Scanning 2016

gazahayes

Scanned ewes and ewe lambs here today
33 singles
63 doubles
2 triplets
11 empty that will be scanned again in about a months time as they were all ewe lambs

razor8

gazahayes wrote: »

Scanned ewes and ewe lambs here today
33 singles
63 doubles
2 triplets
11 empty that will be scanned again in about a months time as they were all ewe lambs

Good scan, what breeds were they?

fanadman1

Scaned yesterday 41 singles 37 doubles and 3 triplets 2 empty.
It only sounds midlin but there was over 30 horned ewes so im happy woth 1.5

gazahayes

razor8 wrote: »

Good scan, what breeds were they?

Mostly lleyn cross with a few texel mixed through in lamb to lleyn and Charollais rams fairly happy with it too.

tom_k

Scanned earlier today
18 single,
34 double,
7 triple.
1 empty.

Mix of Suffolk and Texel X ewes.

Will scan ewe lambs in a few weeks.

Buying in a batch of youngish ewes next week most already scanned with doubles and a few triples.

razor8

tom_k wrote: »

Scanned earlier today
18 single,
34 double,
7 triple.
1 empty.

Mix of Suffolk and Texel X ewes.

Will scan ewe lambs in a few weeks.

Buying in a batch of youngish ewes next week most already scanned with doubles and a few triples.

They don't come cheap! In lambs ewes making great money

razor8

gazahayes wrote: »

Mostly lleyn cross with a few texel mixed through in lamb to lleyn and Charollais rams fairly happy with it too.

I thought lleyns would scan higher as supposed to be very prolific, seen on another forum across water that some scans from them was lower than usual

davidk1394

127 singles
221 twins
21 triplets
1 quad
All 50 hoggets are in lamb and 10 empties over all

gazahayes

razor8 wrote: »

I thought lleyns would scan higher as supposed to be very prolific, seen on another forum across water that some scans from them was lower than usual

All young ewes lleyn are only 2years old at the most the rest are 3 crop this year

Sheep breeder

scanned the tail enders this morning 6 doubles, 3 singles and six empty, ok result as two of the empties had hard lambing last year and two were lambed late as hoggets from fattening sheep.

tom_k

razor8 wrote: »

They don't come cheap! In lambs ewes making great money

True that, but I'm getting these from a farmer nearby who's getting out of sheep in a hurry. I'll be paying the going rate but I'm certain of their breeding and health so that'll take the sting out of it.

razor8

tom_k wrote: »

True that, but I'm getting these from a farmer nearby who's getting out of sheep in a hurry. I'll be paying the going rate but I'm certain of their breeding and health so that'll take the sting out of it.

Worth a few euro extra when buying from a clearance than buying odd ends in a mart

Bleating Lamb

Scanned 86 ewes on Friday,getting rest done next weekend hopefully.

Best scan result ever here.
9 triplets
65 Twins
11 singles
1 dry.

Scanner man said in general scan results are well up on last year.

tom_k

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Scanned 86 ewes on Friday,getting rest done next weekend hopefully.

Best scan result ever here.
9 triplets
65 Twins
11 singles
1 dry.

Scanner man said in general scan results are well up on last year.

That's an excellent result. What breed or cross are the ewes?

Bleating Lamb

tom_k wrote: »

That's an excellent result. What breed or cross are the ewes?

Yeah an exceptional scan,could be a lot of years before it's seen again!

Of those scanned mostly Wicklow Cheviot and Suffolk x. The suffolks would be out of Cheviot ewes put to Suffolk ram so 'Borris' type ewes,and a scatter of horned x.

paddysdream

Ewes seem to be scanning good crops this year.

Early ones (87) finished here last weekend.Scanned 1.9 or so;3 dry,19 singles,49 doubles and 16 trebles.All older ewes.Think about 150 lambs around today including 3 pets.

Main flock scanned just after Christmas with 7 dry,97 singles,278 doubles and 12 trebles.More than happy with that.Overall figure of 1.74 or so doesn't sound like anything exceptional but lots of doubles and few trebles means less fostering(fingers crossed re sheep lambing down with no milk) and less weak lambs so lot of less work.

Find that a big scan usually includes a lot of trebles/quads and whilst it reads good it usually means lots of pets/fostering/small lambs and often times ending up with a lot of late finishing lambs and a good deal extra work at lambing time.In my opinion lack of time at lambing is the main cause of losses as you are so busy trying to keep small lambs alive and triving that sometimes its hard to keep on top of lambing.Well that's my excuse anyway's as its a one man job here.Prob. different if more labour available at lambing.
Sorely tempted to try an infusion of Belclare after poor crop last year but thankfully didn't !!!!!!!!.

