General sheep thread

Siamsa Sessions

Have ewe here this evening looking under the weather too:

* Picking at straw and silage but not interested in nuts

* Has diahrirra: brown and runny poo

* Due to lamb with twins the end of Feb

* Was lame a few weeks ago but OK now

* We introduced nuts and a little silage a few days ago (was all hay before this) but none of the other ewes affected

* She was in with 4 others but she’s separated now

Tis the runny brown poo that’s bothering me. Is it a sign of any particular problem?

Thanks

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Have ewe here this evening looking under the weather too:

* Picking at straw and silage but not interested in nuts

* Has diahrirra: brown and runny poo

* Due to lamb with twins the end of Feb

* Was lame a few weeks ago but OK now

* We introduced nuts and a little silage a few days ago (was all hay before this) but none of the other ewes affected

* She was in with 4 others but she’s separated now

Tis the runny brown poo that’s bothering me. Is it a sign of any particular problem?

Thanks

You'd always think of fluke this time of the year, any history of fluke on the farm, best to bring her to the vet, hard to diagnose on here.
You might have sickened her with meal too-

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

You'd always think of fluke this time of the year, any history of fluke on the farm, best to bring her to the vet, hard to diagnose on here.
You might have sickened her with meal too-

No history of fluke and she got Endofluke on housing back on 15-Dec, but I might give her another shot of it in the morning. Will see how she is then and call vet if need be. She’s a decent ewe and carrying twins so worth the call-out fee

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

No history of fluke and she got Endofluke on housing back on 15-Dec, but I might give her another shot of it in the morning. Will see how she is then and call vet if need be. She’s a decent ewe and carrying twins so worth the call-out fee

Definitely, I'd always have some twin lamb disease remedy (Lifeaid etc) available from now on, it's cheap insurance, I give it to a ewe that looks off form and slow to eat, When TLD gets a grip it's very hard to cure it.
If that ewe of yours is scouring she'll need it for dehydration.

Siamsa Sessions

wrangler wrote: »

Definitely, I'd always have some twin lamb disease remedy (Lifeaid etc) available from now on, it's cheap insurance, I give it to a ewe that looks off form and slow to eat, When TLD gets a grip it's very hard to cure it.
If that ewe of yours is scouring she'll need it for dehydration.

Thanks again. I’ve Chantol someplace so I’ll give her some of that after the kids are gone to bed here

Buford T. Justice XIX

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks again. I’ve Chantol someplace so I’ll give her some of that after the kids are gone to bed here

As someone who occasionally gets hypoglycemia, NOW is the best time to get some energy into her!

Siamsa Sessions

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

As someone who occasionally gets hypoglycemia, NOW is the best time to get some energy into her!

Just back from giving her 100ml of Chantol and some molasses beet pulp. She’s a bit livelier and picking away at the beet pulp. Will give more Chantol around 8am in the morning and see what way her poo is then too.

Thanks a million for the advice. You couldn’t put a price on talking to people.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Just back from giving her 100ml of Chantol and some molasses beet pulp. She’s a bit livelier and picking away at the beet pulp. Will give more Chantol around 8am in the morning and see what way her poo is then too.

Thanks a million for the advice. You couldn’t put a price on talking to people.

Hopefully sshe just gorged herself on the meal

Buford T. Justice XIX

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Just back from giving her 100ml of Chantol and some molasses beet pulp. She’s a bit livelier and picking away at the beet pulp. Will give more Chantol around 8am in the morning and see what way her poo is then too.

Thanks a million for the advice. You couldn’t put a price on talking to people.

Good to hear. Hypos are no fun.

She will be borderline hypoglycemic until she lambs from my experience, at least until she lambs. Keep an eye on body condition with her as well and keep her well fed maybe twice a day split with ration if you can.

Siamsa Sessions

Thanks again folks. She'll be under lock and key til she lambs now.

Will post an update in the morning.

DJ98

What's the average stocking rate per acre on commanage ground?

wrangler

Anyone going to this, OH is going, I think I've enough of education.

http://www.asaireland.ie/events/asa-sheep-materclass/

charolais0153

wrangler wrote: »

Anyone going to this, OH is going, I think I've enough of education.

http://www.asaireland.ie/events/asa-sheep-materclass/

Wont be going but if i was itd be for this
11.30 am – Critical aspects of sheep mineral nutrition, Anne Marie Crowley, Trouw

12.10 pm – Multispecies swards for sheep, Tommy Boland, UCD

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Wont be going but if i was itd be for this
11.30 am – Critical aspects of sheep mineral nutrition, Anne Marie Crowley, Trouw

12.10 pm – Multispecies swards for sheep, Tommy Boland, UCD

This conference looks interesting too, only 2.5 hours, Fiona Lovatt is usually interesting,

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/events/2018/Sheep-Conference.pdf

Nekarsulm

wrangler wrote: »

This conference looks interesting too, only 2.5 hours, Fiona Lovatt is usually interesting,

https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/events/2018/Sheep-Conference.pdf

Starts and ends at a sensible time.

roosky

wrangler wrote: »

Anyone going to this, OH is going, I think I've enough of education.

http://www.asaireland.ie/events/asa-sheep-materclass/

Im heading up to it so I can post the highlights here later in the week

roosky

Have some lambs for factory that were never bedded since Christmas as I was away from home and the brother didn't bother !

they are dirty enough so will they just get a clipping charge in the factory or would they be refused.

