hows lambing going for ye?

weatherbyfoxer

just said i see how lambing is goin for others

lambs were due to start here 20th of feb but first ewe went the 18th with a set of healthy triplets

15 lambed to date now with 2 still born lambs but other than that all good,would like to see things speed up a bit now but once i can keep losses to a minumum ill be happy,70 left now hopfully will be all done by paddys day!

paddysdream

So far so good.Weather a major help.

Most problems seem to be with trebles.Had a couple lamb down with no milk.
More thinnish ewes than another year .This is my own fault as I kept 20 or so with poorish mouths as they were in such good order in August.Having culled ruthlessly for a few years disappointed to slip back into bad habits!.

About 220 or so maincrop lambed since last thursday week(out of 400 approx)
Scanned at 1.7 and letting out about 1.55

Not a lot of disease with lambs this year(thank God for that few dry days)No Schmallenberg that I am aware of .Maybe due to the fact that lambs sometimes die just to annoy you and mostly its not worth the bother to lab them etc.

Username John

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

just said i see how lambing is goin for others

lambs were due to start here 20th of feb but first ewe went the 18th with a set of healthy triplets

15 lambed to date now with 2 still born lambs but other than that all good,would like to see things speed up a bit now but once i can keep losses to a minumum ill be happy,70 left now hopfully will be all done by paddys day!

Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analysis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

sea12

Username John wrote: »

Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analysis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

That's a terrible run john . Very hard to keep things going when you hit that run at the very start if lambing. At least u have ure vet on the case. Don't be afraid to ask for help from family friends over the next few weeks.

sea12

weatherbyfoxer wrote: »

just said i see how lambing is goin for others

lambs were due to start here 20th of feb but first ewe went the 18th with a set of healthy triplets

15 lambed to date now with 2 still born lambs but other than that all good,would like to see things speed up a bit now but once i can keep losses to a minumum ill be happy,70 left now hopfully will be all done by paddys day!

Havnt started yet. Not due til paddys day onwards. First time ever I am not looking forward to it. I know it's always hard work but with full time job work so busy and less help at home it's not going to be an easy one.

galway 4 sam

sea12 wrote: »

Havnt started yet. Not due til paddys day onwards. First time ever I am not looking forward to it. I know it's always hard work but with full time job work so busy and less help at home it's not going to be an easy one.

Know the feeling. I have approx 30 per cent lambed and its not so bad when you get into the swing of it. I'm working as well so it's a tough few weeks. I find lambing them pretty straight forward it's the aftercare that takes time. Like feeding pets etc. lots of foxes around here so we put a lot of them back in at night. It's safer but it adds about half hour to the jobs morning and evening.

paddysdream

Ye are all terrible depressing!!!!!!

I said it was all going ok.
This includes loosing 5 ewes pre lambing, having two foster lambs lay on,running over a newly let out lamb with the trailer(luckily ma had a spare!!),sleepily mixing up scanning marks one night and giving a supposed single another lamb only to find 4 lambs in the pen the next morning(looked more carefully and yes;she was marked for 3),plus mixing up the Entoril and Oxytocin bottles and wondering why the lamb died from what looked like very mild e coli!!

On a more serious note am having serious difficulty fostering this year.Usually try to let out no ewe with more than 2 lambs(I wish) and put something on any ewe going to be kept for the following year.So lots of fostering and every year till now no bother.But this time ewes seem to reject lambs even after 3 or 4 days in the head gates.Bit time consuming but then what aint this time of year.

jomoloney

have approx. 500 lambs from about 280 ewes ,

had a few ewes throw premature lambs which didn't survive,

over 90% would have lambed unaided

inspite of the weather delaying turn out so far it has been one of the easier lambing seasons

ewe lambs due in 2 weeks time could change that

rancher

paddysdream wrote: »

Ye are all terrible depressing!!!!!!

I said it was all going ok.
This includes loosing 5 ewes pre lambing, having two foster lambs lay on,running over a newly let out lamb with the trailer(luckily ma had a spare!!),sleepily mixing up scanning marks one night and giving a supposed single another lamb only to find 4 lambs in the pen the next morning(looked more carefully and yes;she was marked for 3),plus mixing up the Entoril and Oxytocin bottles and wondering why the lamb died from what looked like very mild e coli!!

