Lamb Mortality

Dickie10

not a nice topic but just wondering , what would be considered a good lamb crop or loss rate? and has anyone had much trouble with foxes, things went great here and 75% through lambing until I got a lamb with head off it this morning, very pissed off , he was 3 days old. haven't had fox trouble for years. the rain last night prob didn't help , I have a good guy coming tomorrow to dig out the foxs hopefully. Has anyone any tips on how I can prevent this. I usually lm in 48 hrs and then out when fairly strong ie can easily run after their mother or as I measure it hard to catch running around the shed:o

Green farmer

Would it be possible a stoat got the lamb ? Whenever a fox took mine, there was no trace of the lamb afterward. ?

weatherbyfoxer

Get yourself some fox snare and see if you can find some passes in the hedges around the farm...I generally do this if I notice many foxes around the place at lambing time....always get 3 or 4

grassroot1

It does not sound like a fox attack, get on to your local gunclub and see if someone can lamp for foxes at night maybe they will get the culprit

solerina

Its very annoying when foxes take lambs (I agree with above poster, there is never any sign of the lamb)...but when OH got rid of the foxes a few years ago the rabbit population got out of control and ate all the grass....now we leave the balance of nature alone....they never take too many lambs anyway..the bloody grey crows are far worse pests imo.

rancher

Dickie10 wrote: »

not a nice topic but just wondering , what would be considered a good lamb crop or loss rate? and has anyone had much trouble with foxes, things went great here and 75% through lambing until I got a lamb with head off it this morning, very pissed off , he was 3 days old. haven't had fox trouble for years. the rain last night prob didn't help , I have a good guy coming tomorrow to dig out the foxs hopefully. Has anyone any tips on how I can prevent this. I usually lm in 48 hrs and then out when fairly strong ie can easily run after their mother or as I measure it hard to catch running around the shed:o

The 'experts' say between 6% and 12% from scanning to weaning, has been 6-8% for the last few years here, we leave dead lambs out for the foxes here, we find it helps

Dickie10

all went well enough so far the count at te min is 112 lambs from 61ewes, lost 4 lambs , 2, I should have prevented the other 2 couldn't do much

razor8

When your counting up mortality do ye include lambs from any ewe that slipped lambs or aborted.

Here I include everything. Had lost 7 this week and not due to start until next week

Birdnuts

If you rub Stockholm tar along the back and neck of a lamb - no fox or anything else will bother it

rancher

razor8 wrote: »

When your counting up mortality do ye include lambs from any ewe that slipped lambs or aborted.

Here I include everything. Had lost 7 this week and not due to start until next week

So do I, whatever is found at scanning compared with the no. weaned

sea12

rancher wrote: »

The 'experts' say between 6% and 12% from scanning to weaning, has been 6-8% for the last few years here, we leave dead lambs out for the foxes here, we find it helps

Never understand why some people feed the dead lambs to fox. Ure only giving the the taste for more and encouraging them to be around the shed

Conmaicne Mara

sea12 wrote: »

Never understand why some people feed the dead lambs to fox. Ure only giving the the taste for more and encouraging them to be around the shed

Feed the ****er with lead.

rancher

sea12 wrote: »

Never understand why some people feed the dead lambs to fox. Ure only giving the the taste for more and encouraging them to be around the shed

Do you not think that once they take their first lamb, they'll be coming again anyway.

