General sheep thread

Dickie10 · 07-02-2018 12:18am

got two ewes aborting lambs in the last three days. how do i know if it is toxo or enzootic? how do i get a sample?

greysides · 07-02-2018 12:27am

Lambs plus some cleaning to lab. Wear gloves.

Dickie10 · 07-02-2018 1:32pm

any labs you find good? or should i give to my vet?

Green farmer · 07-02-2018 1:45pm

Dickie10 wrote: »

any labs you find good? or should i give to my vet?

Ring up vet who will book it in to nearest lab. You just drop it to lab then.

wrangler · 07-02-2018 8:30pm

Dickie10 wrote: »

got two ewes aborting lambs in the last three days. how do i know if it is toxo or enzootic? how do i get a sample?

Samples should be brought within 24hrs and make sure you have both foetus and cleanings.
They should confirm toxo within 48hrs or less in which case there's nothing you can do only take its course.
It could take weeks to confirm the other causes for abortion, but if there was alot of cases you should consider talking to the vet, before you get the results, about antibiotics to the rest of the ewes, Can be very frustrating watching them abort and then being told three weeks later to give antibiotic when there's alot of harm done already
antibiotics won't help with toxo but seems to stop enzootic and Campyleobacter in its tracks

Dickie10 · 07-02-2018 10:16pm

id say it could well b toxo. cats on hay that was being fed to sheep. i may hopefully get away with it though without many aborts. i read there today that when ewes get infected 70-120 days in lamb usually lamb ok because the lambs in the womb are big enough to fight the infection. ironically the ewes become immune. to be i honest i think i will begin to vaccinate all replacements from next summer on. are many vaccinating aggainst toxo/?

wrangler · 07-02-2018 10:52pm

Dickie10 wrote: »

id say it could well b toxo. cats on hay that was being fed to sheep. i may hopefully get away with it though without many aborts. i read there today that when ewes get infected 70-120 days in lamb usually lamb ok because the lambs in the womb are big enough to fight the infection. ironically the ewes become immune. to be i honest i think i will begin to vaccinate all replacements from next summer on. are many vaccinating aggainst toxo/?

I always vaccinate the replacements with toxovax and enzovax,
You get weakly lambs too with abortion which'd break your heart trying to keep them alive.

Lady Haywire · 07-02-2018 11:09pm

Anyone have the going rate (with accom provided) for lamb-watch over 120 ewes over 3/4 weeks, maybe longer? Been offered a month at it and want to know how mental I am to think about doing it!

AntrimGlens · 08-02-2018 12:58am

It’s usually free for those with no experience of sheep, just as a goodwill gesture to ensure they never want to keep sheep after that month. The farmers being generous not charging you, even giving you a bed, maybe even with him in it. ðŸ˜‰ðŸ˜‰

Lady Haywire · 08-02-2018 1:22pm

AntrimGlens wrote: »

It’s usually free for those with no experience of sheep, just as a goodwill gesture to ensure they never want to keep sheep after that month. The farmers being generous not charging you, even giving you a bed, maybe even with him in it. &#55357;&#56841;&#55357;&#56841;

Ha! He's a she! It was her that mentioned pay and I said I hadn't a clue but we'd figure something out. She knows i have scant experience with sheep but is happy enough that I'll learn quick with the cattle experience behind me.

greysides · 08-02-2018 2:41pm

You'll learn obstetrics with sheep.

Lady Haywire · 08-02-2018 2:57pm

greysides wrote: »

You'll learn obstetrics with sheep.

I'll learn to avoid sheep at all costs I reckon :pac:

Buford T. Justice XIX · 08-02-2018 3:56pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I'll learn to avoid sheep at all costs I reckon :pac:

Just be careful around sheep, some people catch the Ilovethesheepze bug off them. Incurable, so I hear:eek:

roosky · 08-02-2018 4:00pm

Lady Haywire wrote: »

I'll learn to avoid sheep at all costs I reckon :pac:

I think we are all being a bit negative even if it is tongue in cheek, I went to the Isle of man and wales lambing during college and everyone told me i was mad but I loved it!

How to put a price on it will it will depend on the hours but im sure you will want 100 a day.....if you were doing a good 14/16 hour day for me id be happy to give you €100 and your bed and board.

Be nice to see others opinions, I know its not big money per hour but its nice work and time flies when your at it.

Lady Haywire · 08-02-2018 6:08pm

I'd just need a base price to discuss with her tbh! I'm not overly pushed about getting a big pay packet, anything middle of the road is fine for me with board and allowing for me getting experience while I'm at it.
Perhaps I should just ask whet she paid her last fella!

wrangler · 10-02-2018 9:56am

wrangler wrote: »

I always vaccinate the replacements with toxovax and enzovax,
You get weakly lambs too with abortion which'd break your heart trying to keep them alive.

On looking through another Irish forum where a poster claimed that abortion from enzootic confers immunity, I'd say the opposite is true, enzootic will make them abort again, not only that but they will spread it through the whole flock.It is very infectious.
Even with vaccination in the following couple of years you will have cases, we weren't clear until the third year here,
Ignoring it, not vaccinating and expecting immunity is very naive after an outbreak

greysides · 10-02-2018 8:38pm

There's a good run down on it here.

