General sheep thread

roosky

White Clover wrote: »

What colours and in what order do people here use to raddle their rams? I know most will start with yellow, what colour next ..?
TIA.

I always use the example on the tub as a guide

charolais0153

White Clover wrote: »

What colours and in what order do people here use to raddle their rams? I know most will start with yellow, what colour next ..?
TIA.

Yellow or orange. Green. Red . blue . blackor purple

LambMaster

White Clover wrote: »

What colours and in what order do people here use to raddle their rams? I know most will start with yellow, what colour next ..?
TIA.

Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, Black.

I saw a Farmer up the country using white, ewes were white, I don't know what good it does.

DJ98

Yellow then red then blue and hopefully you wouldnt have too many ewes with blue on them, change the colour every 14 days or that

davidk1394

The auld lad brought lambs to camolin last Thursday and watched them going up the line. Brian Nicholsons lambs were going yo after ours. There was a Sheep Ireland person there looking at the lambs as they went up. But instead of standing where they grades them she stood where they read the tags. Sure why would you stand there ?

ganmo

davidk1394 wrote: »

The auld lad brought lambs to camolin last Thursday and watched them going up the line. Brian Nicholsons lambs were going yo after ours. There was a Sheep Ireland person there looking at the lambs as they went up. But instead of standing where they grades them she stood where they read the tags. Sure why would you stand there ?

To make sure they put in the tags right

Did they move up to the grading area with the lambs?

rangler1

davidk1394 wrote: »

The auld lad brought lambs to camolin last Thursday and watched them going up the line. Brian Nicholsons lambs were going yo after ours. There was a Sheep Ireland person there looking at the lambs as they went up. But instead of standing where they grades them she stood where they read the tags. Sure why would you stand there ?

She's just on the board of Sheep Ireland, and lives nearby, she wouldn't have much of a role there but would have to ensure the tags were being read correctly and the electronic tag reader was operating properly, The information would be going to sheep ireland direct.
She's supposed to go up the line to ensure they stay in order too

davidk1394

She might have went up afterwards but not when the auld lad was there. He watched a few of his lambs going up along aswell

Siamsa Sessions

Have a nice ram lamb with 22 ewes here since 2-Sept and he's after stepping up the work in the last few days - 12 of them raddled in total now (22 days since he was left in)

There's ewe lambs too but they'll be time enough getting tipped in Oct.

I'm not overly concerned about the spread in lambing dates but was just wondering when 'missed' ewes will cycle again after day 23 of ram intro? Will it be another 5-6 days (like duration from day 18 to day 23)?

Thanks

charolais0153

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Have a nice ram lamb with 22 ewes here since 2-Sept and he's after stepping up the work in the last few days - 12 of them raddled in total now (22 days since he was left in)

There's ewe lambs too but they'll be time enough getting tipped in Oct.

I'm not overly concerned about the spread in lambing dates but was just wondering when 'missed' ewes will cycle again after day 23 of ram intro? Will it be another 5-6 days (like duration from day 18 to day 23)?

Thanks

Variation in between groups of ewes is amazing. One ram has 12 tipped out if 42 while another has 4 out of 35. In 3 days

TITANIUM.

Lads is anybody else having trouble with maggot in lambs this year? They Got click way back in the end of May. Dipped the end of July. Dosed again in August.
But still seem to be treating a few every week.

sea12

TITANIUM. wrote: »

Lads is anybody else having trouble with maggot in lambs this year? They Got click way back in the end of May. Dipped the end of July. Dosed again in August.
But still seem to be treating a few every week.

Got them dipped by mobile dipping. Great job. Haven't touched one since

rangler1

TITANIUM. wrote: »

Lads is anybody else having trouble with maggot in lambs this year? They Got click way back in the end of May. Dipped the end of July. Dosed again in August.
But still seem to be treating a few every week.

Dipping won't last anymore than 3 or 4 weeks and I wouldn't be surprised if it shortened the effectiveness of the Clik, anyway you're coming to the end of it's effect too, this can be a very bad time for maggots some years as they do a lot of harm very quick. I saw a lot of maggots in lambs last week in the factory.

LambMaster

TITANIUM. wrote: »

Lads is anybody else having trouble with maggot in lambs this year? They Got click way back in the end of May. Dipped the end of July. Dosed again in August.
But still seem to be treating a few every week.

Maggots have been around quit a bit this year alright. I guess you can blame the good auld Irish weather.;)

ganmo

Only had 2 this year near the middle of July. Clicked most after we found them and nothin since

early_riser

Would it be gone to late to shear ewe lambs? never done it before here and was hoping to this year but havent got a chance yet with the broken weather

DJ98

Let out rams with ewes last week, 2 groups 1 ram in each group, would it be ok too mix these two groups next week, the rams were used to being together but would they be likely to fight after time apart and ewes in heat aswell?

Western Pomise

early_riser wrote: »

Would it be gone to late to shear ewe lambs? never done it before here and was hoping to this year but havent got a chance yet with the broken weather

Weather is still quite mild,it was 18 degrees yday in Mayo!....and 14 today .....coldest temperatures at night around most of country have been 2 or 3 degrees at lowest so it's still ok for shearing but don't wait too much longer to get them done,

Lambman

DJ98 wrote: »

Let out rams with ewes last week, 2 groups 1 ram in each group, would it be ok too mix these two groups next week, the rams were used to being together but would they be likely to fight after time apart and ewes in heat aswell?

Mixed rams this year after 3 weeks 3 rams that were used together but ended up all ewes were tipped in first 3 weeks anyway I can dose my rams numbered A-h in a open field in order there that quiet!