Sheep breeder

If the head was taken off the lamb it was a dog fox as he takes the head as he can carry it in his mouth, a dog fox at this time of the year is travelling around a lot and looking for handy food and when he finds a source will keep coming back and is very hard to shoot compared to a vixen, the second the lamb is put on him gone and won't stand for the lamb.
To leave a lamb for the fox is madness

Lano Lynn

solerina wrote: »

Its very annoying when foxes take lambs (I agree with above poster, there is never any sign of the lamb)...but when OH got rid of the foxes a few years ago the rabbit population got out of control and ate all the grass....now we leave the balance of nature alone....they never take too many lambs anyway..the bloody grey crows are far worse pests imo.

if you don't have a rabbit population to rely on foxes can be a real pain in the pocket.
before the dumb ass compulsory fallen stock collection rip off was dreamt up we would dig a trench n start at one end backfill lightly over each dead ewe the local foxes would dig down to dine.If they got too plentiful would take a few out wit .22 or snare.never had a problem with lambs being taken.
then that all had to stop guess what happened yep started having lambs taken and attacked.so now have to shoot more foxes.
during lambing I leave afterbirths outside the back of the shed (a couple each day) foxes use it like a take out .no bother to lambs for years.

(i accept that this policy is easier to practice when lambing larger flocks over a short period)

fundamentally foxes are lazy creatures of habit.
there is a balance that can and should be struck.

grey crows n magpies are just cruel sadistic vermin....no mercy

Conmaicne Mara

Dickie10 wrote: »

not a nice topic but just wondering , what would be considered a good lamb crop or loss rate? and has anyone had much trouble with foxes, things went great here and 75% through lambing until I got a lamb with head off it this morning, very pissed off , he was 3 days old. haven't had fox trouble for years. the rain last night prob didn't help , I have a good guy coming tomorrow to dig out the foxs hopefully. Has anyone any tips on how I can prevent this. I usually lm in 48 hrs and then out when fairly strong ie can easily run after their mother or as I measure it hard to catch running around the shed:o

Ah, I seen this on Twitter didn't I, glad you found someone to go digging.

rancher

Sheep breeder wrote: »

If the head was taken off the lamb it was a dog fox as he takes the head as he can carry it in his mouth, a dog fox at this time of the year is travelling around a lot and looking for handy food and when he finds a source will keep coming back and is very hard to shoot compared to a vixen, the second the lamb is put on him gone and won't stand for the lamb.
To leave a lamb for the fox is madness

We get lambs taken but once we give them dead lambs, it stops....been doing it for years. never shot a fox in my life

Conmaicne Mara

I know of two places, that have three separate large rabbit populations, where the foxes at lambing time bypass and in some cases go directly through the rabbits to get to the lambs.

Out shooting one night I saw something interesting. I was following a fox through the rifle scope walking through a field. It was heading for a fence to get out onto the hill. Between the fox and me was a ewe & lamb, which when spotted by the fox cause it to change course. The lamb was trailing the ewe, which was eating then taking a few steps. The fox would only move when the ewe moved, but the foc would move farther than the ewe and so closing the distance on the lamb. Both ewe and lamb were oblivious to the foxes presence. I watched all this unfold until the fox got within five yards or so of the lamb, had to shoot the fox then. Wished I had a video camera!

Birdnuts

If your not in position to cull foxes yourself, your local GC will usually be only too willing to do the job for you. Loads of lads looking for permissions on which to lamp foxes. If you put up a thread in the hunting forum you will be swamped with offers by lads looking to do some foxing.

Green farmer

I'd have a policy of making it as hard as possible for the fox .get a few lads to patrol regularly lamping. If you leave out dead lambs, I think it will draw more foxes to your land, as they have a regular food source. Also you'll notice them becoming bolder appearing earlier in the evening.

Bird nuts, would ye ever pay a hunter for plugging a few foxes or are they just happy for having somewhere to shoot ? I give the guy that does it for me something small every now and again , but don't know what the done thing is elsewhere ?

Conmaicne Mara

Green farmer wrote: »

I'd have a policy of making it as hard as possible for the fox .get a few lads to patrol regularly lamping. If you leave out dead lambs, I think it will draw more foxes to your land, as they have a regular food source. Also you'll notice them becoming bolder appearing earlier in the evening.

Bird nuts, would ye ever pay a hunter for plugging a few foxes or are they just happy for having somewhere to shoot ? I give the guy that does it for me something small every now and again , but don't know what the done thing is elsewhere ?

