Lambing Live BBC2

millertime78

Saw this last night on BBC2, 900 ewe farm in Wales. Worth watching.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00rf170/Lambing_Live_Episode_1/

wiggy123

was watching it..looks interesting
think they should do same on a dairy+suckler herd..
as farming is where we all came from..our heritage

johngalway

Outside the UK can't view that, any way around I wonder?

jap gt

its on again tonight at 8, i think its on all week

Indubitable

johngalway wrote: »

Outside the UK can't view that, any way around I wonder?

Get cable or digital tv.


I have seen lambs being born since a small child, i hardly need to see any more do i? except my own of course

johngalway

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

Get cable or digital tv.

Over priced waste of money that.

Indubitable

johngalway wrote: »

Over priced waste of money that.

You sometimes see camping satellites on special offer in lidl or aldi. They pick up around 500 channels across europe. About 480 of them are terrible. I don't know if it would pick up BBC

johngalway

Not into spending money these days Reckon I'll do without, as said here and elsewhere, seen my own lamb already soooo...

djmc

kingofthe3rdyrs wrote: »

You sometimes see camping satellites on special offer in lidl or aldi. They pick up around 500 channels across europe. About 480 of them are terrible. I don't know if it would pick up BBC

Got one in lidl a few years back 40 euro get all bbc channels 4 itv etc. an all free. thought all the different breeds were intresting and the rare sheep living on seaweed on that island in scotland more than just lambing

tabby aspreme

saw it last night, good programme was well impressed with the charolais rams he bought , being using a lidl satalite system for a few years now, 80 quid no monthly bills, great job

millertime78

Saw last nights programme. They call the rams " tuffs" or "tucks". Is this a Welsh term or is it used anywhere in Ireland. Also when he was letting out the rams, he let out 2 together. I've never done this for fear of rams fighting each other. They have a great setup of individual pens and everywhere was knee deep in straw (for the tv!! ). They had every trick in the book when it came to fostering

vanderbadger

saw it a few nights back, your man seemed to have sucklers as well, he was housing them due to wet weather so looked fairly similar to our own conditions, had some nice looking calves

snowman707

millertime78 wrote: »

Saw last nights programme. They call the rams " tuffs" or "tucks". Is this a Welsh term or is it used anywhere in Ireland. Also when he was letting out the rams, he let out 2 together. I've never done this for fear of rams fighting each other. They have a great setup of individual pens and everywhere was knee deep in straw (for the tv!! ). They had every trick in the book when it came to fostering

"tups".. uk term


we always run the rams in a minimal group of 3,

they are a very efficient family as a team. seem to have a high lambing %

pakalasa

"Tups"

.."The black ram is tupping the white ewe."
I remember that from my school days. It's a line from Shakespeares Othello. Maybe that's where it came from.:rolleyes:

Username John

snowman707 wrote: »

"tups".. uk term


we always run the rams in a minimal group of 3,

they are a very efficient family as a team. seem to have a high lambing %

Yeah - seen it the other night, and I think he said they had 92 lambs out of 50 ewes, which is v high.

Do you put the rams into a small house for a start snowman, to get em used to each other? If so - how long do you leave em like this?
We only always had 1 ram, but will get 2 next year I think, and was planning on just penning em in close for a while so the fights wont be too bad for a start... thats the plan anyways. We'll see how it turns out

snowman707

Username John wrote: »

Yeah - seen it the other night, and I think he said they had 92 lambs out of 50 ewes, which is v high.

Do you put the rams into a small house for a start snowman, to get em used to each other? If so - how long do you leave em like this?
We only always had 1 ram, but will get 2 next year I think, and was planning on just penning em in close for a while so the fights wont be too bad for a start... thats the plan anyways. We'll see how it turns out

yes they will not harm themselves in a small pen 'cos they can't get a long enough run at each other, they should be used to each other after 3 or 4 days

we also pen them at shearing time because eventhough they have been to gether all year, they will fight after been sheared,

a larger number will get on better together than 2

wiggy123

from watching that prog..am surpised at the small pens they pen there triplets in..they not weary of the ewe lying on her lambs..as happened to me before..in a bigger area with twins!

Username John

snowman707 wrote: »

we also pen them at shearing time because even though they have been to gether all year, they will fight after been sheared,

Oh - I didn't know that now. Good to find out - thanks.

wiggy123 wrote: »

from watching that prog..am surpised at the small pens they pen there triplets in..they not weary of the ewe lying on her lambs..as happened to me before..in a bigger area with twins!