RobinBanks

Just applied for a flock numbe so I can buy 15-20 lambs for winter. A friend put in lambs into a field i reseeded last back end and they done savage job tilling it.

A couple of questions if ye don't mind pointing me in the right direction.

Not all the field is fenced with sheep wire. The sheep that were in it last year were Charlaois and never broke out. What breeds would generally be regarded as quieter breeds?

There is no shed on this land. Are some breeds hardier than others and wouldn't mind been out for winter?

I am based in north mayo. Are certain breeds more suited to this part of the country?

i would like to buy ewe lambs, only because that's what was in the field last year but it probably doesn't matter if they are ewes or rams does it?

LambMaster

RobinBanks wrote: »

Just applied for a flock numbe so I can buy 15-20 lambs for winter. A friend put in lambs into a field i reseeded last back end and they done savage job tilling it.

A couple of questions if ye don't mind pointing me in the right direction.

Not all the field is fenced with sheep wire. The sheep that were in it last year were Charlaois and never broke out. What breeds would generally be regarded as quieter breeds?

There is no shed on this land. Are some breeds hardier than others and wouldn't mind been out for winter?

I am based in north mayo. Are certain breeds more suited to this part of the country?

i would like to buy ewe lambs, only because that's what was in the field last year but it probably doesn't matter if they are ewes or rams does it?

In terms of the field not being entirely fenced, I'd go with a very docile breed, so try to avoid mountain breeds and mules (1/2 Mountain). To be honest it's a legal requirement to have the land fenced and for your own sake I'd fence it. It's up to you to though.

Usually you'd only house ewes that are lambing, yet I don't. So ewe lambs should be fine, as long as the field isn't prone to flooding etc. If you are looking for a very hardy breed though, I'd go with either a Border Leicester cross, or Lleyn (Personal favorites of mine). If you're selling for slaughter in spring, you might want to go with a Texel cross. If you got on well with the Charollais, they'd also be fine.

There are a lot of Mule breeds that are bred in that part of the country, yet as part of the field isn't fenced, I'd stay well clear.

It would probably be best to go with ewe lambs as having that many rams together is a handful and there would be a fair chance of losing one or two throughout the winter. There is also very little market for the meat because there is a perceived taint on the meat from entire rams once they reach a year. Wethers are grand, yet I prefer ewe lambs

My advice would be to get ewe lambs of a Maternal breed and sell them as Replacements next spring. That means that you don't have too spend much on fattening them up, and it also means you would have great ewes if you decided to keep them and lamb them next winter.

RobinBanks

LambMaster wrote: »

In terms of the field not being entirely fenced, I'd go with a very docile breed, so try to avoid mountain breeds and mules (1/2 Mountain). To be honest it's a legal requirement to have the land fenced and for your own sake I'd fence it. It's up to you to though.

Usually you'd only house ewes that are lambing, yet I don't. So ewe lambs should be fine, as long as the field isn't prone to flooding etc. If you are looking for a very hardy breed though, I'd go with either a Border Leicester cross, or Lleyn (Personal favorites of mine). If you're selling for slaughter in spring, you might want to go with a Texel cross. If you got on well with the Charollais, they'd also be fine.

There are a lot of Mule breeds that are bred in that part of the country, yet as part of the field isn't fenced, I'd stay well clear.

It would probably be best to go with ewe lambs as having that many rams together is a handful and there would be a fair chance of losing one or two throughout the winter. There is also very little market for the meat because there is a perceived taint on the meat from entire rams once they reach a year. Wethers are grand, yet I prefer ewe lambs

My advice would be to get ewe lambs of a Maternal breed and sell them as Replacements next spring. That means that you don't have too spend much on fattening them up, and it also means you would have great ewes if you decided to keep them and lamb them next winter.

Lambmaster, thanks a million for detailed reply. I had a look on donedeal earlier and Hilltex whatever they are fierce common around here by looks of things.

I will go to mart again next week and see if I can pick up a few texel or Suffolk ewe lambs around 35-40kg.

DJ98

RobinBanks wrote: »

Lambmaster, thanks a million for detailed reply. I had a look on donedeal earlier and Hilltex whatever they are fierce common around here by looks of things.

I will go to mart again next week and see if I can pick up a few texel or Suffolk ewe lambs around 35-40kg.

Hiltex are half mountain to so might bot suit when the field is not entirely fenced

RobinBanks

DJ98 wrote: »

Hiltex are half mountain to so might bot suit when the field is not entirely fenced

FairPlay DJ. Will stick to Suffolk or texel so

DJ98

RobinBanks wrote: »

FairPlay DJ. Will stick to Suffolk or texel so

Perhaps not everyone will agree but do Suffolk ewes not tend to sell better than texel ewes? Then it does depend on what the farmer is looking for.

Also when selling as ewe lambs Suffolks seem to make that little bit more

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

Perhaps not everyone will agree but do Suffolk ewes not tend to sell better than texel ewes? Then it does depend on what the farmer is looking for.

Also when selling as ewe lambs Suffolks seem to make that little bit more

Suffolk ewe lambs are hardship though

charolais0153

Personally id get charollais stores if ypu dont want to start a flock

DJ98

charolais0153 wrote: »

Suffolk ewe lambs are hardship though

Why is that? I've no experience so can't comment

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

Why is that? I've no experience so can't comment

To get a nice black headed ewe lamb you nwed a suffolk ewe unless you have expensive mules. Suffolk lamsb out of sufolk ewes are very dopey and want to die at birth most of the time

RobinBanks

charolais0153 wrote: »

Personally id get charollais stores if ypu dont want to start a flock

Ya it's only for winter to graze 10ac reseed and maybe some silage ground in spring. Not to many charlaois advertised here or in mart either but will keep eye. Cheers Char