General sheep thread

Siamsa Sessions

sheepfarmer92 wrote: »

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

Finally got extra straw and water sorted here so just need to bring in sheep/lambs now and then batten down the hatches.

Can I be the first to say is it Saturday yet???

Kevhog1988

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

Kevhog1988

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

wrangler

theemigrant wrote: »

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

My rams are left out, I wouldn't put them with the ewes at this stage of their pregnancy

charolais0153

Lambs seem content outside albeit theres no accumulations

kk.man

wrangler wrote: »

theemigrant wrote: »

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

My rams are left out, I wouldn't put them with the ewes at this stage of their pregnancy

I have dry hoggets out..they are getting meal twice a day..should I bring them in ?

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

theemigrant wrote: »

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

My rams are left out, I wouldn't put them with the ewes at this stage of their pregnancy

wrangler wrote: »

theemigrant wrote: »

Brought all mine in. Its getting very heavy here now.  is there any issue with putting the ram in among ewes?  Hes bothering them but i thought that was just being reintroduced to them. ive no other shed for him.

My rams are left out, I wouldn't put them with the ewes at this stage of their pregnancy

Should i seperate him then? went up again and hes not bothering them

charolais0153

theemigrant wrote: »

Should i seperate him then? went up again and hes not bothering them

I would.

wrangler

theemigrant wrote: »

Should i seperate him then? went up again and hes not bothering them

If he's settled he'll probably be alright but monitor him when you're feeding them, They can be troublesome at feeding, make sure there's plenty of feeding space.
There is a risk if he pucks them though

arctictree

I had the backup ram in until last week, just had nowhere to put him. The fecker started going for me when I was feeding the ewes. He's a ram lamb so the same size as the ewes now. It's like he would appear from nowhere and hit me a right belt. I was getting nervous so caught him and put him in beside the main ram.

Ard_MC

arctictree wrote: »

I had the backup ram in until last week, just had nowhere to put him. The fecker started going for me when I was feeding the ewes. He's a ram lamb so the same size as the ewes now. It's like he would appear from nowhere and hit me a right belt. I was getting nervous so caught him and put him in beside the main ram.

You may get rid of him..had 1 like that before and never stopped the buttin. I could take a slap but the old man here would get floored so he didnt stay long. Not worth the risk.

Nekarsulm

wrangler wrote: »

If he's settled he'll probably be alright but monitor him when you're feeding them, They can be troublesome at feeding, make sure there's plenty of feeding space.
There is a risk if he pucks them though

Stick him in a trailer on a bed of straw.

jd06

Just wondering how long would sheep outdoors do without water, the water trough are frozen
Would the snow intake tide them over for a day

Kevhog1988

jd06 wrote: »

Just wondering how long would sheep outdoors do without water, the water trough are frozen
Would the snow intake tide them over for a day

ive a load of 5 gallon drums filled and kept in the porch. if get very stuck ill go to the river and get some.

sea12

theemigrant wrote: »

ive a load of 5 gallon drums filled and kept in the porch. if get very stuck ill go to the river and get some.

Threw snow into a barell. They will eat kick that and help tie them over

wrangler

Lambing kicked off properly this evening, two sets of triplets.
The news of a blizzard probably encouraged them

sea12

wrangler wrote: »

Lambing kicked off properly this evening, two sets of triplets.
The news of a blizzard probably encouraged them

Sold all the ewes and bought in ewe lambs for the last 2 years. Just kept 2 ewes to lamb as novelty for kids. Second one lambed today. Small weakfish lamb. On days like this I'm glad of the decision I made.

Vandy West

Usually get sheep nuts for feeding but this time got ration. Is it normal for the ration to be very sticky, pain in the hole to feed it as it comes out in big lumps from the bag?

wrangler

Vandy West wrote: »

Usually get sheep nuts for feeding but this time got ration. Is it normal for the ration to be very sticky, pain in the hole to feed it as it comes out in big lumps from the bag?

