General sheep thread

Willfarman

I wouldn't hurry with meal at this stage. They'll fatten on the grass from mid march. Have them to kill when they're getting scarce in late April and you'll get the top of the market too,

arctictree

Lads, have a ewe that lambed twins last night with huge swollen bottle teats. No milk in one and hard stuff coming out the other. Any ideas? Probably need to take the lambs off her.

wrangler

wrangler wrote: »

I'd agree, 4 is low, I say viable when they can get up and maintain their body temperature, the 3kg is a bit shook but taking 100 mls from a bottle every 2 or three hrs, the bigger one is sucking away.
But something was wrong when she threw them out at 140 days
As I say the sh...e comes at the start

Little lamb died yesterday, and the big one isn't well today. as i said something was wrong to make her throw them early

wrangler

arctictree wrote: »

Lads, have a ewe that lambed twins last night with huge swollen bottle teats. No milk in one and hard stuff coming out the other. Any ideas? Probably need to take the lambs off her.

No matter how careful at the culling you'll get those, you'll only sicken the lamb to leave them on her

RobinBanks

Willfarman wrote: »

I wouldn't hurry with meal at this stage. They'll fatten on the grass from mid march. Have them to kill when they're getting scarce in late April and you'll get the top of the market too,

Thanks for advice. I will prob have to move them as I will need grass for cattle. I'm stocked at 3lu/ha so lambs will have to go.

arctictree

wrangler wrote: »

No matter how careful at the culling you'll get those, you'll only sicken the lamb to leave them on her

Thanks for the advice. First pet lambs now in the shed. Any idea what can be done with the Ewe? Her teats are nearly touching the ground they are so big.

charolais0153

arctictree wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. First pet lambs now in the shed. Any idea what can be done with the Ewe? Her teats are nearly touching the ground they are so big.

Id say draw the teats. Relieve some pressure .,some antubiotics aswell

stantheman1979

Have 12 of the 1st batch left to lamb. Overall been blessed most lambed by themselves. Had no prolapse's or major problems thank god. A triplet threw all 3 lambs early but had a ewe with 2lambs and no milk so adopted them on. Ive 204 ewes 336 lambs out at grass which im content enough with.

razor8

stantheman1979 wrote: »

Have 12 of the 1st batch left to lamb. Overall been blessed most lambed by themselves. Had no prolapse's or major problems thank god. A triplet threw all 3 lambs early but had a ewe with 2lambs and no milk so adopted them on. Ive 204 ewes 336 lambs out at grass which im content enough with.

Good result. What kind of mortality rate would you have from when rams went out?

stantheman1979

I lost 10 lambs. A triplet threw 3. Another triplet had 1 born dead. Two twins had a lamb each born dead. 2 got watery mouth 1 got lay on and 1 got stuck in between wires in electric fence. I’ve been extremely lucky. The 2nd batch of around 900 starting 10 March. Hopefully our good luck continues!!!

Dickie10

lads i have lambs 2-3 weeks old will they be ok in this weeks snow? i have a shed down the road that i can use if stuck. there in a well sheltered field . whats other peoples plans for lambs and ewes out?

charolais0153

Dickie10 wrote: »

lads i have lambs 2-3 weeks old will they be ok in this weeks snow? i have a shed down the road that i can use if stuck. there in a well sheltered field . whats other peoples plans for lambs and ewes out?

Hope it doesnt come!!

charolais0153

stantheman1979 wrote: »

I lost 10 lambs. A triplet threw 3. Another triplet had 1 born dead. Two twins had a lamb each born dead. 2 got watery mouth 1 got lay on and 1 got stuck in between wires in electric fence. I’ve been extremely lucky. The 2nd batch of around 900 starting 10 March. Hopefully our good luck continues!!!

Thats almost unbelievable . have had a treble lamb 3 before her time and all died. Had 2 couples that aborted and another treble that got hurt and lambed before time, 1 made it, other two dead. 1 that got lied on, another after a hard lambing ,another that came dead and thats only after about 60 ewes dropping.

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Id say draw the teats. Relieve some pressure .,some antubiotics aswell

I wouldn't bother, antibiotics and let her sort it.

arctictree

Did my first adoption yesterday and all went well. Was sitting back admiring my work and she then lambs a second lamb. Was scanned for a single. She seems to have loads of milk so might just leave them.

roosky

arctictree wrote: »

Did my first adoption yesterday and all went well. Was sitting back admiring my work and she then lambs a second lamb. Was scanned for a single. She seems to have loads of milk so might just leave them.

That is defiantly the greatest roller-coaster of emotions a sheep farmer can experience.....Great she took the foster lamb, fantastic she has lambed her own lamb........why has she a water bag out.....bolox shes a twin......bolox the fostering was a waste of time......what lamb do I take off.......Yay I have three live lambs !!!!

roosky

what are lads doing to prepare for the Big freeze...

I have half inch heavy duty pipes in the sheep shed, what can I do to stop them freesing, or do I need to bother

wrangler

roosky wrote: »

what are lads doing to prepare for the Big freeze...

