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Anyone going to Athenry on Thursday?

Comments

  • #2
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    Hi Con,

    Saw it advertised all right, but under pressure with work, plus its a long way to go for just one day...

    I would like to go, but I know it wont happen.

    Still a bit annoyed I missed a walk on Ranchers place last year... Are you planning on having another one Rancher, so lads like me can have a nose around... ;)


  • #3
    Conmaicne Mara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Yeah it's a long way from West Cork alright. I missed the BETTER farm walk on the hill farm in Mayo, the only other BETTER hill farms I think are in the top of Donegal and the bottom of Kerry :pac: Oh well, next year. Barring last minute spanners I will be there on Thursday.


  • #4
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    Conmaicne Mara wrote: »
    Yeah it's a long way from West Cork alright. I missed the BETTER farm walk on the hill farm in Mayo, the only other BETTER hill farms I think are in the top of Donegal and the bottom of Kerry :pac: Oh well, next year. Barring last minute spanners I will be there on Thursday.

    I went to a walk on the BETTER farm in Kerry last year... It was around this time, maybe start June, and I nearly died of the cold... Misery... :(

    It was good, good to get a look around another farm, pick up ideas. But that was about it. All the information delivered was stuff which was easy to come by from Teagasc anyways...
    I was hoping for more details, which maybe they wouldn't / hadn't printed, but nope :(


  • #5
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    Let you be the messenger Con - tell us all what they say... ;)

    Actually - I am looking to buy a few ewes, ask em whats the best breed(s) for easy lambing, good mothers with good milk, good feet and produce good lambs off grass ;)


  • #6
    eire23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 713 ✭✭✭eire23


    Username John wrote: »
    Let you be the messenger Con - tell us all what they say... ;)

    Actually - I am looking to buy a few ewes, ask em whats the best breed(s) for easy lambing, good mothers with good milk, good feet and produce good lambs off grass ;)

    Your not asking for much there john:D Have you thought of using lleyn's, they have all that your looking for, cross then with terminal sire for a nice factory lamb?


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  • #7
    Conmaicne Mara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Username John wrote: »
    Let you be the messenger Con - tell us all what they say... ;)

    Actually - I am looking to buy a few ewes, ask em whats the best breed(s) for easy lambing, good mothers with good milk, good feet and produce good lambs off grass ;)

    There was geese similar to them years ago, I'm told they laid golden eggs :D


  • #8
    jomoloney
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 859 ✭✭✭jomoloney


    Username John wrote: »
    Let you be the messenger Con - tell us all what they say... ;)

    Actually - I am looking to buy a few ewes, ask em whats the best breed(s) for easy lambing, good mothers with good milk, good feet and produce good lambs off grass ;)


    not every one's choice but we are leaning more and more towards the mayo mule, .. no feet problems high blowfly and parasite resistance plenty of milk , good lamb crop and not too hard to keep in condition

    crossed with a texel or HD bringing nice lambs


  • #9
    jfh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭jfh


    went to this last year, thought it was alright.
    ended up getting a sheep crush, best thing we ever got.

    regards the lleyn, we're xrossing those with charlois & happy with them.


  • #10
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    eire23 wrote: »
    Your not asking for much there john:D Have you thought of using lleyn's, they have all that your looking for, cross then with terminal sire for a nice factory lamb?

    I have heard very good and not so good reports about the Lleyns - I guess there are differences / good ones / bad ones in every breed.
    I wouldn't mind getting a few, just to see what they're like...
    jomoloney wrote: »
    not every one's choice but we are leaning more and more towards the mayo mule, .. no feet problems high blowfly and parasite resistance plenty of milk , good lamb crop and not too hard to keep in condition

    crossed with a texel or HD bringing nice lambs

    Dont like the mules - I should have added not stone mad to my list of requirements (which I think the mule would fail) ;)
    jfh wrote: »
    went to this last year, thought it was alright.
    ended up getting a sheep crush, best thing we ever got.

    regards the lleyn, we're xrossing those with charlois & happy with them.

    You mean like they have on the handling units? How you do you use it, just for dosing, or is it used for more than that?


  • #11
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    Well Con - any update for us?

    What was the day like?

    What bits of wisdom have you for us? ;)


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  • #12
    eire23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 713 ✭✭✭eire23


    Username John wrote: »
    I have heard very good and not so good reports about the Lleyns - I guess there are differences / good ones / bad ones in every breed.
    I wouldn't mind getting a few, just to see what they're like...

    If ya don't mind me asking john what sort of problems did the people have that didn't get on well with them?

    I bought 20 last year to try alongside the rest of the flock and tbh im delighted with them and will probably end up buying more this year


  • #13
    Galvium Irredentum
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 58 ✭✭Galvium Irredentum


    I went yesterday - not hard seeing as I live 5 miles away! Everybody was taken on a "2" hour tour to various stands around paddocks. Our 2 hours lasted for 3 in at least 22C - needless to say we were wilted by the end; good thing I brought factor 50. I thought much the same ground was covered as other similar events in the last few years - felt a tad like Teagasc indoctrination, also some of the speakers were better than others; some gave off a laid back interesting tone, while others you felt were rabbitting through a rehearsed script or were uncomfortable/just getting through it.