Hope to scan ewe lambs mid January and would be happy with 70% to 80% in lamb with singles only please.

rangler1

Scanned first batch a fortnight ago, but only sorted them today
126 doubles
38 triplets
42 singles
7 barren
Works out at 1.92 per ewe that went to the ram.
Much the same as last year, but the second batch let me down last year,
there was 60 less lambs in the second batch (200) than the first batch of the same number
Second batch were mainly hoggets that had lambed as lambs
So prioritised the hoggets this year and gave them good grass and weaned them early.
Scanning them next week!!!!!!

razor8

How much are ye getting charged per ewe for a 200 ewe flock all in one place

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

How much are ye getting charged per ewe for a 200 ewe flock all in one place

It's bulked up at the end of the year 570 in 4 visits €550, not cheap but he does it right, what are you paying.
not easy to get good scanners and like every thing else in farming, they're getting scarcer.

davidk1394

razor8 wrote: »

How much are ye getting charged per ewe for a 200 ewe flock all in one place

We were charged 300. Scanned 450 in an hour and a half. His definitely 1 of the best lads going. Very accurate and close to the date aswell

paddysdream

razor8 wrote: »

How much are ye getting charged per ewe for a 200 ewe flock all in one place

Ballpark about 90 cent per ewe.Scanning about 100/120 per hour and thats with no delay re. keeping sheep into the race.

razor8

Paying €1 a ewe here and no delays, he's very accurate but may miss a few triplets each year

I thought it a bit steep as I thought 80c was more like going rate

arctictree

Much cheaper than getting the wife scanned anyway!

Green farmer

Got main flock and ewe lambs scanned today.
Main flock
52 singles
58 doubles
4 triplets
No empties

Ewe lambs
21 singles
15 doubles
10 empties

Overall happy. The empties were all small store type ewe lambs that broke into the ram and hadn't been earmarked for lambing this year. Happy no empties in main flock, but abit disappointed with number of singles , think I might have to cull hard this year on older ewes as they've brought the % down. Surprised ewe lambs scanned so many doubles but their all llyen X ewe lambs, so tempted to let their doubles with them.

rangler1

Green farmer wrote: »

Got main flock and ewe lambs scanned today.
Main flock
52 singles
58 doubles
4 triplets
No empties

Ewe lambs
21 singles
15 doubles
10 empties

Overall happy. The empties were all small store type ewe lambs that broke into the ram and hadn't been earmarked for lambing this year. Happy no empties in main flock, but abit disappointed with number of singles , think I might have to cull hard this year on older ewes as they've brought the % down. Surprised ewe lambs scanned so many doubles but their all llyen X ewe lambs, so tempted to let their doubles with them.

What's the hope of some of the adult singles lambing at the same time as the ewe lambs and adopting some of the doubles.

Green farmer

I might be able to get some fostered, but the ewe lambs start lambing 2 weeks after the main flock start date, so I'll only have a partial overlap. The withdrawal period of the toxovac held up the ram going in to ewe lambs. Would the llyen X be able for doubles, a lot of them would been February born last year ?

hedgecutting eddie

Scanned today first bunch 44 singles
145 doubles
19 triplets
1 quad
1 empty

Second bunch. 23 singles
40 doubles
7 triplets
3 empties

razor8

scanned this morning, slightly down overall on last year, horn ewes surprised me and ewe lambs had a ridiculous scan, last year was 1.7 so i put them on a bare field hoping to reduce number of twins but made no difference

main flock
34 singles
79 twins
23 triplets
2 quads
1 empty

193%

Horn Ewes
5 singles
14 twins
1 triplet
1 empty

171%

Ewes Lambs
5 singles
17 twins
3 triplets
1 empty

185%

rangler1

razor8 wrote: »

scanned this morning, slightly down overall on last year, horn ewes surprised me and ewe lambs had a ridiculous scan, last year was 1.7 so i put them on a bare field hoping to reduce number of twins but made no difference

main flock
34 singles
79 twins
23 triplets
2 quads
1 empty

193%

Horn Ewes
5 singles
14 twins
1 triplet
1 empty

171%

Ewes Lambs
5 singles
17 twins
3 triplets
1 empty

185%

Great scan, are the ewe lambs belclare , definitely worth your while to put ewe lambs in lamb. ewe lambs reaing doubles have to be well fed, but they're usually able to do it.

razor8

Not a fan of belclares here, there mules or Suffolk lambs born off tex x mule ewes and only PB Charolais ewe lamb scanned triplets
Have selected lambs from mothers that consistantly have twins or triplets with best growth rates in flock

Last years ewe lambs that reared twins scanned 175% this year and there lambs averaged €95 after consuming at a guess €20 of meal

Username John

Scanned my few this morning

3 singles
24 twins
3 triples
1 empty

Scan rate = 1.93
Am thrilled with this as I normally only have about 1.7 or so
All suffolk or suffolk cross ewes

Ewe lambs - fcukin disaster...
21 ewe lambs - not 1 in lamb

All ewes and ewe lambs were together with the ram
Ram was in for a month
Teaser ram in for 2 weeks before hand

Now - I wasn't expecting a high number of the ewe lambs to be in young, but I was kinda hoping for half of em to have lambs anyways...

Any ideas or theories as to what could have gone wrong here?

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

Scanned my few this morning

3 singles
24 twins
3 triples
1 empty

Scan rate = 1.93
Am thrilled with this as I normally only have about 1.7 or so
All suffolk or suffolk cross ewes

Ewe lambs - fcukin disaster...
21 ewe lambs - not 1 in lamb

All ewes and ewe lambs were together with the ram
Ram was in for a month
Teaser ram in for 2 weeks before hand

Now - I wasn't expecting a high number of the ewe lambs to be in young, but I was kinda hoping for half of em to have lambs anyways...

