General sheep thread

Country lad

never any problem here with mcpa 2 weeks is plenty of time for sheep to be off of land can see no reason would effect factory bound lambs

Albert Johnson

I'm getting problems with scalds between the hoof cleats atm, mostly in lambs. It's probably due to grazing longer grass. Any solutions apart from topping it which isn't really an option as it's rough ground a good distance away.

wrangler

Albert Johnson wrote: »

I'm getting problems with scalds between the hoof cleats atm, mostly in lambs. It's probably due to grazing longer grass. Any solutions apart from topping it which isn't really an option as it's rough ground a good distance away.

Regular footbathing is the best solution to lameness

Country lad

i put hydrated lime around water troughts every few days as it should help

What age would ye wean a pet lamb? Started her on Lamlac June 12th, she was probably a month old at that stage. The young lad has a good interest in feeding her so there's no panic either, on the second bag of lamlac now drinking nearly 2 litres a day. She's eating pedigree creep as well but I haven't been measuring how much yet. She's a Charollais cross.

wrangler

Deleted User wrote: »

What age would ye wean a pet lamb? Started her on Lamlac June 12th, she was probably a month old at that stage. The young lad has a good interest in feeding her so there's no panic either, on the second bag of lamlac now drinking nearly 2 litres a day. She's eating pedigree creep as well but I haven't been measuring how much yet. She's a Charollais cross.

We wean at five weeks when they're eating half a pound of meal/day consistently,

DJ98

At what age would it be best to replace a ram. Have 2 here now who are currently 5 Yr olds, both in good health and have all their teeth. Would I get another couple of years out of these or would I be better to replace before the breeding season?

DJ98

DJ98 wrote: »

At what age would it be best to replace a ram. Have 2 here now who are currently 5 Yr olds, both in good health and have all their teeth. Would I get another couple of years out of these or would I be better to replace before the breeding season?

Get em fertility tested?

Last year was 1st year i did it,and found it a comfort to know they were right after issues of sub-fertile and large number repeats

wrangler

wrangler wrote: »

We wean at five weeks when they're eating half a pound of meal/day consistently,

She has 500g for today, hopefully she won't spill it or fill with shavings and I can get an idea how much she's eating.

roosky

kk.man wrote: »

Had maggots in a hogget this evening... Not cut.. I think I got her in time.. They were shorn on 5th June.. Was surprised

Same as that sheared here on june 1st and had maggots last week.

Cant get them dipped for another forthnight, what would ye do ?

Do you chance them or knapsack them or what.....click would be an option but they need a dip as they are scracthing.

wrangler

roosky wrote: »

Same as that sheared here on june 1st and had maggots last week.

Cant get them dipped for another forthnight, what would ye do ?

Do you chance them or knapsack them or what.....click would be an option but they need a dip as they are scracthing.

I often used the tractor power washer at low revs..... at least you won't be carrying it on your back.
You need to cover/mask up well as there can be a fair mist out of it.
Dipping will only last a few weeks for maggots either but if they're scratching they may be dipped

Kevhog1988

I use the knapsack on ours every few weeks after shearing. Find it handy to run them through the crush and do that.

roosky

Kevhog1988 wrote: »

I use the knapsack on ours every few weeks after shearing. Find it handy to run them through the crush and do that.

are you putting much on them like roughly how many sheep are you getting out of a standard 16 liter knapsack

I've done the knapsack routine, but, is partially dipping sheep asking for another resistance issue?

Kevhog1988

roosky wrote: »

are you putting much on them like roughly how many sheep are you getting out of a standard 16 liter knapsack

I do about 12ewes per knapsack. Mostly along their spine i soak them and then spray as much of them as i can. Not sure if this is the correct/most effective way of doing it but i dont have a dip tank so its the only way i can do it without getting a fella in with a sheep shower/mobile tank etc.

Bleating Lamb

Think I might have the ‘honour’ of leaving the first post on the new ‘revamped’ site……not sure if I like the interface as it does now t seem to list your favourite forums like it used to beside your avatar in the top right hand corner of page.

Anyways back to the sheep…..I also came across several clipped ewes with maggot attacks the other day!!

Clipped around a month and all were clean….had to bring all in and look after those few and then for ease of mind went and got Clikzin and put it on the ewes.

Country lad

just being able to log back in today as for me power wash ewes a couple of times during the year i put 100 mls of dip in 110 litres of water and never have problem with maggots or scab plus give them injection as well in october

Country lad

thinking of keeping a few ewe lambs for breeding what weight would they need to be when going to ram in october

Mad about baa baas

Depends on the breed I'd say..teagasc say 60pc of mature body weight..I personally would not like to put anything less than 50kg to a ram..I remember my father years ago breeding lovely speckled face ewe lambs that were mid forties kgs and it stunted their growth..had nice lambs but never really grew into big ewes.. maybe it was a management issue on our behalf but it changed my opinion anyway

Mad about baa baas

wrangler

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117633659#Comment_117633659

We use lleyns, mature ewes 70 kgs average and would be happy with 45kgs.

At 70kgs the mature ewes eat a lot less than a 90kg suffolk doing the same job

Mad about baa baas

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117633893#Comment_117633893

Pros and cons to everything I suppose.. smaller ewes are easier handled and possibly easier maintained but I reckon bigger longer ewes get lambs out the gate quicker..also selling breeding hoggets size does matter..

Back to the original question though I'm probably against breeding from ewe lambs in general so I'm probably not best placed to comment.. I know lots of people have great success breeding from ewe lambs but not for me.. people probably think I'm foolish leaving them idle for a year but each to their own.. I say go for whatever suits your own set up

farawaygrass

usent they say if you breed ewe lambs there will have a higher chance of having a single the following year?

on about big ewes, people better start thinking of the shearers too!

Country lad

put ram with a couple of ewe lambs last year turned out okay might do the same this year as usually around ten small ones and don.t put ram with them ontill following year ..i also always buy some hoggets every year for breeding but thinking of buying some 3 to 4 year old ewes this year as they might be cheaper

MIKEKC

Put Clik on ewes today. Our brand is over tail so put on paint straight after. Now that the Clik is covered is it any good.

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117634905#Comment_117634905

Only way i could make it work was to keep em as a seperate flock and maybe have to keep a small pick of meal into em,otherwise any rearing twins would go to rags and hard get em fit for breeding

clonagh

What dose are lads using for dirty lambs? Faecal samples showing 50 eggs/g of Nematodirus and 450 eggs/g of Trichostrongyle. Have been using Endospec but wondering if something else might be better...

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117733207#Comment_117733207

Change to a clear( Ivermectin) dose and FEC test again in a fortnight after dosing if you want to change.

Cydectin, animec, oramec etc are good clear doses

Endospec is a white dose and white doses are losing its effectiveness on a lot of farms

Wormers work different on different farm depending on the amount of resistance, By FEC testing you'll find what does and doesn't work, no one tell you from a shop

clonagh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117738750#Comment_117738750

Thanks for that...

Hard Knocks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117630606#Comment_117630606

Done it here

Ideally you want them 50+kg

Shear them around now (first dry day) and make sure they have lots to eat over the winter.

Give a vitamin drench before putting to a ram (ideally Charolais or vendeen for easy lambing)

Good luck