General sheep thread

charolais0153

Dagged the ewes last week. Will shear august/September. Put clik on them aswell

wrangler

charolais0153 wrote: »

Dagged the ewes last week. Will shear august/September. Put clik on them aswell

Same here, clik on the ewes is supposed to protect the lambs too until weaning.
We've been putting Clik on the ewes in may for years and never got maggots on the lambs while with the ewes.
We'll clik the lambs at weaning

sea12

Don't understand why anybody would leave them as long. Save them going on their back, saves getting maggots and less hassle when one dies get them. Easier on the ewe as well.

Shear them in May/ early June and dip them in 6 weeks and no hassle.

wrangler

sea12 wrote: »

Don't understand why anybody would leave them as long. Save them going on their back, saves getting maggots and less hassle when one dies get them. Easier on the ewe as well.

Shear them in May/ early June and dip them in 6 weeks and no hassle.

They don't get maggots and don't go on their back here, I suppose if you have big tanks of ewes, going on their backs might be a problem,
Autumn shorn sheep have less wool when they go into the shed for the winter,
When I had 500+ ewes, shearing in May would mean gathering 1300+ sheep for the job whereas shearing in August meant gathering 500, big difference.
Also sheep are cleaner as grass isn't as shi..y in August and the dung has fallen off them...we never have to dag them.

DJ98

On the whole late shearing thing, wouldn't ewes be nearly dead in this weather carrying a full fleece for the entire summer?

wrangler

DJ98 wrote: »

On the whole late shearing thing, wouldn't ewes be nearly dead in this weather carrying a full fleece for the entire summer?

Never seems to be a problem.

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

On the whole late shearing thing, wouldn't ewes be nearly dead in this weather carrying a full fleece for the entire summer?

They dont have much of a fleece now tbh

Bleating Lamb

wrangler wrote: »

Same here, clik on the ewes is supposed to protect the lambs too until weaning.
We've been putting Clik on the ewes in may for years and never got maggots on the lambs while with the ewes.
We'll clik the lambs at weaning

Suppose it depends on the breed of each individuals ewes,I have big Cheviot ewes,Mountain x ewes and some ‘Borris’ types,clip in first few weeks of June,I find especially with the Cheviots that they have big heavy fleeces and are glad to get it off them.

Kevhog1988

Lost a ewe yesterday. Can find nothing wrong with her at all. She was fine when i checked them in the morning and dead in the evening?

IH784man

Heatstroke?

wrangler

theemigrant wrote: »

Lost a ewe yesterday. Can find nothing wrong with her at all. She was fine when i checked them in the morning and dead in the evening?

Is she rearing lambs, could be grass tetany

Kevhog1988

wrangler wrote: »

theemigrant wrote: »

Lost a ewe yesterday. Can find nothing wrong with her at all. She was fine when i checked them in the morning and dead in the evening?

Is she rearing lambs, could be grass tetany

She had one lamb that was 6 weeks old. Saw him suckling another ewe last night so just left him out rather than putting him with the pets.

Siamsa Sessions

Gonna wean lambs next week and put ewes in the shed. How much would they need to eat to keep them ticking over?

razor8

wrangler wrote: »

Same here, clik on the ewes is supposed to protect the lambs too until weaning.
We've been putting Clik on the ewes in may for years and never got maggots on the lambs while with the ewes.
We'll clik the lambs at weaning

I think it works the other way too. Have lambs cliked and did them early last year and sheared in July and had no maggots

used to shear some in summer weeks apart and the sheared ones would be panting as much as the unshorn on a hot day so they’ll well able to regulate themselves

wrangler

razor8 wrote: »

I think it works the other way too. Have lambs cliked and did them early last year and sheared in July and had no maggots

used to shear some in summer weeks apart and the sheared ones would be panting as much as the unshorn on a hot day so they’ll well able to regulate themselves

Yea, wool is supposed to be a good insulator, we like to believe it protects against the heat as well as against the cold,

orm0nd

wrangler wrote: »

They don't get maggots and don't go on their back here, I suppose if you have big tanks of ewes, going on their backs might be a problem,
Autumn shorn sheep have less wool when they go into the shed for the winter,
When I had 500+ ewes, shearing in May would mean gathering 1300+ sheep for the job whereas shearing in August meant gathering 500, big difference.
Also sheep are cleaner as grass isn't as shi..y in August and the dung has fallen off them...we never have to dag them.

any truth in the theory that too much wool regrowth at mating affects lambing % ?

charolais0153

orm0nd wrote: »

any truth in the theory that too much wool regrowth at mating affects lambing % ?

Some producers opt to shear their flocks in the autumn prior to joining the ewes with
rams. Two studies were undertaken, one at Athenry and the second on a large
commercial farm, to evaluate shearing either 4 weeks prior to joining (September) or
at housing (December) relative to the traditional time (early summer). All ewes at
each site were kept in one flock throughout the grazing and mating seasons and were
housed in mid December and offered the same diet. The results of these studies
showed that shearing the ewes in autumn resulted in approximately 60% of the benefit
in lamb birth weight observed when shearing was at housing. Shearing in the autumn
prior to the joining period reduced fleece weight by 0.5 kg; there was no beneficial
effect on litter size (a claim that is sometimes made)
Different article about it
https://bsas.org.uk/articles/animal-bytes/shearing-sheep-at-mating-rather-than-housing-is-a-viable-alternative

Housing is best job though apparently

Cran

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Did anyone get the balance of the welfare scheme payment, there was something about being paid a while ago, hasn't arrived yet, I could be due an inspection

Up on agfood today

Green farmer

Got ewes sheared at weekend. Had some with flystrike. It’s crazy really. Most were well fit to shear, but the odd one wasnt ready yet. Shearer had to fight to get the wool off them. That means that there was only a few days of a window from not being ready....and flystrike. Sheared late last year, could have been September, even October. Worked out well, however the way the weather turned out last year, I nearest didn’t get a window to do them at all. really struggled to get a dry day to get them gone. So did them when weather was good this year.
Still thinking about the easycare sheep. Some pressure every year organizing the shearing and avoiding strike

DJ98

What are peoples opinions on charollais and texel ewes? Have both charollais x ewe lambs and texel x, would any of these be worth keeping?

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

What are peoples opinions on charollais and texel ewes? Have both charollais x ewe lambs and texel x, would any of these be worth keeping?

Texels are ok. Charollais are not

DJ98

charolais0153 wrote: »

Texels are ok. Charollais are not

Whats wrong with the charollais?

charolais0153

DJ98 wrote: »

Whats wrong with the charollais?

Bad feet, wild,lack milk.

Green farmer

charolais0153 wrote: »

Bad feet, wild,lack milk.

Add in the lack of mothering ability, and it pretty much sums them up. Their excellently made for the butchers block, so best let that way.

ganmo

charolais0153 wrote: »

Bad feet, wild,lack milk.

Bad feet and temperament are more to do with management than genetics

DJ98

What do people make of borris and tullow ewes?

Dickie10

have a few they seem great big sheep always have brilliant butcher lambs from a texel

kk.man

DJ98 wrote: »

What do people make of borris and tullow ewes?

TBH we don't know any other sheep. Super sheep but then we sell them as hoggets' why wouldn't we say that!
Other ppl say they can be too big.

Bleating Lamb

DJ98 wrote: »

What do people make of borris and tullow ewes?

You need fairly good land for them but they will produce plenty of lambs,have good quality lambs that kill out well.

DJ98

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

You need fairly good land for them but they will produce plenty of lambs,have good quality lambs that kill out well.

Which would people prefer the borris tullow or mule?