If he isn't a sheep farmer himself, could you butcher a lamb for him or something? Have had experience of money before and in the end it went arseways and left a bad taste tbh. Some type of barter I feel is much better.

Birdnuts

Green farmer wrote: »

Bird nuts, would ye ever pay a hunter for plugging a few foxes or are they just happy for having somewhere to shoot ? I give the guy that does it for me something small every now and again , but don't know what the done thing is elsewhere ?

I shoot my own foxes but the majority of lads I know would happily lamp foxes for free if the permission concerned is within a reasonable distance of their home. Of course throwing a few euro someones way for ammo/petrol etc. is allways appreciated.

rancher

Birdnuts wrote: »

I shoot my own foxes but the majority of lads I know would happily lamp foxes for free if the permission concerned is within a reasonable distance of their home. Of course throwing a few euro someones way for ammo/petrol etc. is allways appreciated.

Local Gun club did a good job around here last year but we had one elusive one, and he'd take a live one if there wasn't a dead one, eventually he got hit on the road, but he got to drag himself into our field before he died.
Lambs have to get out quick here, so they'd only be 1 or 2 days old. so they make nice fox fodder

Green farmer

There's nothing worse then a rogue fox. They can get right bold. They'll break your heart if they can get away with it.

Birdnuts

rancher wrote: »

Local Gun club did a good job around here last year but we had one elusive one, and he'd take a live one if there wasn't a dead one, eventually he got hit on the road, but he got to drag himself into our field before he died.
Lambs have to get out quick here, so they'd only be 1 or 2 days old. so they make nice fox fodder

Foxing lads would see that lad as a challenge;) - if he's attracted to dead lambs then it should be easy to trap/snare him or set up a shooting position using the dead lambs to bring him in. I've got a few tricky ones over the years using these methods.

Conmaicne Mara

Birdnuts wrote: »

Foxing lads would see that lad as a challenge;) - if he's attracted to dead lambs then it should be easy to trap/snare him or set up a shooting position using the dead lambs to bring him in. I've got a few tricky ones over the years using these methods.

Or pop over to The Crimea and buy a few land mines that are for sale in all good Spar shops there.

Birdnuts

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Or pop over to The Crimea and buy a few land mines that are for sale in all good Spar shops there.

The problem is that I would be tempted to use them on the TV license man and other unwelcome 2 legged visitors:pac:

Dickie10

auld lad met me coming in from college with good news and bad news showed me another dead lamb with the head eat off and then preoceeded to tell me how the lads were back this morning found the hole and dug him out and shot him, thank god we got he f**ker at but at the expense of two dead lambs, bit pissed off as it was a single, 10 days old! wonder would the ewe take a lamb on her ? down to the last 6 sheep here bar two ewe lambs mid april, dunno what the count is but its near 128 from 72 ewes, pity about the two I lost to the fox things were going so well, lost 5 altogether so far touch wood that will be it!

razor8

Dickie10 wrote: »

auld lad met me coming in from college with good news and bad news showed me another dead lamb with the head eat off and then preoceeded to tell me how the lads were back this morning found the hole and dug him out and shot him, thank god we got he f**ker at but at the expense of two dead lambs, bit pissed off as it was a single, 10 days old! wonder would the ewe take a lamb on her ? down to the last 6 sheep here bar two ewe lambs mid april, dunno what the count is but its near 128 from 72 ewes, pity about the two I lost to the fox things were going so well, lost 5 altogether so far touch wood that will be it!

Unlikely to work but only hope would be to skin dead lamb

Conmaicne Mara

Here's a question, and ye'll see right away where I'm going with this. But, could a dead lamb carcass be hung from an electric fence?

Dickie10

sorry don't get u , oh wait just putting it through now ,... oh yes perhaps don't think be a good conducter though unless soaking wer, but I like your thinking, a bit like me with the dogs ha