General sheep thread

Sami23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670939#Comment_121670939

That's a disaster hopefully them bloody dogs don't come back.

Sheep breeder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670170#Comment_121670170

We lamb in doors and for the last 4 years as soon as a ewe lambs the lambs put to suckle and given a good drop of biestings and any loose wool around the udder is removed to stop lambs messing about and as soon as possible iodine the navel, find this working very well. Ewes are on nuts and have plenty of milk. Have to feed to have a good supply of milk.

jfh

Anyone had issues with milk not coming down, had a few ewes with what looked like decant udders but no colostrum, I had cut back on the nuts as lambs were coming big, moved over to oats now and last few seem OK. Maybe I cut back to protein too much

jfh

For those with early lambs, how long would you continue to supplement ewe with nuts? Thanks

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696844#Comment_121696844

It depends, if you've plenty of good grass a ewe should be able to feed two lambs on grass alone,

With poor grazing the ewe would need to be fed for 6 - 8 weeks, milk yield reduces after 6 weeks and lambs should be eating a good bit of meal at that stage

White Clover

Any recommendations for a smaller type EID tags for lambs? Also what Tag reader to people find best? I have a ezi-weigh 7i clock on my scales and also have Flockwatch. I'm looking to get away from the pen & paper!

orm0nd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121696844#Comment_121696844

We have places closed since October so have a fair cover of grass. We supplement until the batch gets too big to do safely. Ewes would be lambed 4 to 7 weeks. Usually start creeping the lambs when we stop feeding the ewes.

Do this with 2 batches, the third batch, later lambers get no feeding or creep.

Kevhog1988

Just on the post in the last few days about viability of a sheep enterprise going forward im hoping that price will at least hold or increase with ewe numbers decreasing.... Loose plan here is to transition a good portion of the flock into a low input system (Easycare or something similar that will lamb outside) and then run a few pure bred dorsets to lamb at christmas. I want to run decent numbers with a better rotational system so that they are moving in one mob around the place and keep on top of rushes etc. Hope to buy more land if i can when i have an existing loan paid off but if i could get more ground to rent close to home id go that way either.

Off farm job is the main breadwinner here with very little if anything being taken out of the sheep as were trying to improve the place etc. Ive taken a big jump career wise in the past year so pushing that hard to get it to a place where im doing less big hour days and my team are ticking along without hand holding. Currently my fiance does the day to day checks and we do the heavy lifting jobs together at the weekends.

Out of interest is there a single investment you guys made on your farm which drastically improved/reduced your time spent farming?.

roosky

Biggest/best investment for me was fencing…..I spent years messing with temporary fencing and moving fencing and blocking gaps and falling out with neighbors…..every time the phone rang you were nervous they were out!

it has saved me a lot of stress, and allows me to graze our fields better and also split fields when needed.

Jonnyc135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121700415#Comment_121700415

My uncle would say...Sold them!!!!

Jonnyc135

Question regarding Lungworm, seemed to have been a bad year around here for it, what is the worst time of the year for lungworm?

I done with levas diamond back 3 months ago as a few coughing nothing major and were great condition - coughing stopped completely. Have a handful coughing now. They only seen to cough after doing a run down to the meal trough in great condition otherwise.

Would this be lungworm again at this time of the year considering it was very mild winter?

Tileman

Jeez the sheep are going through some amount of bales. I’ll be tight if it’s a late spring.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121707465#Comment_121707465

Must be good silage, did you get it tested

Tileman

No it was lovely lovely grass in that good week in June. Silage and the swap to hay then silage etc. hay was made at end of May aswell. I’d nearly eat it ureself. Was just commenting that week I’ve never seen sheep look as good.

Mad about baa baas

I have a ewe here that had 2 lambs Tuesday evening. Today I noticed 1 teat is quite big.the bag is full but not rock hard.i think they might be both drinking from the other side.i tried taking milk from the big side but can't get anything

Although the ewe is very stressful and I'd say not letting milk down for me.. I can only get a tiny bit from the good side.

Any tips to get them.to drink from the other side?

The smaller lamb Will struggle if they both stay on 1 teat?

I was thinking of taking them out for an hour and see if they tackle both sides if hungry?

Mad about baa baas

Just out there now and I. An get milk from the 1 side freely but can get nothing from the big teat..the bag feels.big and full .I'm wondering it a funny type of mastitis? She is not sick at all though? Yet anyway

Kevhog1988

Is the milk duct blocked?

Mad about baa baas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713086#Comment_121713086

Sounds possible..would I try a needle or dry cow tube up the teat and see can I unblock? She is a first time lamber so can't have any scarring from previous mastitis.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713241#Comment_121713241

You'd feel the lump in the teat, I only ever had it once in a ewe years ago

Mad about baa baas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121713926#Comment_121713926

No obvious lump ..tried massaging the udder with a hot cloth but still can't get anything out of that teat

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121714057#Comment_121714057

Sounds like she's dry so, you might get to foster one of her lambs, they won't survive on one teat

roosky

95 ewes to lamb in 2 weeks….how many lambing pens do I need ?

DJ98

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121716580#Comment_121716580

Usually sets up 12 permanent here for a similar number of ewes but then certain days you'd end up making up extra temporary pens

roosky

thanks I usually have 10 permanent and 4 temporary ones ready to go but thought I might need a few more with the tighter lambing spread

Sami23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121717130#Comment_121717130

How many days would ye leave them in the individual lambing pens before letting them outside or in bad weather into larger group pens ?

DJ98

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121728522#Comment_121728522

Most are out of them here within a day but some that require a little extra attention stay longer then usually get 2 days in a group pen and everything back out then. Lamb outside so bring everything in to the small pens amd then allow to mix in group pens in shed.

joe35

Some of my bales of silage are all white mould. Is it safe to let ewes pick away at these bales. They are singles in good condition. Getting some oats and nuts too.

Also what causes the white mould. It's throughout the bales and once I grape it out of the feeder, it's like powder

Sami23

What's people's thoughts on letting ewes that are currently lambing out during the day for pick of grass and some exercise and back in to shed at night.

Any concerns about them getting wet and going back into the shed wet at night.

Main reason is to minimise straw usage.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760203#Comment_121760203

You need to be aware of listeria, any ewes that are affected will either abort or be brain damaged. Thankfully I don't know what listeria looks like in silage but it's a mould too

Dinzee Conlee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121760320#Comment_121760320

Nothing wrong with letting them out, if you could do so easily, be good for em and would save on ration. As long as the house is airy, I wouldn't worry about them coming back in wet. They would be messy to work with would be the only thing…

But leaving them out to save on straw would be a false economy in my opinion. You’ll be sending the ewes out to soak up water during the day, and then bring it back into the shed at night. I’d even wonder would you end up using more straw to keep a decent bed under them?

Never did it though, so can’t say either way for certain…