On a more serious note am having serious difficulty fostering this year.Usually try to let out no ewe with more than 2 lambs(I wish) and put something on any ewe going to be kept for the following year.So lots of fostering and every year till now no bother.But this time ewes seem to reject lambs even after 3 or 4 days in the head gates.Bit time consuming but then what aint this time of year.

Do you ever try fostering while the single is lambing.... put the orphan in a basin under the ewe so that the fluids flow into the basin when you're pulling her own lamb.... leave her with the strange lamb for ten minutes and then give her her own lamb...usually works here.
If we're adopting an older dry lamb, we put him in warm salt water to wet the wool and tie his legs so he looks like a new born trying to get up.
The fluids from the ewe soak in better when the lamb is wet and the salt encourages her to lick. we adopted over 40 lambs that way last year

Western Pomise

Not meant to start till Paddys day.Around 110 to lamb,have around 65 in loose shed at mo getting hay and nuts,rest getting nuts outside on middling grass,going to be a dear feed bill this year for people!!Around 4 days after ewes in shed went in lost a ewe whon went down,got her stretched out,gave her recovery fluids and an hour later she looked like she was improving but was dead later;(....you would think after that length in she would have adapted to change in diet.

Cran

Lost first ewe of this season Sunday, with all the rain was a week or two behind body scoring and she went down with lack of calcium Saturday (found her as we turned up to body score them). Got her back on her feet quick but tried to abort over night and died, why do they always abort?

Richk2012

Username John wrote: »

Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analysis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

Sorry to hear that John , thats a brutal start to the lambing alright .
Did you have any with this problem last year???

rancher

Username John wrote: »

Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analysis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

Sounds more like the result of a dog attack, deformed lambs would be more symptomatic of schmallenberg, hope it improves for you, lambing is hard enough even when thing are going well

Richk2012

rancher wrote: »

Sounds more like the result of a dog attack, deformed lambs would be more symptomatic of schmallenberg, hope it improves for you, lambing is hard enough even when thing are going well

Maybe so , but if they were dogged would some off the ewes not throw the lambs soon after the attack when the lambs died off inside them .
He is taking them out in pieces so their well rotten???

larrywithalorry

Username John wrote: »

E
Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analy Not a hope sis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

Sounds like what i had too. The Ewes would just lie down. No forcing or pawning the ground etc. When id go over to examine them you would get a smell off them. Only one came out in pieces but all others were dead with a while and were filled up with gases.
Mortality was running at about 80 to 90%.
Sent lambs to the lab - got no results
Vet gave me LA oxytetcycline (20ml each) for all the in lamb Ewes and another 20ml 3 days later. This seemed to solve it for me. It cost me €700 for the medicine alone, plus post mortem etc costly business.
Since the second injection all the abortions have stopped. Thank god.
I reckon im after losing well over half of all the lambs at this stage
More than likely the vet said it was chlamydia.

larrywithalorry

Username John wrote: »

E
Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analy Not a hope sis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

Sounds like what i had too. The Ewes would just lie down. No forcing or pawning the ground etc. When id go over to examine them you would get a smell off them. Only one came out in pieces but all others were dead with a while and were filled up with gases.
Mortality was running at about 80 to 90%.
Sent lambs to the lab - got no results
Vet gave me LA oxytetcycline (20ml each) for all the in lamb Ewes and another 20ml 3 days later. This seemed to solve it for me. It cost me €700 for the medicine alone, plus post mortem etc costly business.
Since the second injection all the abortions have stopped. Thank god.
I reckon im after losing well over half of all the lambs at this stage
More than likely the vet said it was chlamydia.
Pm me if you want to know more

paddysdream

rancher wrote: »

Do you ever try fostering while the single is lambing.... put the orphan in a basin under the ewe so that the fluids flow into the basin when you're pulling her own lamb.... leave her with the strange lamb for ten minutes and then give her her own lamb...usually works here.
If we're adopting an older dry lamb, we put him in warm salt water to wet the wool and tie his legs so he looks like a new born trying to get up.
The fluids from the ewe soak in better when the lamb is wet and the salt encourages her to lick. we adopted over 40 lambs that way last year

No problems with wet fostering .Just finding it harder than another year to foster 3 or 4 day old lambs onto idle ones.For some reason ewes seem to be more reluctant to accept different lambs this year.That said let 2 ewes out of the head restraints this morning and so far no pucking of the lambs(put 2 on each).Result!.