DJ98 · 11-02-2018 1:02pm

How long would you keep lambs inside that are born this week, have plenty of shed space, seems very cold and land is still very wet

adam14 · 11-02-2018 1:32pm

DJ98 wrote: »

How long would you keep lambs inside that are born this week, have plenty of shed space, seems very cold and land is still very wet

I always try keep them in a week at this time of year. Put them in group pens after 2 days.

sea12 · 11-02-2018 3:57pm

Lost a sheep to listeriosis yesterday. Brought her to knackerey. I have never seen so many deal animals. They were piled up. I'd say the factory doesn't have many more. He said they are off their feet collecting animals.

Anyway another down this morning. Going around in circles. Got medicine from vet. Silage is only middling and was sfraid of this happening

wrangler · 11-02-2018 5:32pm

sea12 wrote: »

Lost a sheep to listeriosis yesterday. Brought her to knackerey. I have never seen so many deal animals. They were piled up. I'd say the factory doesn't have many more. He said they are off their feet collecting animals.

Anyway another down this morning. Going around in circles. Got medicine from vet. Silage is only middling and was sfraid of this happening

Hard to have silage right for sheep

FarmerDougal · 11-02-2018 8:04pm

DJ98 wrote: »

How long would you keep lambs inside that are born this week, have plenty of shed space, seems very cold and land is still very wet

I let them out full time after 48hrs. Sheep getting 0:5 kg if 20% nut and 77dmd silage adlib with a little shelter in field for lambs

kk.man · 11-02-2018 8:59pm

FarmerDougal wrote: »

DJ98 wrote: »

How long would you keep lambs inside that are born this week, have plenty of shed space, seems very cold and land is still very wet

I let them out full time after 48hrs. Sheep getting 0:5 kg if 20% nut and 77dmd silage adlib with a little shelter in field for lambs

I let them out after 3 days if weather is bad I bring them in at night. They will only pick up infection in the sheds.

wrangler · 11-02-2018 9:06pm

FarmerDougal wrote: »

I let them out full time after 48hrs. Sheep getting 0:5 kg if 20% nut and 77dmd silage adlib with a little shelter in field for lambs

This weather will test your system, huge demand on the ewes due to weather and extra demand from the lambs as well. I don't fancy your chances, I was on a farm walk on friday and the 650 ewes were on redstart and then onto grass to be lambed outdoors......the weather would need to change
Surely feeding silage anywhere outdoors is going to cause a mess

wrangler · 11-02-2018 9:09pm

kk.man wrote: »

I let them out after 3 days if weather is bad I bring them in at night. They will only pick up infection in the sheds.

I'd agree about infection alright, they need lots of straw
Is it not a problem if they come in wet to the sheds

arctictree · 11-02-2018 9:21pm

Came across a ewe today with an aborted lamb. It seemed fairly well developed but was covered in a red sack? She's about 2 or 3 weeks from lambing. Hope it's not the start of something..

sheepfarmer92 · 11-02-2018 10:29pm

wrangler wrote: »

This weather will test your system, huge demand on the ewes due to weather and extra demand from the lambs as well. I don't fancy your chances, I was on a farm walk on friday and the 650 ewes were on redstart and then onto grass to be lambed outdoors......the weather would need to change
Surely feeding silage anywhere outdoors is going to cause a mess

I was there too, he has a good system, but needs the weather to play ball, this weather is very hard on sheep outdoors, if i had ewes and lambs and space for them indoors they wouldnt be going out in a hurry

FarmerDougal · 11-02-2018 11:49pm

wrangler wrote: »

This weather will test your system, huge demand on the ewes due to weather and extra demand from the lambs as well. I don't fancy your chances, I was on a farm walk on friday and the 650 ewes were on redstart and then onto grass to be lambed outdoors......the weather would need to change
Surely feeding silage anywhere outdoors is going to cause a mess

I only have a few early ones, wouldn’t do it with a lot of them. Sets of twins that are out for the last week are flying along.
I was there too, April would be time enough any year for that system imo. One thing the struck me was that he admitted to having losses towards the end of lambing because other things took over, outdoor lambing shouldn’t mean such a % of losses if the sheep are selected for it??

wrangler · 12-02-2018 12:22am

FarmerDougal wrote: »

I only have a few early ones, wouldn’t do it with a lot of them. Sets of twins that are out for the last week are flying along.
I was there too, April would be time enough any year for that system imo. One thing the struck me was that he admitted to having losses towards the end of lambing because other things took over, outdoor lambing shouldn’t mean such a % of losses if the sheep are selected for it??

I was discussing that with ciaran lynch, that grass would drive the size of the lambs if they were a month on it, between that and trying to do the spring work it'd be hard not to have losses, I know that the longer lambing goes on here and ewes are on maximum feed, we'd have more big lambs coming head first.
We wouldn't have more losses because we'd be with them but that man had a lot going on otherwise.
But the redstart looked an awful mess, but what would you expect

sheepfarmer92 · 12-02-2018 4:06pm

wrangler wrote: »

I was discussing that with ciaran lynch, that grass would drive the size of the lambs if they were a month on it, between that and trying to do the spring work it'd be hard not to have losses, I know that the longer lambing goes on here and ewes are on maximum feed, we'd have more big lambs coming head first.
We wouldn't have more losses because we'd be with them but that man had a lot going on otherwise.
But the redstart looked an awful mess, but what would you expect

Same, nearly looked like too much grass for ewes lambing outside! A shed is cheap wintering in this weather, id say fodder crops were expensive feed this year with poor utilisation, sheep couldnt be thriving well outside in that weather

General sheep thread

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