General sheep thread

wrangler

farawaygrass wrote: »

Is there antibodies in colostrum replacer?

Sorry immunoglobin, the protein that helps the lamb make antibodies

greysides

Immunoglobulins are antibodies. There would be some in dried colostrum but they wouldn't be as specific to your farm as colostrum from your own ewes.

greysides

wrangler wrote: »

I had one case of ecoli in 800 plus lambs last year, I trust in hygiene and good colostrum, (touch wood)....easier done lambing indoors than outdoors, 80% of english farmers are using spectram, next thing will be that some penpusher in the EU bans it like they do with anything that works well,
Ewe colostrum is best and then cows.
The best of the artificial colostrum is Volac, some of the rest have very little antibodies

That is by far the best situation- to solve or limit these problems by husbandry. Antibiotic use is not a 'free lunch'. The advantage you gain is borrowed not owned and there will be pay back. Antibiotic resistance.
It goes hand-in-hand with antibiotic use. As soon as you use an antibiotic resistance starts to build up. When high enough it will manifest itself.
It would be best if we could sort 90% of problems by husbandry without antibiotics and hold them in reserve. Otherwise in the near future we will still have to sort them through husbandry but there will no antibiotics as a fail-safe.
Given human nature the latter scenario is how it will play out.
We don't need the EU to stop our use of antibiotics, we will achieve it on our own. The currently available antibiotics will not be replaced by newer ones.

Vaccines will have to replace antibiotics. If they can.

ganmo

Igs are big protein molecules and as with any protein if the temp gets a bit too hot(while drying) it’s knackered.

wrangler

ganmo wrote: »

Igs are big protein molecules and as with any protein if the temp gets a bit too hot(while drying) it’s knackered.

Thats why you don't boil or microwave colostrum, yea

wrangler

greysides wrote: »

That is by far the best situation- to solve or limit these problems by husbandry. Antibiotic use is not a 'free lunch'. The advantage you gain is borrowed not owned and there will be pay back. Antibiotic resistance.
It goes hand-in-hand with antibiotic use. As soon as you use an antibiotic resistance starts to build up. When high enough it will manifest itself.
It would be best if we could sort 90% of problems by husbandry without antibiotics and hold them in reserve. Otherwise in the near future we will still have to sort them through husbandry but there will no antibiotics as a fail-safe.
Given human nature the latter scenario is how it will play out.
We don't need the EU to stop our use of antibiotics, we will achieve it on our own. The currently available antibiotics will not be replaced by newer ones.

Vaccines will have to replace antibiotics. If they can.

Spectram doesn't do anything that colostrum and hygiene can't do, A baby lamb tries to develop good bugs in their stomachwith the colostrum and we wipe them out with an antibiotic.... '' a sledge hammer to kill a flea effort''.
It starts with feeding the ewe well enough to have quantity and quality in the colostrum

mcgiggles

First (live) single lamb born this morning, gorgeous lamb, big lungs, up and about in no time, here's hoping the rest follow suit

DJ98

At what age do people usually start offering creep feed to lambs, oldest lambs here now are a month old

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

At what age do people usually start offering creep feed to lambs, oldest lambs here now are a month old

They're probably eating with the ewes at this stage, we'd usually start at 2 - 3 wks. It's important to keep it fresh so don't put much in the feeder at the start.
It takes a while to get them eating

DJ98

wrangler wrote: »

They're probably eating with the ewes at this stage, we'd usually start at 2 - 3 wks. It's important to keep it fresh so don't put much in the feeder at the start.
It takes a while to get them eating

Is there any type of feeder better than the other?

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

Is there any type of feeder better than the other?

This is the type I use, the gates can come off the front for feeding hoggets.
http://foxbros.ie/lamb-creep-feeder.html.
They come as 4ft wide, 6ft wide and 8ft wide.
I have a 6ft and an 8ft for sale here needing small repairs, haven't got round to repairing but they're in good nick.
I have changed to these, you can regulate the feeding rate but they're expensive
http://3in1feeders.co.uk/lamb-creep-feeding

DJ98

http://www.sturdyproducts.ie/products/farm-and-equestrian/farm/grande-creep-feeder

Anyone any experience with these?

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

http://www.sturdyproducts.ie/products/farm-and-equestrian/farm/grande-creep-feeder

Anyone any experience with these?

They can knock them,sold ours years ago and have this type anymore http://www.cormac.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cor2.jpg

ganmo

DJ98 wrote: »

http://www.sturdyproducts.ie/products/farm-and-equestrian/farm/grande-creep-feeder

Anyone any experience with these?

