Shearing.

arctictree

You lads done any shearing yet? Might leave it until the end of this month as its still cold out. Found a hogget on her back though earlier, so I might need to get it done.

serfspup

swallows not nesting yet=no flies=no panic

tabby aspreme

Seen some dry hoggets and pedigree rams shorn around here so they will look good with lots of wool on them come sale time

Username John

Haven't given it any thought yet - won't be for another 3 weeks. Usually shear around 1st June.

Would say its a bit cold for it yet. There was a few days last week that were wicked...

Cran

arctictree wrote: »

You lads done any shearing yet? Might leave it until the end of this month as its still cold out. Found a hogget on her back though earlier, so I might need to get it done.

Rams shorn here, was hoping to shear pedigree ewes & dry hoggets today no chance with the weather.

ganmo

would normally try and shear the hoggets in may, no moves yet

Username John

Many shorn yet?

Maybe shear the weekend here - saw a few shorn there last weekend, that looked fairly miserable...
Still, it's time for it now...

ganmo

hoggats done here today

Connemara Farmer

Not until the end of the month, fleece will be ready by then, even then could be dodgy on an ould one.

Two good things about this crap Spring, no flies, no midges.

Birdnuts

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Not until the end of the month, fleece will be ready by then, even then could be dodgy on an ould one.

Two good things about this crap Spring, no flies, no midges.

That's roughly the plan here too. Though it means I'm going to be flat out between making silage/hay, bring home turf etc. all around the same time. And that's assuming the weather becomes even vaguely seasonal.

Connemara Farmer

Birdnuts wrote: »

That's roughly the plan here too. Though it means I'm going to be flat out between making silage/hay, bring home turf etc. all around the same time. And that's assuming the weather becomes even vaguely seasonal.

I remember shearing them in oilers in the rain one year, something I never ever want to repeat ever again.

Cran

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

I remember shearing them in oilers in the rain one year, something I never ever want to repeat ever again.

Seems very late this year, I'd normally have nearly everything shorn by first weekend in June as I'm always away for the 2nd weekend. This year no panic only weaned pedigrees and dry hoggets done, with being away weekend af this and Sheep 2015 on the 20th thinking along the lines of week after that now....

tfox

I'm a professional shearer we started shearing 2 weeks ago and I was surprised by how many sheep we found with maggots already. Like most I thought with the cold weather they wouldn't be an issue.

On a side note if anyone's looking for a shearer in Leinster my number is <modsnip>

Please don't give out details like that online, PM tfox instead.

jmrc

finished them last Monday week, sold the wool last Saturday, spent the proceeds Saturday night...!
left the gear in for sharping last evening.

job done

sea12

jmrc wrote: »

finished them last Monday week, sold the wool last Saturday, spent the proceeds Saturday night...!
left the gear in for sharping last evening.

job done

Very efficient. Did u sell the wool to roscrea?

ganmo

anyone hear of any prices? I heard 145

Moneyjojo.com

Anyone recommend a good brand of electric sheers? I was looking at ergomaster anyone hear of them?

jmrc

sea12 wrote: »

Very efficient. Did u sell the wool to roscrea?

No sold to a local lad here in west Wicklow 145 and it weighted nothing.

jmrc

Moneyjojo.com wrote: »

Anyone recommend a good brand of electric sheers? I was looking at ergomaster anyone hear of them?

Try long wool. Or there was and old lester on DD last week. Could be 40 years old but those last forever if they were looked after

Username John

How much is shearing does anyone know?

I only have a small number, so I expect to be paying a premium, to make it worth the mans time coming. But interested to know what an average price would be.

Thanks.

gazahayes

Username John wrote: »

How much is shearing does anyone know?

I only have a small number, so I expect to be paying a premium, to make it worth the mans time coming. But interested to know what an average price would be.

Thanks.

Up to 2.50 for under 200 sheep and somewhere around 2 for anything over depends on set up and wool packer.

ganmo

Username John wrote: »

How much is shearing does anyone know?

I only have a small number, so I expect to be paying a premium, to make it worth the mans time coming. But interested to know what an average price would be.

Thanks.

try and coordinate with a few neighbours. the lad that comes here does ours and 2/3 neighbours the same day(400 ish in 3/4 separate yards). same lad landed this week(3hours notice) to do 50 hoggets here, he was in the area so dad couldn't say no

let them know if you have a shed so you can have them in dry if theres rain comin

Username John

ganmo wrote: »

try and coordinate with a few neighbours. the lad that comes here does ours and 2/3 neighbours the same day(400 ish in 3/4 separate yards). same lad landed this week(3hours notice) to do 50 hoggets here, he was in the area so dad couldn't say no

let them know if you have a shed so you can have them in dry if theres rain comin

I coordinate with one lad who has sheep in the area, but he has less than myself
There are no sheep around here really,

Plus, I'm at work everyday, so the weekends are my only time.

I don't mind paying a bit extra just wanted to get an idea of what the normal cost is.

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

I coordinate with one lad who has sheep in the area, but he has less than myself
There are no sheep around here really,

Plus, I'm at work everyday, so the weekends are my only time.

I don't mind paying a bit extra just wanted to get an idea of what the normal cost is.