Siamsa Sessions

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Thanks again folks. She'll be under lock and key til she lambs now.

Will post an update in the morning.

She was no better this morning: sitting up but not eating much. So, I called the vet.

Nothing too seriously wrong apparently, but it could be early stage twin-lamb disease and/or touch of acidosis - which probably ties in with her being lame a few weeks back and the change of diet over the past few days (we introduced concentrate and swapped silage for hay).

Her eyes are not sunken in her head and her temp is OK. No runny nose or mouth either. The vet gave her calcium and suggested another worm and fluke dose to rule that out as much as anything else.

Will give her hay and Chantol for the next few days, and just monitor her, but that's about as much can be done unless she goes downhill from here.

I guess the lesson is to be extra careful with nutrition and making any changes to diet, especially with potentially vulnerable ewes. I'm sure we all know this already but tis only when you see the ill-effects that the message really hits home.

Thanks again for the replies last night.

Willfarman

roosky wrote: »

Have some lambs for factory that were never bedded since Christmas as I was away from home and the brother didn't bother !

they are dirty enough so will they just get a clipping charge in the factory or would they be refused.

Definitely a clipping charge but they will kill them. Just that they will be left for last. Did he rememember

joe35

wrangler wrote: »

Calcium can often perk up a sick one though, calcium on it's own, not calmag

Hi wrangler. Why would you not give them calmag

wrangler

joe35 wrote: »

Hi wrangler. Why would you not give them calmag

Never saw it recommended, so I don't use it.
Very seldom get TLD here any way.
As I feed just concentrates here along with straw for fibre, I'd feed 50% more concentrate than farmers feeding silage
50% more cocentrate means they're getting 50% more minerals as well.

ganmo

joe35 wrote: »

Hi wrangler. Why would you not give them calmag

Calmag supplies magnesium not calcium

White Clover

wrangler wrote: »

Never saw it recommended, so I don't use it.
Very seldom get TLD here any way.
As I feed just concentrates here along with straw for fibre, I'd feed 50% more concentrate than farmers feeding silage
50% more cocentrate means they're getting 50% more minerals as well.

Wrangler, when housing sheep, would you start giving the ewes some concentrate and/or hay/straw/silage for some time before housing or would it be ok to house abruptly without giving the above prior to housing?

wrangler

White Clover wrote: »

Wrangler, when housing sheep, would you start giving the ewes some concentrate and/or hay/straw/silage for some time before housing or would it be ok to house abruptly without giving the above prior to housing?

My ewes go in 2 to 3 months before lambing They wouldn't be that prone to digestive upsets at that stage so they just go straight in. Provided I do everything gradually I get no problems.
However I do train the ewe lambs on to meal before they go in, they seem to nibble straw from day one

White Clover

wrangler wrote: »

My ewes go in 2 to 3 months before lambing They wouldn't be that prone to digestive upsets at that stage so they just go straight in. Provided I do everything gradually I get no problems.
However I do train the ewe lambs on to meal before they go in, they seem to nibble straw from day one

Thanks, mine will probably have to go in at the weekend, the ewe lambs have been getting 0.5kg/hd for the last 5 weeks or so but the ewes are on grass only. Would it be wise to give them something if only for a few days before they go in or would I get away without it?

wrangler

White Clover wrote: »

Thanks, mine will probably have to go in at the weekend, the ewe lambs have been getting 0.5kg/hd for the last 5 weeks or so but the ewes are on grass only. Would it be wise to give them something if only for a few days before they go in or would I get away without it?

If they know how to eat meal it shouldn't be any problem to put March lambers straight in.
Start them on a small amount of meal, clean out any meal out of the trough that they don't eat in 5 minutes, leaving it there will only sicken the greedy ones. otherwise it should be straight forward.,
If they're less than four weeks from lambing, they'd need to be well used to their indoor diet before they go in

White Clover

wrangler wrote: »

If they know how to eat meal it shouldn't be any problem to put March lambers straight in.
Start them on a small amount of meal, clean out any meal out of the trough that they don't eat in 5 minutes, leaving it there will only sicken the greedy ones. otherwise it should be straight forward.,
If they're less than four weeks from lambing, they'd need to be well used to their indoor diet before they go in

The ewes know how to eat alright! They're due from about the 6th March so I think we'll be alright. Thanks again.

Hard Knocks

Did everyone get their sheep welfare pack.
Can the form be completed online or just post

orm0nd

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Did everyone get their sheep welfare pack.
Can the form be completed online or just post

yes got it to day

pre ad envelope enclosed

says it can be completed on line but I can't find the link

anybody else find it ?

Willfarman

Do you have to record the same measures as last year?