General sheep thread

lambing would test you no doubt. 4 ewe died here this morning. Lambed 36 hours ago and was forcing yesterday. Gave her an injection and put the harness on her and thought she improved but alas. Other 3 died for all different reasons.
the lab is an hour each way here so it’s hard go at times during lambing.
otherwise lambing is going well and weather has eased so great to get as many out as possible.
went to the shop earlier and saw a blast of lads meeting heading of from a cycle. It’d make you think are we crazy butting such work on ourselves, especially when I assume we all have off farm employment too

Yea, we open it fully and then cut it back when they're eating too much.

The advantage feeder was made for whole grain so if you're putting pellets through they have to be dust free, the dust attracts the moisture and slows up the flow, the only Grennans ration that works with us is their Elite lamb.

I see in england that some firms are making a balancer for mixing with the grain in the feeder, it sounds like that would be the ideal.

We used the feeder when the lambs were 4 -6 weeks old last year and it worked fine, we ran out of grass last year during the drought. Also the feeder doesn't let the ewes in

I wouldn't think any rules against it. Once she wasin good health and over any withdrawal periods if got anything

Any word on the Nematodirus forecast this year?

A fella rang me today looking to know did I want a field to put a catch crop in for the summer. He says he won't get barley in it but will want to sow something in it at the end of August.

He kinda caught me off gaurd as bit of a strange request.

What would people suggest I put in this. It's on stubble at the moment with only a few tough of grass throughout it. About 12 acres

It will be hard to get the full value out of any crop if you have to be finished grazing it by August.
Something like Skyfall would give 3 grazings when sown early but you are only likely to get 2 grazings by end of August.

did anyone hear about the new sheep improvement scheme open yet ? The extra 8 euro a ewe . Thought it was to open in early April but got noting yet ??anyone else here anything??

Dipping,should be included .When it was compulsory previously the inspectors rarely called on the dipping day.Normally came at a later date to collect the money A real cash cow for co. Councils

4 tasks with the choice of 2 according to agriland.ie with the tasks being shearing, plunge dipping, body condition scoring and clostridial vaccination. Easy money as these are things that should be happening on every farm regardless of a scheme.

did anybody receive the booklet from department for to fill in the tasks they do like scanning as it usually comes the end of febuary

How's lambing going for everyone.

2 thirds of the way through it here, and the feet are walked off me.

Mortality is going at 10% 163 lambs on the ground with 16 dead so far. Lambing outside so hard to keep on top of things all the time, but considering the weather I'd be happy enough the way things are going.

Different reasons for fatalities and nothing really stands out except for that 1 small underdeveloped lamb I took as 1 of a pair.

4 others scanned for double when I got to them only had 1 lamb. I put it down to the fox being up earlier than me but maybe it was the same problem.

Lost 1 to a grey crow this morning.

Found a cold twin lamb in the field yesterday morning and brought him in, mother has mastitis on one side so that’s the issue there.

another ewe lost a lamb so I skinned him and the ewe took the foster lamb fine.

my problem now is the foster lamb has zero interest in sucking….he’s evening drinking water from a bucket but makes no attempt to suck.

has anyone got any tips to get him going or any explanation as to why he has lost all interest to suck….

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/new-e8-ewe-national-sheep-welfare-scheme-opens/

New sheep welfare scheme is now opened

Agree 100%, got a right roasting last year buying in ewes that brought scab with them and ewes that lost wool look desperate bad, I know it's a long way away yet can't wait to ge them sheared to tidy them up and have them looking right again. The amount of sheep passing through marts with it is crazy.

The big problem with the compulsory dipping would be who will police it. Receipts for dip means nothing. These can easily be forged