Seen a few more ewes with less milk than you would expect but in general all running smoothly.Disease levels seem to be running lower this year with me(dry weather?)but ewes in poorer condition than previous years.

razor8

Username John wrote: »

Well, things could hardly be going worse here...

Not due to start til 1st March.

So far, I have 2 dead ewes, 3 sick ewes & 12 dead lambs...

Almost all of the lambs I had to take out of the ewes, all of them were very rotten (some of them came out in bits)
The only ones I didn't take out, I had to get the vet to do so, and he had to do a caesarian... and the lambs only barely stayed together taking em out

Lambs sent to the lab for analysis... still nothing back from them, although its only been a day or two I guess...
Apparently they need 2 weeks to test for schmallenberg, anyone know if this is true?
Although I have my doubts as to whether schmallenberg is the cause...

anything back yet?

Username John

razor8 wrote: »

anything back yet?

Hi Razor,

Nope, nothing back yet

A hogett that I took the lambs from last Saturday died last night. Ironically, the 2 ewes that I thought would be ok, died first (the younger, stronger ones)
And the shook, old, thin ewe, that I had written off days ago, is still hanging on... But I think she is not long more for this world...
This is despite daily injections & life-aid / tonic 3 or 4 times a day.

I think they must have got poisoned somehow. As they just went off their food, and then never came back, never showed any interest in any kinda food...
The hogett that had the caeserian is up and around and eating, and is almost 100% again... which is interesting... Maybe though with this hogett, I was watching more for it, and caught her that bit earlier...

On the good news side - we had 2 nice ewe lambs this morning early...
So at least we have 2 live lambs on the ground... which I must say has kinda lifted the spirits a bit (despite the dead hogett)

DMAXMAN

only got started here yesterday have 4 doubles alive, 1 ewe with doubles had 2 dead lambs involving a vet visit at 12 last night(ouch for that bill) and two singles.ewe that lost lambs probably got hurt as we have had ewes in a lot over last 3 weeks treating sore eyes,finally getting the better of that now

paddysdream

Time to report back in here.(Think will leave the cap reform thread alone for a while!!)

Maincrop almost finished ,about 30 or so left to lamb as of this morning.
Despite a few early problems and any older ewes being in poor condition I am very happy with how it went.
Lamb losses very low with about 1.6 or so let out with ewes.Only lost one lamb plus one ewe after turnout and for me thats good.Remember a few years ago finding 3 or 4 dead lambs every morning for a week .
Found that 95% plus lambed with lots of milk despite the poor year they had.
Didnt increase feed compared to another year(its dear enough this year)Fodder supplies were grand here as all silage and hay used were made in 2011.

razor8

Username John wrote: »

Hi Razor,

Nope, nothing back yet

A hogett that I took the lambs from last Saturday died last night. Ironically, the 2 ewes that I thought would be ok, died first (the younger, stronger ones)
And the shook, old, thin ewe, that I had written off days ago, is still hanging on... But I think she is not long more for this world...
This is despite daily injections & life-aid / tonic 3 or 4 times a day.

I think they must have got poisoned somehow. As they just went off their food, and then never came back, never showed any interest in any kinda food...
The hogett that had the caeserian is up and around and eating, and is almost 100% again... which is interesting... Maybe though with this hogett, I was watching more for it, and caught her that bit earlier...

On the good news side - we had 2 nice ewe lambs this morning early...
So at least we have 2 live lambs on the ground... which I must say has kinda lifted the spirits a bit (despite the dead hogett)

i went through it for the last two years with toxo and enzootic, used to hate heading for the shed. different story this year about from my blopper with the ewe lambs as explained in another thread. sometimes you just go through these bad spells and not a thing ya can do about it

DMAXMAN

6 days in and we have 45 ewes with 82 live lambs.total of six dead so far. 2born dead other four were the runts of triplets. today we had 10 ewes with 20 lambs. 2 set trips and 2 singles. singles to big for cross fostering as they empty out the ewes with good udders of milk.saying that no hardship today so no complaints

rancher

DMAXMAN wrote: »

6 days in and we have 45 ewes with 82 live lambs.total of six dead so far. 2born dead other four were the runts of triplets. today we had 10 ewes with 20 lambs. 2 set trips and 2 singles. singles to big for cross fostering as they empty out the ewes with good udders of milk.saying that no hardship today so no complaints

