General sheep thread

wrangler

The man in red and black wrote: »

How does the head pull off? If a calf is rotten enough and the legs have come off/been removed with wire to make chest narrower and only left to pull with head. Not a nice one.

No. I was just wondering how all my posts and quotes got mixed up,
as I said better to just ignore them

Jonny303

Countryfile last week had a piece about a man who's sheep got stuck in the snow. Just wondering does anyone know what breed they were? They looked like a texel Cheviot cross with horns?? I'm sure they're actually a breed

Runswithfeet

stantheman1979 wrote: »

I’d be upping the meal not reducing it his close. It will be the sorriest mistake you’ll make believe me. I did it myself. Twins want 2 lbs and singles a pound no matter how much grass they have. A lot of lads myself included have been deceived by the condition of ewes close to lambing.

Do you think it would lead to weak lambs reducing nuts?...are on 20% protein nut....are bagging up well.
Unfortunately twice a day feeding not possible,ewes well fed.

wrangler

Runswithfeet wrote: »

Do you think it would lead to weak lambs reducing nuts?...are on 20% protein nut....are bagging up well.
Unfortunately twice a day feeding not possible,ewes well fed.

In theory they'd need to be on 3 or 4 inches of grass for doubles to have enough with a pound of meal,
Grass is burnt on our place due to the frost and snow so I'm not even considering it as a feed.
It's a good trial for you anyway, if they perform this horrendous year on a pound of meal you need never feed them any more in future years

Ard_MC

Jonny303 wrote: »

Countryfile last week had a piece about a man who's sheep got stuck in the snow. Just wondering does anyone know what breed they were? They looked like a texel Cheviot cross with horns?? I'm sure they're actually a breed

Think they were Welsh mountain sheep.

arctictree

Jonny303 wrote: »

Countryfile last week had a piece about a man who's sheep got stuck in the snow. Just wondering does anyone know what breed they were? They looked like a texel Cheviot cross with horns?? I'm sure they're actually a breed

Went out to feed the ewe lambs earlier and found one with the bags out in 2 feet of snow. They are not really due for another week. Anyway, got her in and she has a lovely ram lamb now. I wonder how she would of got on in the snow as I'm only checking them once a day.

arctictree

Just had a first time Hogget there reject both her lambs. She'd just after lambed a few minutes before so I'm not sure what happened. What would ye do here and is she definitely on the cull list?

wrangler

arctictree wrote: »

Just had a first time Hogget there reject both her lambs. She'd just after lambed a few minutes before so I'm not sure what happened. What would ye do here and is she definitely on the cull list?

A first timer can reject here without being culled, we usually have a headlock to put them in to settle them or put a halter on their head and tie them up.
If they still refuse they might be gone alright

charolais0153

arctictree wrote: »

Just had a first time Hogget there reject both her lambs. She'd just after lambed a few minutes before so I'm not sure what happened. What would ye do here and is she definitely on the cull list?

Hoggets can do that. Put her in a gate and she should take them . i wouldnt cull her though

Runswithfeet

wrangler wrote: »

In theory they'd need to be on 3 or 4 inches of grass for doubles to have enough with a pound of meal,
Grass is burnt on our place due to the frost and snow so I'm not even considering it as a feed.
It's a good trial for you anyway, if they perform this horrendous year on a pound of meal you need never feed them any more in future years

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there Wrangler?...no need for that....I like a lot of posters come on here to share ideas or look for advice..Ewes are well fed and strong.......I’m well aware a pound of nuts isn’t much for ewes carrying doubles but if it prevents prolapses you have to balance that up too.....am going to put in the springing ewes tomorrow to yard and handle them to see what kind of elders they are making....not due to start for 5 or 6 days yet lambing.
Lambing them outside as only farming p/t and find ewes go away and find a spot to lamb ok.You will have losses with outdoor lambing but it worked well for me last few years anyway.

charolais0153

6.5kg charollais lamb this morning....out of a yearling. Tough enough pull. Was very slow to come around.

wrangler

Runswithfeet wrote: »

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm there Wrangler?...no need for that....I like a lot of posters come on here to share ideas or look for advice..Ewes are well fed and strong.......I’m well aware a pound of nuts isn’t much for ewes carrying doubles but if it prevents prolapses you have to balance that up too.....am going to put in the springing ewes tomorrow to yard and handle them to see what kind of elders they are making....not due to start for 5 or 6 days yet lambing.
Lambing them outside as only farming p/t and find ewes go away and find a spot to lamb ok.You will have losses with outdoor lambing but it worked well for me last few years anyway.

