Pulpy Kidney......was going to worm dose them this morning anyway so had to get Heptavac P this morning.......as I said before this week they normally don't die alone

Willfarman

spudeater wrote: »

Has anyone used footvax? Is it any good for scald or just Footrot?

I'm using it this year. The jury is out as to if it's any good for anything. But hasn't made them any worse anyway..

Willfarman

Ard_MC wrote: »

3 yr old Swaledale down with meningitis today,took him to the vet but not too hopeful for him. Have him since a shearling, 1 of the best rams i have had. Any ideas what would be the cause?

It' seems to be in in a few certain fields here. It's in the soil and gets into them via a small abrasion or the like I think.

Ard_MC

Willfarman wrote: »

It' seems to be in in a few certain fields here. It's in the soil and gets into them via a small abrasion or the like I think.

If i can save him, will he come ok or will it be a factory job?

Willfarman

Ard_MC wrote: »

If i can save him, will he come ok or will it be a factory job?

Factory job. They tend to be staggery and hold their head sideways. But you'll be bloody lucky if he comes round. Seen them live a week here and had to shoot them to put out of misery.

charolais0153

We have a lamb at home here. Texel cross. It has a vulva and all thr female parts and pisses out the back . He has no ball sack but just above where it would be he has 2 balls inside his body.

Anybody evee see anything like this

Siamsa Sessions

charolais0153 wrote: »

We have a lamb at home here. Texel cross. It has a vulva and all thr female parts and pisses out the back . He has no ball sack but just above where it would be he has 2 balls inside his body.

Anybody evee see anything like this

No, but you might be able to find fellas on the Internet who'd be willing to pay to see it

kk.man

charolais0153 wrote: »

We have a lamb at home here. Texel cross. It has a vulva and all thr female parts and pisses out the back . He has no ball sack but just above where it would be he has 2 balls inside his body.

Anybody evee see anything like this

Gender fluid!

arctictree

What do ye lads do with your runt lambs? I have a couple left that are hardly 25kg. Run them with some ewe lambs I'll be keeping empty over the winter?

roosky

arctictree wrote: »

What do ye lads do with your runt lambs? I have a couple left that are hardly 25kg. Run them with some ewe lambs I'll be keeping empty over the winter?

i did that last year and they are still here !!

First off cull the mother.

Ill be feeding mine on and hopefully they get to a weight worth killing by january

eorna

I feed them hard come nov-dec and get them away by january most years...
Tried mart some years but I always brought them home and made a good bit more by the end of it by feeding them.. will be feeding lambs here anyway at that time so no a big hassle.
if i had spare ground would just let them come on a bit more before start feeding.
Other than that they will be there a long time, which doesn't suit here.

Lambman

Anybody any pictures off open front sheep houses? Thinking on putting up a lane too here onto an existing she'd just build 2 gables and sheet the roof cheap and cheerfull.

roosky

How late is too late to shear ewe lambs, looks like it wont get doing them until the 23rd of September or maybe the weekend after so would that be too late, could always put them in ashed for a fortnight!

Bleating Lamb

Depends on the overall forecast...that prob sounds obvious 😀...it's going to be mild for next while anyway.

Birdnuts

roosky wrote: »

How late is too late to shear ewe lambs, looks like it wont get doing them until the 23rd of September or maybe the weekend after so would that be too late, could always put them in ashed for a fortnight!

I've sheared as late as October. We rarely get proper cold this side of Christmas anyway