Just starting here, everything seems very healthy and straight forward, scanner told me that theres not many served in the first ten days that the ram went out so won't be expecting a lot until 10th or 12th but happy enough as grass is very scarce

tabby aspreme

Not due to start here till 15th, and after looking at weather forecast on some of the threads on the weather forum i hope there not any earlier, going to be tough on small lambs next week

Conmaicne Mara

Due to start here in about 10 days time. Like Tabby above, the weather doesn't look like it will be kind. I'm glad I bought those 100 lambmacs. Could do with a bit of grass growth too. Other than that, everything is ticking along according to plan.

Username John

razor8 wrote: »

i went through it for the last two years with toxo and enzootic, used to hate heading for the shed. different story this year about from my blopper with the ewe lambs as explained in another thread. sometimes you just go through these bad spells and not a thing ya can do about it

Hi Rozor,

Yeah, I remember you posting about your troubles last year...

Did you vaccinate for Toxo & enzo? The strange thing is I vaccinated for both after some issues last year...

Still nothing back from the lab, must chase the vet about it...

Things aren't going too bad now. Normal enough, still losing the odd lamb (one ewe stood on a lamb, had two pre-mature lambs & one died, another was too long lambing a big single, and I only missed it by about 15 mins I'd say :mad: )

But, last night, I got em to check em, one ewe had kinda prolapsed... so I stalled her up, fixed it... all good... forgot to take the rope off which was holding her, and she was choked this morning when I went out... totally 100% my own fault... to say I was f;cuking annoyed with myself for that, would be an understatement... stupid stupid mistake... just wasn't thinking, or got distracted or something... :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Anyways... could be worse sure...

razor8

Username John wrote: »

Hi Rozor,

Yeah, I remember you posting about your troubles last year...

Did you vaccinate for Toxo & enzo? The strange thing is I vaccinated for both after some issues last year...

Still nothing back from the lab, must chase the vet about it...

Things aren't going too bad now. Normal enough, still losing the odd lamb (one ewe stood on a lamb, had two pre-mature lambs & one died, another was too long lambing a big single, and I only missed it by about 15 mins I'd say :mad: )

But, last night, I got em to check em, one ewe had kinda prolapsed... so I stalled her up, fixed it... all good... forgot to take the rope off which was holding her, and she was choked this morning when I went out... totally 100% my own fault... to say I was f;cuking annoyed with myself for that, would be an understatement... stupid stupid mistake... just wasn't thinking, or got distracted or something... :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Anyways... could be worse sure...

Yes UJ, there all fully vaccinated for both and hadnt one from that this year at all, hadnt many barren ewes at scanning either and i put that down to vaccinating as well. My lambing not kicking off until next weekend

made a big blunder early on and one to watch out for, 9 in a pen of 24 aborted after i dosed them with trodax, bimectin, heptavac P, & a mineral drench all the one day (was in a hurry to a stag party) and they took some kind of reaction according to my vet and dropped the lambs, stopped after a week, but like yourself i was ripping. apart from that i am starting to look forward, sheep in good condition and no other issues at all like twin lamb or anything like that

just when you think you have everything done right something always seems to crop up

Username John

razor8 wrote: »

Yes UJ, there all fully vaccinated for both and hadnt one from that this year at all, hadnt many barren ewes at scanning either and i put that down to vaccinating as well. My lambing not kicking off until next weekend

made a big blunder early on and one to watch out for, 9 in a pen of 24 aborted after i dosed them with trodax, bimectin, heptavac P, & a mineral drench all the one day (was in a hurry to a stag party) and they took some kind of reaction according to my vet and dropped the lambs, stopped after a week, but like yourself i was ripping. apart from that i am starting to look forward, sheep in good condition and no other issues at all like twin lamb or anything like that

just when you think you have everything done right something always seems to crop up

Hi Razor,

Good to hear you are looking forward to things, I hope they go well for you.

Sorry to hear about your 9 ewes - I heard before about ewes losing lambs after trodax (I have never used it, so dont the specifics as to how close it was to lambing)

Re vaccinating - so you vaccinated last year, and everything was good this year?
See, I vaccinated too for both last summer - as I had some issues last year. But then I had these (bigger) problems this year...