Feeding 3lbs here to yearling doubles and no prolapses, grass more likely to cause prolapses.
If you underfeed ewes at this time, you'll have small lambs and poor colostrum,
Whether you're underfeeding or not depends on whether the quantity and quality of your grass is good enough to replace the meal and only you know that,

Runswithfeet

wrangler wrote: »

Feeding 3lbs here to yearling doubles and no prolapses, grass more likely to cause prolapses.
If you underfeed ewes at this time, you'll have small lambs and poor colostrum,
Whether you're underfeeding or not depends on whether the quantity and quality of your grass is good enough to replace the meal and only you know that,

That’s with silage is it?....we only had snow lying for a day here during Emma so grass still fairly green.Had around 100 ewes lambing out last year and only one prolapse.....so maybe it’s just bad luck one has prolapsed now ( before anything has lambed)....she’s a big roomy 2 yr old.Last thing I need is small lambs so might up the feed again for a day or two and see how it goes.A toothache has me awake....not a great start to the Bank Holiday:)

wrangler

Runswithfeet wrote: »

That’s with silage is it?....we only had snow lying for a day here during Emma so grass still fairly green.Had around 100 ewes lambing out last year and only one prolapse.....so maybe it’s just bad luck one has prolapsed now ( before anything has lambed)....she’s a big roomy 2 yr old.Last thing I need is small lambs so might up the feed again for a day or two and see how it goes.A toothache has me awake....not a great start to the Bank Holiday:)

No that's with straw,if they were on silage they'd be getting 2lbs/day
you can't give much more than a pound/ewe without risking sickening them so if you're not there, there's not much more you can do.

Bullocks

I found a ewe with twins that had only one tit from mastitis .One lamb was smaller and hungrier so I bottled him twice and he swamped it but her good tit was looking a bit raw from the two lambs sucking so I took away the lamb yesterday . He drank yesterday from the bottle and ate nuts but last night he wouldnt drink and only took 100ml this morning .
Maybe he is sick from nuts yesterday or just missing the ewe (he is lambed 10 days ) is there anything I should do to get him drinking better or just let him settle and get hungry enough to take it when he wants ?

MeTheMan

Nearly down to single figures now. Good season so far.

Had a ewe at the vet for a section the other day. Huge dead lamb, to look at him you'd put him at a month old. But anyway.
Fella in before me with a similar problem got lamb out eventually then ran the ewe back into the trailer. She looked fine to me, I but next thing he gets the vet to put her down. I thought there must have been more to it but after when I was chatting the vet he said she just had a tough time lambing and the same fella put down a cow after a similar thing. Would there be any reason to do this? If I had of known I would has saved the man the cost of putting her down, thrown her on my trailer and culled her after a bit of meal. Or even just kept her for breeding. Looked like a good strong ewe.
Anyway, couldn't make sense of the situation. And even if she was culled, putting her down after just seemed wrong.

Rockie1845

A hogg t here had a single lamb but has no interest what so ever what should I do to get her to take him

Runswithfeet

wrangler wrote: »

No that's with straw,if they were on silage they'd be getting 2lbs/day
you can't give much more than a pound/ewe without risking sickening them so if you're not there, there's not much more you can do.

How do you mean ‘not risk sickening them?’
As in that they could prolapse?....and are you referring to ewes out on grass?....or that they could get upset tummies?

I would usually give twin ewes a pound and a half pre lambing and singles a pound....don’t overstock so ewes always in good shape each year pre lambing.
Have big roomy Cheviot/Suffolk x ewes and Cheviot ewes.Carrying to a Cheviot Ram.