  • #14
    Galvium Irredentum
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 58 ✭✭Galvium Irredentum


    Got another spiel on 5-star rams and their benefits and some tips on feacel egg counting for testing resistance to anthelmintics - I'm new to performance recording; my own thoughts are that if it's to be done correctly then as many holistic traits as possible need to be recorded; especially health ones e.g. flystrike, breach scouring, footrot etc. otherwise whereas one might be breeding superior animals for growth, conformations etc. many other unsound traits might also be accumulating! You need only look at the strengths/weaknesses of the various current breeds to see that focusing on too narrow a range of traits can have drawbacks...


  • #15
    Conmaicne Mara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Username John wrote: »
    Well Con - any update for us?

    What was the day like?

    What bits of wisdom have you for us? ;)

    I enjoyed the day, arrived fairly early. Met an advisor I know who's to do with the Mayo Connemara purebred society, so we got into that and then we headed up to the sheep Ireland stand for a while before the whole event kicked off.

    I particularly enjoyed the genetics talks as I'm just starting to get into that and will be looking for a star rated ram for the Autumn. They explained about the star ratings, the sub index, and the accuracy of those. I think that's all on the sheep.ie site anyway.

    There was talk then on managing grass, different grazing divisions for different groups, rotational grazing, fertiliser and soil samples etc. Performance on reseeds versus old pasture (not much difference) but that didn't make full sense to me anyway as the reseeds also seemed to grow earlier and grow more grass.

    There was a fair bit of other stuff too, finances, creep feeding amounts versus not feeding, silage making, am forgetting loads of stuff.

    Got to see a Gallagher smart fence/reel up close, looks like a good bit of kit.

    Saw a couple out of my STAP group there and a couple of people mentioned boards.ie too :pac:

    I found it worth going to, genetics being the highlight for me.

    (Tried not to do too much looking at the Teagasc lambs though, was getting depressed :D )


  • #16
    Conmaicne Mara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    There was mention of a "Hill conference" later in the year also, no details though.


  • #17
    Conmaicne Mara
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,543 ✭✭✭Conmaicne Mara


    Would agree with GI on recording other traits also, am sure that'll come with time. Started doing a little bit of that on my own this year.

    Enjoyed the fluke worm talk too, don't know how I forgot that.

    Think the heat got to the smart lads after that, they got fierce quiet.


  • #18
    Lastin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 125 ✭✭Lastin


    Did sheep Ireland say how many 5 star rams would be presented for sale this year


  • #19
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    eire23 wrote: »
    If ya don't mind me asking john what sort of problems did the people have that didn't get on well with them?

    I bought 20 last year to try alongside the rest of the flock and tbh im delighted with them and will probably end up buying more this year

    I think they found they were good to lamb, and good to mother, but maybe not the milkiest / didn't have the best lambs. But this too would be in comparison to prob a Suffolk cross...
    The person I was talking to was crossing the lleyn, and then keeping the ewe lambs out of that cross... As they weren't gone on the pure lleyn. I must find out what the cross was, as I cant remember now...

    Its great to hear tho that you are delighted with them. What did you have before?

    Not sure where you are based? But where did you source the ones you bought?


  • #20
    rancher
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,142 ✭✭✭rancher


    Username John wrote: »
    I think they found they were good to lamb, and good to mother, but maybe not the milkiest / didn't have the best lambs. But this too would be in comparison to prob a Suffolk cross...
    The person I was talking to was crossing the lleyn, and then keeping the ewe lambs out of that cross... As they weren't gone on the pure lleyn. I must find out what the cross was, as I cant remember now...

    Its great to hear tho that you are delighted with them. What did you have before?

    Not sure where you are based? But where did you source the ones you bought?
    Here's some of my replacements for next year, most of the ewes are about 70% texel / 30% lleyn, then put to a lleyn ram, so the lambs would be about 70% lleyn now, as you see the sheep themselves are clean and are not prone to feet problems , this cross scans almost 200% every year, we seem to get the size of the texel and the hardiness of the lleyn so couldn't be happier with them


    2013-06-07 11.45.34.jpg

    2013-06-07 11.46.42.jpg

    2013-06-07 11.48.36.jpg


  • #21
    Username John
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,237 ✭✭✭Username John


    rancher wrote: »
    Here's some of my replacements for next year, most of the ewes are about 70% texel / 30% lleyn, then put to a lleyn ram, so the lambs would be about 70% lleyn now, as you see the sheep themselves are clean and are not prone to feet problems , this cross scans almost 200% every year, we seem to get the size of the texel and the hardiness of the lleyn so couldn't be happier with them

    2013-06-07 11.45.34.jpg

    2013-06-07 11.46.42.jpg

    2013-06-07 11.48.36.jpg

    There you go - from someone who is using LLeyns, and not from just talk from me... ;)

    Them photos almost look professional Rancher... are you getting in professional camera-men for the job? ;):)
    Fine field as well, no weeds or a bit...

    Nice looking ewes tho, and lovely fat looking lambs...


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  • #22
    jfh
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,329 ✭✭✭jfh


    You mean like they have on the handling units? How you do you use it, just for dosing, or is it used for more than that?[/QUOTE]

    we use it for dosing, drafting sheep, put them though it for footbath several times when they were locked in. great job but it does take them a few times to get used to it.


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