Haven't had any issues since the proper start of lambing now... But I am worried if I don't get to the bottom of it, it'll be back again next year...

Like I say Razor - best of luck, I hope the lambing goes well for you.

razor8

Username John wrote: »

Hi Razor,

Good to hear you are looking forward to things, I hope they go well for you.

Sorry to hear about your 9 ewes - I heard before about ewes losing lambs after trodax (I have never used it, so dont the specifics as to how close it was to lambing)

Re vaccinating - so you vaccinated last year, and everything was good this year?
See, I vaccinated too for both last summer - as I had some issues last year. But then I had these (bigger) problems this year...

Haven't had any issues since the proper start of lambing now... But I am worried if I don't get to the bottom of it, it'll be back again next year...

Like I say Razor - best of luck, I hope the lambing goes well for you.

Thanks UJ

got samples taken of aborted ewe lambs and came back negative for everything, toxo, enzootic, salmonella, all clear so that was a relief

from experience once it settles thats usually the end of the storm, i know a neighbour that blanket covered all his ewes with Oxytete after a few aborted and it seemed to put an end to it, you'll know more once results are back

DMAXMAN

latest update is 72 lambed with 132 lambs alive+7 dead.few dayswith 10 lambing averaging 20 lambs them days.no sign of any slow down yet either, had 8 lambed today with 16 live lambs. just finished with one now with an elder big enough to rear a calf

Richk2012

DMAXMAN wrote: »

latest update is 72 lambed with 132 lambs alive+7 dead.few dayswith 10 lambing averaging 20 lambs them days.no sign of any slow down yet either, had 8 lambed today with 16 live lambs. just finished with one now with an elder big enough to rear a calf

Boaster

Vandy West

17 of 25 two and three year olds lambed (all but one first time lambers due to sick ram last year) 26 lambs born, 1 dead since. All lambed without help but 60 ewe lambs to go.....

rancher

Vandy West wrote: »

17 of 25 two and three year olds lambed (all but one first time lambers due to sick ram last year) 26 lambs born, 1 dead since. All lambed without help but 60 ewe lambs to go.....

Lots of lambs here too, no real problems yet, a week lambing now with over a hundred lambs, more lambs coming than was scanned, not complaining or anything.......24 ewes lambed yesterday, one double without milk,and three triplets... got to cross foster all except one as they were born and he's in the fostering unit with one of fridays singles.. so can't complain

deano2882

galway 4 sam wrote: »

Know the feeling. I have approx 30 per cent lambed and its not so bad when you get into the swing of it. I'm working as well so it's a tough few weeks. I find lambing them pretty straight forward it's the aftercare that takes time. Like feeding pets etc. lots of foxes around here so we put a lot of them back in at night. It's safer but it adds about half hour to the jobs morning and evening.

where abouts are u im in galway myself do plenty fox control if needed and not to far away always willing to help pm me...

Bleating Lamb

Lambing started Sunday,half lambing in and half out...great morning this am...11 live lambs before 8am,one ewe lambing out had triplets,only scanned for two,other side of story...v cold yday am,found a ewe with big swollen head out,after hard time got a big lamb out and another,both alive,put her in,gave them biestings....later in day she lay on lamb with swollen head!!:(....Murphys law.

Had 4 ewes abort a fortnight ago.....sent 2 lambs to lab...nothing back yet...have heard on grapevine this is happening wholesale in flocks in northwest of country...some fellows losing more than they are gaining.Ours seem to have settled down tg...have kept the 4 ewes isolated.

supersean1999

Put a good few ewes into the shed the wind would cut you in two, hope to god the weather improves sooner rather than later, or I'll have some in the bottom bedroom,

Username John

supersean1999 wrote: »

Put a good few ewes into the shed the wind would cut you in two, hope to god the weather improves sooner rather than later, or I'll have some in the bottom bedroom,

The wind and driving rain here today was desperate, and my fields are very open... I had a lot of humpy looking lambs, so brought in all the ewes and lambs this evening...

They're packed into the shed now for the night, although weather isn't too good for tomorrow again

supersean1999

Username John wrote: »

The wind and driving rain here today was desperate, and my fields are very open... I had a lot of humpy looking lambs, so brought in all the ewes and lambs this evening...