Runswithfeet

Rockie1845 wrote: »

A hogg t here had a single lamb but has no interest what so ever what should I do to get her to take him

If you have any of fluids left put it on the lamb after putting salt mixed in warm water all over the lamb.
If not fluids left you might have to tie her up and hold her for a few days to let the lamb suck.

wrangler

Runswithfeet wrote: »

How do you mean ‘not risk sickening them?’
As in that they could prolapse?....and are you referring to ewes out on grass?....or that they could get upset tummies?

I would usually give twin ewes a pound and a half pre lambing and singles a pound....don’t overstock so ewes always in good shape each year pre lambing.
Have big roomy Cheviot/Suffolk x ewes and Cheviot ewes.Carrying to a Cheviot Ram.

Acidosis
It's good practise to split the feed if you go over .5kg/day,
It's working for you so why change then

arctictree

MeTheMan wrote: »

Nearly down to single figures now. Good season so far.

Had a ewe at the vet for a section the other day. Huge dead lamb, to look at him you'd put him at a month old. But anyway.
Fella in before me with a similar problem got lamb out eventually then ran the ewe back into the trailer. She looked fine to me, I but next thing he gets the vet to put her down. I thought there must have been more to it but after when I was chatting the vet he said she just had a tough time lambing and the same fella put down a cow after a similar thing. Would there be any reason to do this? If I had of known I would has saved the man the cost of putting her down, thrown her on my trailer and culled her after a bit of meal. Or even just kept her for breeding. Looked like a good strong ewe.
Anyway, couldn't make sense of the situation. And even if she was culled, putting her down after just seemed wrong.

Doesn't really make sense. The cost of the vet and knacker would be prohibitive. Unless he's not paying one, or both. Could be a mad hoor and is going to butcher her for himself or the dogs!

kk.man

MeTheMan wrote: »

Nearly down to single figures now. Good season so far.

Had a ewe at the vet for a section the other day. Huge dead lamb, to look at him you'd put him at a month old. But anyway.
Fella in before me with a similar problem got lamb out eventually then ran the ewe back into the trailer. She looked fine to me, I but next thing he gets the vet to put her down. I thought there must have been more to it but after when I was chatting the vet he said she just had a tough time lambing and the same fella put down a cow after a similar thing. Would there be any reason to do this? If I had of known I would has saved the man the cost of putting her down, thrown her on my trailer and culled her after a bit of meal. Or even just kept her for breeding. Looked like a good strong ewe.
Anyway, couldn't make sense of the situation. And even if she was culled, putting her down after just seemed wrong.

Pure wrong by both farmer and Vet.

Western Pomise

arctictree wrote: »

Doesn't really make sense. The cost of the vet and knacker would be prohibitive. Unless he's not paying one, or both. Could be a mad hoor and is going to butcher her for himself or the dogs!

Might be one of those 'Vegan' farmers who give the Dairy man a hard time!:)

MeTheMan

Vet said he challenged him about putting the cow down and they wouldn't let him out of the shed and got a bit aggressive towards him for questioning them. So now he does as they say. He must be a mad bastard.

roosky

hi all,

ewe didn't take lamb this morning so put her in a foster crate how long does she need to be in that before letting her see the lamb again?

mcgiggles

roosky wrote:

ewe didn't take lamb this morning so put her in a foster crate how long does she need to be in that before letting her see the lamb again?

We've had different timescales.. From a few days to over a week.. We just leave them until, when we take the lamb from the pen the mother starts calling.. Some take quicker than others

kk.man

roosky wrote: »

hi all,

ewe didn't take lamb this morning so put her in a foster crate how long does she need to be in that before letting her see the lamb again?

About week. As a friend of mine says 'when the ewe starts talking to the lamb'.

By that he means the ewe has bonded and making noise as if looking for her lamb.

roosky

kk.man wrote: »

About week. As a friend of mine says 'when the ewe starts talking to the lamb'.

By that he means the ewe has bonded and making noise as if looking for her lamb.

I hope to have him fostered onto something else by then ! haha,

wrangler

roosky wrote: »

I hope to have him fostered onto something else by then ! haha,

Yea, wet fostering is better, less inclined to fail

ganmo

I let the ewe out of the crate for a few minutes after a few days to see how it’s taking.