My shearer charges 2.50 for small flocks, but he has a pen and pulls them out himself so you need less labour around. I pay him about 2,20

Connemara Farmer

rangler1 wrote: »

My shearer charges 2.50 for small flocks, but he has a pen and pulls them out himself so you need less labour around. I pay him about 2,20

He's making sfa in the difference

davidk1394

Make a bust at shearing the sheep in 2 weeks time. The taughts of jumping in the wool bags to fit in more wool makes me cry!!

Username John

Job done. Two lads come this evening.

Including the time to setup and take down the shears, they were hardly here an hour...

ganmo

Username John wrote: »

Job done. Two lads come this evening.

Including the time to setup and take down the shears, they were hardly here an hour...

It's great to get them done like that. 1/2 hours of high pressure is way better than ticking over all day

tabby aspreme

€ 1.45 / kg being advertised on the radio for wool, best price for few years

serfspup

tabby aspreme wrote: »

€ 1.45 / kg being advertised on the radio for wool, best price for few years

boom times are back!:rolleyes: will simon have to take credit for this as well as all his schemes

arctictree

Got mine done today. Another job done. No maggots on any of them.

ganmo

all done! knackered today though

Bullocks

Anyone shear yet this year ? I'm going on holidays in 3 weeks so might get them done before I go

roosky

Bullocks wrote:

Anyone shear yet this year ? I'm going on holidays in 3 weeks so might get them done before I go

Thinking about it now......i assume we are out of the woods in regard to a shower of hail or snow

tfox

Doing my own today and first bunch on the country on Monday.

Sheep will only just be right for shearing, no pressure yet for shearing from our customers, hoping they leave it a week or 2 to be honest.

Price of wool is back, quoted between €1.10 and €1.30

davidk1394

Us it not a bit early ? The oil on the wool wouldn't have risen fully.

stantheman1979

We might do the hoggets and some horney ewes we bought this week. Ewes are shorn since the 1st week of Feb so might need to click them soon.

Green farmer

davidk1394 wrote: »

Us it not a bit early ? The oil on the wool wouldn't have risen fully.

I rang the shearer the other night, to arrange for the end of this month. Would the sunny weather in the last day or so make the sheep sweat a lot and bring out the oils ? Also spotted the first few dirty big auld flies emerging . Any prices on clik yet this year ?

Lano Lynn

there is a thin cold northerly wind comming in off the sea here that would burn the back of your ears off and guys are phoning to shear sheep like the sun will never shine again.....there are hardly enough flys to feed a swallow..
sheep are rack thin from no grass ....
there be no panic to shear EVER.. but in those conditions a couple of weeks will be better for the sheep and will leave them less prone to strike in september when fly strike will kill them..

all the sheep in the country were shorn last year and they will be shorn again this year
............let lads go and spray thistles instead to take their mind off shearing........when the thistles are past spraying it will be time enough for clipping

think I will charge 4 euro per ewe this week ,3.50 the following week,etc might calm them down;)

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

I rang the shearer the other night, to arrange for the end of this month. Would the sunny weather in the last day or so make the sheep sweat a lot and bring out the oils ? Also spotted the first few dirty big auld flies emerging . Any prices on clik yet this year ?

haven't priced yet but heard €250 for 5 ltrs

ganmo

Only thinking of getting the hoggets shorn here yet.
No rush on the ewes yet

Green farmer

Lano Lynn wrote: »

...
there be no panic to shear EVER.. but in those conditions a couple of weeks will be better for the sheep and will leave them less prone to strike in september when fly strike will kill them..

all the sheep in the country were shorn last year and they will be shorn again this year

think I will charge 4 euro per ewe this week ,3.50 the following week,etc might calm them down;)

All depends what part of country your based Lano. Anytime past the 2nd week of June and will definitely have fly strike here, always. By the end of June I'm finding sheep dead in ditches. Having said that I've a mate 20 miles out the road and his on different land ( slightly hilly ) and he never has issues and shears In July.
But I hear what your saying and some lads go excited at the first sign of flies, including me, unfortunately.

tfox

We try and put farmers back as late as possible but I fine it's more ewes getting stuck on there back that gets them keen to shear sooner than fly strike.

Did my own sheep this afternoon as I like to get them done and out of the way before we start clipping on the country, was surprised how good they were to shear, now they're all in great condition and only the odd yellow sticky belly but rest were grand. Saying that I personally don't want shearing to kick off till after June bank holiday as we're hosting the all Ireland shearing competition so we'll be busy with that till then.

J.O. Farmer

Would lads find much problems with fly strike in ewes. Never noticed major problems here except the odd one even if they weren't sheared early.
when you'd be shearing sometimes you'd come across a ewe with signs of it having been there and gone again but never anything bad like youd see with lambs.
I wondered do flies prefer lambs for some reason the way we'd prefer lamb to old mutton.

tfox

You'd be surprised the amount of ewes we come across with maggots, some are very severe. I guess maybe the lambs are dirtier in general so more attractive more flies to lay eggs in.

Floody Boreland

They're getting there but slowly.

solerina

Auto shearing is what you have !!!

davidk1394

What's the withdrawal period for the click zin ?

ganmo

CLiKZiN® Pour-on, containing dicyclanil, offers 8 weeks blowfly protection, plus a short 7 day meat withhold giving farmers the freedom to market stock as and when they’re ready.

http://www.farmanimalhealth.co.uk/sheep-clikzin

Bleating Lamb

Is that Clikzin product the same as 'Clik'?

rangler1

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Is that Clikzin product the same as 'Clik'?

yes, except that Clik has four times the active ingredient.....it's amusing that both are nearly the same price