They're packed into the shed now for the night, although weather isn't too good for tomorrow again

I went out again and brought in more , just as well just got a lamb barely 3mins old, I doubt he would of lasted ten more mins , worst night in a long time, thank god my mountain ewes don't start till next weekend , not that they need half as much minding, but this weather will finish any lazy lamb off quick,

rancher

supersean1999 wrote: »

I went out again and brought in more , just as well just got a lamb barely 3mins old, I doubt he would of lasted ten more mins , worst night in a long time, thank god my mountain ewes don't start till next weekend , not that they need half as much minding, but this weather will finish any lazy lamb off quick,

Rubbish weather alright and when you put them in ,its not ideal either, no great outlook until sunday either and then very cold.
Lambing going well here, no hard lambings and letting out 1.8 lambs/ewe but a fox is lifting one or two a week, it would be one a night but for the fact that he's getting all our dead ones as well, not a great idea but it seems to slow the losses in the live ones

Username John

I left mine out for a while this morning, but it's lashing now again so they'll be coming in again soon...

I dont have the facilities to house them all properly, they're kinds stuck in on top of one another, so wanted to get them to fill their belly with a bit of grass... Given how horrible it is now, not sure whether it was a good or a bad idea...

Miserable cold weather...

Hopefully from tomorrow on it'll be a bit better. I don't mind if it gets cold, as long as the rain stops...

deano2882

rancher wrote: »

Rubbish weather alright and when you put them in ,its not ideal either, no great outlook until sunday either and then very cold.
Lambing going well here, no hard lambings and letting out 1.8 lambs/ewe but a fox is lifting one or two a week, it would be one a night but for the fact that he's getting all our dead ones as well, not a great idea but it seems to slow the losses in the live ones

where abouts are u im sure there is some1 around that wud solve ur fox problems...

jomoloney

almost home , just 13 ewe lambs left , . was hectic paddys day weekend with heifers calving as well


tight on grass for the early lambers and pushing in the creep will be another 3 weeks before I draft lambs to the factory

forecast dry and cold for all next week , no growth but at least it will suit the lambs

Poor Farmer in the hills

My farm seems to have been moved to Siberia. Unbelievable wind and snow .Shed jammed and no improvement in sight.

Conmaicne Mara

Windy & wet here, 5 ewes lambed so far, three of them today. They could have waited another day or two.

hedgecutting eddie

Worst day ever here, raining flat out last 24 hrs went up to fields to check them and picked up 7 dead lambs and 3 more died since all lambs week plus old and were flying it , put in 50 ewe s with doubles some hassle gettin them in

rancher

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

Worst day ever here, raining flat out last 24 hrs went up to fields to check them and picked up 7 dead lambs and 3 more died since all lambs week plus old and were flying it , put in 50 ewe s with doubles some hassle gettin them in

That seems very bad for over a week old, 250 lambs out here, born in the last eighteen days, no losses yet,
What breed are they

Username John

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

Worst day ever here, raining flat out last 24 hrs went up to fields to check them and picked up 7 dead lambs and 3 more died since all lambs week plus old and were flying it , put in 50 ewe s with doubles some hassle gettin them in

Jesus Eddie, sorry to hear that...

Weather isn't too bad here now tonight. This morning was poor, but it cleared up in the afternoon, and it's dry now. So everything is back out now again...

Hopefully the clear weather will travel up to ye now.

hedgecutting eddie

rancher wrote: »

That seems very bad for over a week old, 250 lambs out here, born in the last eighteen days, no losses yet,
What breed are they

all dead ones are doubles and charolais out of suffolk and lleyn ewes ,had 110 doubles and 65 singles out and about 30 left to lamb im sick of sheep there not worth the hassle

rancher

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

all dead ones are doubles and charolais out of suffolk and lleyn ewes ,had 110 doubles and 65 singles out and about 30 left to lamb im sick of sheep there not worth the hassle

You'll say its because I'm a vendeen breeder but I'll tell you anyway. i got the same with charolais years ago and its the reason I changed, but this is freak weather and you mightn't get it again in march for years

Conmaicne Mara

hedgecutting eddie wrote: »

all dead ones are doubles and charolais out of suffolk and lleyn ewes ,had 110 doubles and 65 singles out and about 30 left to lamb im sick of sheep there not worth the hassle

Keep the chin up Eddie. A lot of us will have gone through testing times similar.