Dry ewe lambs over winter

Cran

How do people feed dry replacement ewe lambs over the winter?

For the first time in a long time I'm carrying number of ewe lambs on into hoggets. They're not being put to the ram, due to time commitments I don't like lambing to many ewe lambs, the best 20 have been picked and the remainder plus 15 replacement pedigree lambs will be left on an outfarm for the winter. I was aiming to feed hay ad-lib but would they require any additional feeding, if so would something like crystalyx buckets be enough to carry them into the spring?

As they're on an outfarm was hoping to avoid having to go everyday to feed them....:o

Richk2012

Cran wrote: »

How do people feed dry replacement ewe lambs over the winter?

For the first time in a long time I'm carrying number of ewe lambs on into hoggets. They're not being put to the ram, due to time commitments I don't like lambing to many ewe lambs, the best 20 have been picked and the remainder plus 15 replacement pedigree lambs will be left on an outfarm for the winter. I was aiming to feed hay ad-lib but would they require any additional feeding, if so would something like crystalyx buckets be enough to carry them into the spring?

As they're on an outfarm was hoping to avoid having to go everyday to feed them....:o

Im in the same boat .
Certainly wont be feeding them concentrates over the winter months .

They will be going onto rough grazing and fed hay with mineral buckets ..

Weighed them last week . ranging from 46-55kg so i dont see the point in spending money feeding nuts when their not going with the ram until this time next year .

Dunno would the pedigree girls you have want a bit more attention though

Username John

I wouldn't have too many now, but we never fed them, only always left em out n grass.
We'd be understocked, so there would normally be a good bit of grass lying around which would take them through the winter.

I have 25 ewes kept this year, which is more than we'd normally keep, but I still ave no plans for feeding em.

Richk2012

Username John wrote: »

I wouldn't have too many now, but we never fed them, only always left em out n grass.
We'd be understocked, so there would normally be a good bit of grass lying around which would take them through the winter.

I have 25 ewes kept this year, which is more than we'd normally keep, but I still ave no plans for feeding em.

Hows the form john ???
Are you running your hampshire down again this year ????

Cran

Richk2012 wrote: »

Dunno would the pedigree girls you have want a bit more attention though

Them I m less worried about to be honest, they're in great nick it's the cross breeds that are lacking bit of flesh. Also believe pedigrees should be treated same as commercials, can do it with the ewes just a pity ram buyers don't believe that

Username John

Richk2012 wrote: »

Hows the form john ???
Are you running your hampshire down again this year ????

How are you keeping Rich?

I am keeping the hampshires this year, I was happy enough with em last year.

But to be honest, I have ignored the farm the last few months, so I'm not as on top of things as I should be. Bit worried my ewes are a bit mixed in terms of conditon, the two boys didn't get much caring either. But hopefully it'll all come together.

Had a wander around em this evening, and there was a few raddled, so that makes me feel a bit better. But the yellow raddle is fierce hard to see...
I think I was wrong to re-use the left over crayons from last year

What rams will you be going with rich? Did you have Charolais last year?

Richk2012

Username John wrote: »

How are you keeping Rich?

I am keeping the hampshires this year, I was happy enough with em last year.

But to be honest, I have ignored the farm the last few months, so I'm not as on top of things as I should be. Bit worried my ewes are a bit mixed in terms of conditon, the two boys didn't get much caring either. But hopefully it'll all come together.

Had a wander around em this evening, and there was a few raddled, so that makes me feel a bit better. But the yellow raddle is fierce hard to see...
I think I was wrong to re-use the left over crayons from last year

What rams will you be going with rich? Did you have Charolais last year?

Ah cant complain .. No was suffolk last year John .
Suffolk again this year too and iv a Chevoit lad to go out aswell .

Yea that oul yellow raddle is a nightmare alright ....

Im happy enough with the overall condition of the ewes but i had to do a serious bit of paring and footbathing to get them straightened out .

I got 20acres off 2nd cut after grass off a neighbour of mine 3 weeks ago , other than that i would be in trouble for grass .

Put the ewes in on it to flush them last week but notice a good few of them fairly scoury with the fresh grass :rolleyes:..

Have you the rams out long ????

Username John

Richk2012 wrote: »

Ah cant complain .. No was suffolk last year John .
Suffolk again this year too and iv a Chevoit lad to go out aswell .

Yea that oul yellow raddle is a nightmare alright ....

Im happy enough with the overall condition of the ewes but i had to do a serious bit of paring and footbathing to get them straightened out .

I got 20acres off 2nd cut after grass off a neighbour of mine 3 weeks ago , other than that i would be in trouble for grass .

Put the ewes in on it to flush them last week but notice a good few of them fairly scoury with the fresh grass :rolleyes:..

Have you the rams out long ????

I only put the boys out on Saturday, so not long.

Suffolk - we used to always have em here, moved away from em due to lambing troubles as my ewes are very Suffolky as well... But they throw super lambs to be fair.

Oh, was it you put up the pic of that cheviot ram the other day? Looked a fine ram... Do you have him for breeding replacements?

We're not too bad for grass here, and it's still coming which is good. My only complaint is that it isn't nice after grass like you mention, some of it is a bit old from not being grazed earlier in the year...

Had to do a bit of paring myself, and I still have some which aren't super, but they'll have to do now...

AntrimGlens

Cran wrote: »

How do people feed dry replacement ewe lambs over the winter?

For the first time in a long time I'm carrying number of ewe lambs on into hoggets. They're not being put to the ram, due to time commitments I don't like lambing to many ewe lambs, the best 20 have been picked and the remainder plus 15 replacement pedigree lambs will be left on an outfarm for the winter. I was aiming to feed hay ad-lib but would they require any additional feeding, if so would something like crystalyx buckets be enough to carry them into the spring?

As they're on an outfarm was hoping to avoid having to go everyday to feed them....:o

If i was carrying ewe lambs over I'd only be looking for maintenance for them, so they'd be going to the hill/rough ground. They'll still find time to grow out come the spring so wouldn't worry too much about pushing them now tbh. If you think they're low in minerals give them a mineral drench rather than spending money on crystalyx buckets - they're not going to need a lot of energy intake as they're not carrying lambs. As cheap a way as possible would be my thinking.

Richk2012

Username John wrote: »

I only put the boys out on Saturday, so not long.

Suffolk - we used to always have em here, moved away from em due to lambing troubles as my ewes are very Suffolky as well... But they throw super lambs to be fair.

Oh, was it you put up the pic of that cheviot ram the other day? Looked a fine ram... Do you have him for breeding replacements?

We're not too bad for grass here, and it's still coming which is good. My only complaint is that it isn't nice after grass like you mention, some of it is a bit old from not being grazed earlier in the year...

Had to do a bit of paring myself, and I still have some which aren't super, but they'll have to do now...

Ah I'll see what sort of lambs he throws and I'll see if I'll keep any off him or not .

Once the two boys keep up on their feet you will be OK ..

Conmaicne Mara

Would you normally buy a Cheviot Rich?

Richk2012

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Would you normally buy a Cheviot Rich?

Havent had a Chevoit Ram in a couple of years .

Most of the ewes are Chevoit x Suffolk , and then i crossed a texel ram on these ewes and kept the lambs off them too ..

But normally everything goes back to a suffolk ram