I have half inch heavy duty pipes in the sheep shed, what can I do to stop them freesing, or do I need to bother

I've only one tap properly lagged and manually give the sheep water in bad frost. Too hard to keep drinkers going, Fecking biggest problem I have is that Irish waster didn't put the water meter down far enough underground

Green farmer

Are lads leaving sheep in or out ? Their saying potential for .5ft to 1.5ft of snow Thursday evening/Friday morning. I don’t know what to believe the amounts are so varied. I’d be thinking sheep are clever and will find the sheltered spots in the hedges, but who knows. The more info I get the more confused it’s sounding.

White Clover

Green farmer wrote: »

Are lads leaving sheep in or out ? Their saying potential for .5ft to 1.5ft of snow Thursday evening/Friday morning. I don’t know what to believe the amounts are so varied. I’d be thinking sheep are clever and will find the sheltered spots in the hedges, but who knows. The more info I get the more confused it’s sounding.

All mine will be in. If you have space inside I'd advise housing them. The risk for me is too great If it goes wrong outside.

charolais0153

Havent enough space outside. Will try and bring in small lambs but bigger lambs should be fine.Doubt we'll get it too bad(south mayo) but pipes bursting would be tge biggest pain in the hole

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

Are lads leaving sheep in or out ? Their saying potential for .5ft to 1.5ft of snow Thursday evening/Friday morning. I don’t know what to believe the amounts are so varied. I’d be thinking sheep are clever and will find the sheltered spots in the hedges, but who knows. The more info I get the more confused it’s sounding.

I can't believe you don't put them in, you've more shed space than any of us.
I don't know how you'll have any grass before june with all your sheep out in this wet year and the damage they're doing to your ryegrasses.
Is it not a bit of a domino effect, later grass, later lambing, slower thrive, more lambs left over next january or selling 25kg stores in September, be interesting to see how it plays out

arctictree

I have the empty Hoggets out in a field with good fencing where I can check/feed them daily. I heard the biggest risk is where they are out on a hill and stuck in a snow drift for a week. All ewes and lambs are in the shed.

Siamsa Sessions

Dickie10 wrote: »

lads i have lambs 2-3 weeks old will they be ok in this weeks snow? i have a shed down the road that i can use if stuck. there in a well sheltered field . whats other peoples plans for lambs and ewes out?

Have lambs out here that are just over a week old. Not much snow here yet but checked them just now and all are grand. Will probably bring them in tomorrow if the snow comes. Be as much to make feeding easier as anything else.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Have lambs out here that are just over a week old. Not much snow here yet but checked them just now and all are grand. Will probably bring them in tomorrow if the snow comes. Be as much to make feeding easier as anything else.

The last time we had ewes and lambs out in a snow storm they all crowded into a corner, lambs were between 1 and 3 weeks old and the bunch was about 200 ewes and 350 lambs.
I couldn't believe it when I ran them out of the corner with the dog the following mornig there was only one dead lamb, but they looked like pigs they were filthy, how the ewes found their lambs I don't know.
I think it was 2010, blizzard came unexpected at about 5 pm, at the end march. The field was exposed but the ewes wouldn't move from the corner so I just had to leave them

Willfarman

arctictree wrote: »

Did my first adoption yesterday and all went well. Was sitting back admiring my work and she then lambs a second lamb. Was scanned for a single. She seems to have loads of milk so might just leave them.

Often happened to me. Just use the fostered lamb on the next one.

Willfarman

wrangler wrote: »

The last time we had ewes and lambs out in a snow storm they all crowded into a corner, lambs were between 1 and 3 weeks old and the bunch was about 200 ewes and 350 lambs.
I couldn't believe it when I ran them out of the corner with the dog the following mornig there was only one dead lamb, but they looked like pigs they were filthy, how the ewes found their lambs I don't know.
I think it was 2010, blizzard came unexpected at about 5 pm, at the end march. The field was exposed but the ewes wouldn't move from the corner so I just had to leave them

Mine always try to walk away from the wind rather than into it till they find shelter.. are upland sheep smarter.

Westernrock

arctictree wrote: »

Did my first adoption yesterday and all went well. Was sitting back admiring my work and she then lambs a second lamb. Was scanned for a single. She seems to have loads of milk so might just leave them.

Remember getting a foster ewe of a neighbour years ago, took to the lamb after 3 days in the crate and lambed the next day, he had marked the wrong ewe!

razor8

stantheman1979 wrote: »

I lost 10 lambs. A triplet threw 3. Another triplet had 1 born dead. Two twins had a lamb each born dead. 2 got watery mouth 1 got lay on and 1 got stuck in between wires in electric fence. I’ve been extremely lucky. The 2nd batch of around 900 starting 10 March. Hopefully our good luck continues!!!

You’d take that every year and no loses in ewes either?

Have one ewe blew her insides out & one aborted twins so far & nearly 3 weeks out from lambing

sheepfarmer92

Green farmer wrote: »

Are lads leaving sheep in or out ? Their saying potential for .5ft to 1.5ft of snow Thursday evening/Friday morning. I don’t know what to believe the amounts are so varied. I’d be thinking sheep are clever and will find the sheltered spots in the hedges, but who knows. The more info I get the more confused it’s sounding.

Snow here this morning, its upto 3 foot up the hill, and has blown into every shed we have, no bother on the ewes inside or the 500 ewes and hoggets outside but had to drag transport box to make passes in the fields to feed them nuts, they also have hay with them, hope it moves on soon