Have a few of them. they need to be tied to a peg to stop them walking down the field.

Sheep breeder

wrangler wrote: »

Spectram doesn't do anything that colostrum and hygiene can't do, A baby lamb tries to develop good bugs in their stomachwith the colostrum and we wipe them out with an antibiotic.... '' a sledge hammer to kill a flea effort''.
It starts with feeding the ewe well enough to have quantity and quality in the colostrum

Agree with you plenty of suck and a lamb has no problem getting started, when a lamb hits the ground here a pump or two of spectrum and iodine navel as early as possible, can not understand why fellas water down a ration with oats or barley etc and then complain that ewes don’t milk. Why spend 5 months waiting on lambs and then scrimp on having milk for the lamb.

wrangler

Sheep breeder wrote: »

Agree with you plenty of suck and a lamb has no problem getting started, when a lamb hits the ground here a pump or two of spectrum and iodine navel as early as possible, can not understand why fellas water down a ration with oats or barley etc and then complain that ewes don’t milk. Why spend 5 months waiting on lambs and then scrimp on having milk for the lamb.

I don't agree with spectrum, that was my point, any way every body is using it.
There's something wrong if every lamb has to get spectrum or any antibiotic when it's born

wrangler

55 of 60 adult ewes lambed here in the last eight days, Looks like they'll all lamb in the first seventeen days
ewe lambs starting now

farawaygrass

wrangler wrote: »

55 of 60 adult ewes lambed here in the last eight days, Looks like they'll all lamb in the first seventeen days
ewe lambs starting now

Busy busy. But it’s great to get it going quickly, work hard for them couple of weeks and ease back a bit then.

Sami23

wrangler wrote: »

55 of 60 adult ewes lambed here in the last eight days, Looks like they'll all lamb in the first seventeen days
ewe lambs starting now

Had you 1 or 2 Rams with the 60 ewes ?

wrangler

Sami23 wrote: »

Had you 1 or 2 Rams with the 60 ewes ?

two rams, I would always have one to every 30 or 40

Ard_MC

wrangler wrote: »

I don't agree with spectrum, that was my point, any way every body is using it.
There's something wrong if every lamb has to get spectrum or any antibiotic when it's born

Agree with you on this 1. Preventative measures are better than a cure and less costly!

White Clover

Would lads leave lambs long before intervening and putting them sucking? I don't like doing it for fear of introducing bugs from my hands into the lambs mouth, always wash hands beforehand.

wrangler

White Clover wrote: »

Would lads leave lambs long before intervening and putting them sucking? I don't like doing it for fear of introducing bugs from my hands into the lambs mouth, always wash hands beforehand.

Usually they'll have sucked within ten or fifteen minutes, I'd be intervening if they hadn't sucked in half an hour.
I'd always milk the ewe if the lamb didn't suck and feed it to him and then i'd know exactly what he got, we'd milk easy milked singles here as well to have a store, some ewes have very thick colostrum and are hard milked so its good to have a store.

farawaygrass

I would give the majority of lambs a helping hand. At least I know them they have sucked, and I feel the time it takes prevent other problems down the road. Granted we only have 125ish ewes so probably not practical on a larger sheep farm.

White Clover

Thanks lads, I'd leave them for 30 or 40 minutes but would step in then and put them sucking. My thinking is once they have it done once, then that's it. My only fear Is introducing dirt or other nasties into their mouths.

mcgiggles

5 ewes lambed since sunday.. 3 of those have mastitis in one side and another one yet to lamb has a hard bag also.. FFS

wrangler

mcgiggles wrote: »

5 ewes lambed since sunday.. 3 of those have mastitis in one side and another one yet to lamb has a hard bag also.. FFS

That's unbelievable, are they in or out, Only get mastitis here when they;re a month lambed and even then maybe less than 1%

Lano Lynn

mcgiggles wrote: »

5 ewes lambed since sunday.. 3 of those have mastitis in one side and another one yet to lamb has a hard bag also.. FFS

texel x ?

wrangler

Lano Lynn wrote: »

texel x ?

Good point, mastitis was a problem here years ago before I introduced Lleyn into the mix, texels milk like cows but there are downsides

charolais0153

3 ewes with mastitis here whose elders arent hard but theres a kind of cord in the teat so milk cant come out. Have had 2 texels and 1 black with it.its impossible to feel until they lamb. A hogget also had mastitis which i hadn't seen before