Yeah, I thought that too - all the pens seem to be the same size. We lost lambs from twins and triplets this year, from the sheep lying on em. Sickening...

snowman707

wiggy123 wrote: »

from watching that prog..am surpised at the small pens they pen there triplets in..they not weary of the ewe lying on her lambs..as happened to me before..in a bigger area with twins!

we use 6' X 4' pens which seem to be ideal

sea12

I use 6x6 pens and still manage to lose an odd one to crushing. It drives me mad after all the hard work getting the lamb out alive and drinking etc for the ewe to smother it.

He lets his ewes and lambs out very early. I know he is probably tight for space but was letting them out after a day into a field where a fox was seen earlier in the day. I woulnt let mine out for 10 days at least.

Username John

sea12 wrote: »

I use 6x6 pens and still manage to lose an odd one to crushing. It drives me mad after all the hard work getting the lamb out alive and drinking etc for the ewe to smother it.

He lets his ewes and lambs out very early. I know he is probably tight for space but was letting them out after a day into a field where a fox was seen earlier in the day. I woulnt let mine out for 10 days at least.

1 day seems very early all right - but 10 days seems v long to keep em in. How come you keep them in that long?
We usually try to put em out after 3 - 4 days, if there was any issues, we'd keep em in for longer. But the majority go out after 3 days.

snowman707

sea12 wrote: »

I use 6x6 pens and still manage to lose an odd one to crushing. It drives me mad after all the hard work getting the lamb out alive and drinking etc for the ewe to smother it.

He lets his ewes and lambs out very early. I know he is probably tight for space but was letting them out after a day into a field where a fox was seen earlier in the day. I woulnt let mine out for 10 days at least.

imo 6X6 is too big. we would rather have 5x4 but we got 6' and 4' hurdles

for ewe lambs and if a mother is showing signs of mismothering we often make up 4x4, rally boils down to the size and temperament of your ewes.

Username John

snowman707 wrote: »

imo 6X6 is too big. we would rather have 5x4 but we got 6' and 4' hurdles

for ewe lambs and if a mother is showing signs of mismothering we often make up 4x4, rally boils down to the size and temperament of your ewes.

Where did you get the hurdles, if you dont mind me asking? They're a great job, but they seem expensive, or maybe just more expensive than I thought they should be...

But to be able to maneuver around with em would be very handy. Right now on our place tis awkward with lots of baler twine being the order of the day... which is a disaster...

snowman707

Username John wrote: »

Where did you get the hurdles, if you dont mind me asking? They're a great job, but they seem expensive, or maybe just more expensive than I thought they should be...

But to be able to maneuver around with em would be very handy. Right now on our place tis awkward with lots of baler twine being the order of the day... which is a disaster...

we bought them from cormac engineering in tuam maybe 7-8 years ago, approx €5 per foot at the time

I have an old williams livestock box, I got a local lad to make brackets on the outside, I can hang about 16 (8 each side) hurdles for working in the out farm or the fields

there are a lot of different companies selling hurdles but some of them do not have the bottom bars close enough for lambing pens (baby lambs will creep through) . just bear this in mind.

tabby aspreme

would let singles out straight away, twins after 2 days if sucking well ,would not have enough room to keep them in any longer when things are busy ,would also be afraid of scour if kept in any longer ,i find texel lambs are good to suck and i have 2 lleyn rams this year also , first lambs born today, 2 days early

sea12

Username John wrote: »

1 day seems very early all right - but 10 days seems v long to keep em in. How come you keep them in that long?
We usually try to put em out after 3 - 4 days, if there was any issues, we'd keep em in for longer. But the majority go out after 3 days.

Usually as they lamb, put them into pen for the first day and then into a loose shed with other ewe and lambs. Unfortunately have to leave them in that long because I am beside a forest and loose a few every year to Foxes. Too expensive to loose that long when I have the sheds.

Use 6x6 pens as I bought the gates in that size, Have 10 pens, 5 back to back. Use the gates in the main yard throughout the rest of the year.

redsdeadbaby

Excellant show. Really looked at farming in a positive light. Will do a world of good for the industry. Its programmes like these them help the industry. It picked a very professional farming family in Wales who were excellant at everything they done, maybe that was just the camera. A dairy herd or suckler herd for Ireland would make a good show.

ulleJ1

Hi there,

Could anyone tell me if it is possible to purchase the lambing live 2014 dvd on line?
Thanks a million, any help appreciated,

John