They've put to much molasses in it or not properly mixed, sometimes you get a few bags like that in a pallet.
If a whole pallet was like that I'd send it back

farming93

well how is/did everyone fair out with lambing in this weather? only lost one lamb in it myself due to the snow a single hogget lambed out in it. all the rest of the sheep are in packed sheds atm. Know a few men on high grounds that are currently looking for their sheep but that's not to say they're dead or anything just the snow has been too bad up there to even go searching up until now. I'd go up myself to help but the tractor is struggling to get up to some of the ground up in the hills in Wicklow.

arctictree

farming93 wrote: »

well how is/did everyone fair out with lambing in this weather? only lost one lamb in it myself due to the snow a single hogget lambed out in it. all the rest of the sheep are in packed sheds atm. Know a few men on high grounds that are currently looking for their sheep but that's not to say they're dead or anything just the snow has been too bad up there to even go searching up until now. I'd go up myself to help but the tractor is struggling to get up to some of the ground up in the hills in Wicklow.

Having a rough time here. We live 2 miles from the shed and my jeep is stuck down there now for 2 days. Have to walk down a few times a day. Decided not to risk it last night and came down to 2 dead lambs from a set of triplets. Also, water is still frozen at the shed tap and have to carry barrels from a neighbours house. Hopefully the road will be cleared tomorrow.

Kevhog1988

Us and neighbour got everything in. Another fella down the road had sheep out. Some drifts the height of the gate. I was down today trying to help find them. Walking in snow is hard on the body.

DJ98

Have a ewe lambed last week but she's starting to go dry now, would it be OK to give her oxytocin?

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

Have a ewe lambed last week but she's starting to go dry now, would it be OK to give her oxytocin?

Oxytocin won't help her at this stage, she must be going dry for a reason,
Oxytocin is only for milk let down, what are you feeding her, is she in good condition.
She could be sick, an infection after lambing maybe

DJ98

wrangler wrote: »

Oxytocin won't help her at this stage, she must be going dry for a reason,
Oxytocin is only for milk let down, what are you feeding her, is she in good condition.
She could be sick, an infection after lambing maybe

Nuts and hay, shes a 2yr old ewe, first lambs, lambed by herself, just doesn't have a big bag of milk

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

Nuts and hay, shes a 2yr old ewe, first lambs, lambed by herself, just doesn't have a big bag of milk

Size of the bag wouldn't matter, They should be well able to keep baby lambs fed, feed and clean water is all you can do, hard to know from here what's wrong.
It'd probably be sorted if they had grass. very hard to keep them milking on anything else.
I'd take her temperature if it was mine just to rule that out

Buford T. Justice XIX

DJ98 wrote: »

Nuts and hay, shes a 2yr old ewe, first lambs, lambed by herself, just doesn't have a big bag of milk

Might be worthwhile dosing her for fluke and worms and checking her temp as wrangler suggested.

And a little bit of extra nuts mightn't go astray either. Weather is cold, feed is cold, water is cold so there is a good bit of extra energy needed to bring feed up to body temperature and then extra needed for her lambs as well.

wrangler

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

Might be worthwhile dosing her for fluke and worms and checking her temp as wrangler suggested.

And a little bit of extra nuts mightn't go astray either. Weather is cold, feed is cold, water is cold so there is a good bit of extra energy needed to bring feed up to body temperature and then extra needed for her lambs as well.

When we used to keep the pedigrees in we had to give them 3-4 lbs of meal a day to keep them milking and maybe supplement them with soya as well for the first 3 weeks, I know that was with straw but a lot of hay isn't much better

sea12

Lost the little weak lamb born on Thursday. Couldn't get out to farm on Friday and looks kind ewe say on him.

arctictree

sea12 wrote: »

Lost the little weak lamb born on Thursday. Couldn't get out to farm on Friday and looks kind ewe say on him.

Are you saying that the ewe sat on him?