Any ideas or theories as to what could have gone wrong here?

It's recommended that you don't put the ewe lambs with adult ewes for mating, apparently the ewe lambs are more wary of the rams and the rams won't persist if there's adult ewes about

paddysdream

Username John wrote: »

Scanned my few this morning

3 singles
24 twins
3 triples
1 empty

Scan rate = 1.93
Am thrilled with this as I normally only have about 1.7 or so
All suffolk or suffolk cross ewes

Ewe lambs - fcukin disaster...
21 ewe lambs - not 1 in lamb

All ewes and ewe lambs were together with the ram
Ram was in for a month
Teaser ram in for 2 weeks before hand

Now - I wasn't expecting a high number of the ewe lambs to be in young, but I was kinda hoping for half of em to have lambs anyways...

Any ideas or theories as to what could have gone wrong here?

Rams are inclined to take the easy option!!

Seriously ,and its only my opinion,ewe lambs heats are not as noticable to the rams plus lambs are less inclined to seek out the ram compared to mature ewes.
With a mix of mature ewes and lambs the repeating ewes often are coming in heat at the same time as the lambs start and therefore rams are more inclined to notice and seek out the older sheep.
A few times have had a few ewe lambs mixed through(poor fence!!) the ewes and found that very few of them went in lamb compared to the ewe lambs kept seperate and ran with a couple of mature rams.
Still, surprising that none were in lamb .Not sure how early a scanner can see them in lamb though so maybe rescan in a month or so.Could be that they only started to take to the ram a good bit after he was introduced.Seen a "dry" ewe being tipped here in the shed last week.

rangler1

Fiona Lovett is speaking at a sheep meeting hosted by Kiernan milling.
It's in granard on the 21st jan
, very interesting last year
Page 15, IFJ this week

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

It's recommended that you don't put the ewe lambs with adult ewes for mating, apparently the ewe lambs are more wary of the rams and the rams won't persist if there's adult ewes about

paddysdream wrote: »

Rams are inclined to take the easy option!!

Seriously ,and its only my opinion,ewe lambs heats are not as noticable to the rams plus lambs are less inclined to seek out the ram compared to mature ewes.
With a mix of mature ewes and lambs the repeating ewes often are coming in heat at the same time as the lambs start and therefore rams are more inclined to notice and seek out the older sheep.
A few times have had a few ewe lambs mixed through(poor fence!!) the ewes and found that very few of them went in lamb compared to the ewe lambs kept seperate and ran with a couple of mature rams.
Still, surprising that none were in lamb .Not sure how early a scanner can see them in lamb though so maybe rescan in a month or so.Could be that they only started to take to the ram a good bit after he was introduced.Seen a "dry" ewe being tipped here in the shed last week.

I don't think twas the scanner to be fair, he's usually fairly good, and the ram is gone from em a good time now, so I'd say he's see em if they were in lamb all right.

I know that having em together isnt the best - I did it before (mixed the ewes and ewe lambs) and a few of the lambs went in young, maybe half or a few more. But twas only very small numbers.

So that's why I wasn't too hopeful of high numbers. But to have none of em in young, seems wrong too...

EDIT : Must decided what to do with the ewe lambs now, sell em as fat lambs or keep em for hoggets for next year...

roosky

Scanned today

20 singles
72 doublez
28 tripletz
3 emptys

Ewe lambs
15 singles
1 double and 4 empty

Great going for suffolk and texel ewes

roosky

Scanned today

20 singles
72 doublez
28 tripletz
3 emptys

Ewe lambs
15 singles
1 double and 4 empty

Great going for suffolk and texel ewes

stantheman1979

We scanned 798 today
12 quads
136 triplets, he said a few might have 4
506 twins
117 singles
27 dry for factory
We will scan the ewe lambs and the ones we bought, 40 mules and 50 horney's that were with a Blue Leicester next week
We're going to shear on Tuesday.

sea12

stantheman1979 wrote: »

We scanned 798 today
12 quads
136 triplets, he said a few might have 4
506 twins
117 singles
27 dry for factory
We will scan the ewe lambs and the ones we bought, 40 mules and 50 horney's that were with a Blue Leicester next week
We're going to shear on Tuesday.

Some percentage of triplets Stan.
How many weeks will they all lamb over and how much help do you have.

stantheman1979

Just the two of us and a neighbour does a few hrs a day for a few weeks. I do the nights. They're all on slats and we kick them out 2days after they lamb. Most of them will be done in 3 weeks and ewe lambs for the same. The Rams were only out 6 weeks. We've also 120 sucklers calving at the same time. It's busy but by far my favourite time of year

Bleating Lamb

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Scanned 86 ewes on Friday,getting rest done next weekend hopefully.

Best scan result ever here.
9 triplets
65 Twins
11 singles
1 dry.

Scanner man said in general scan results are well up on last year.

Got rest of ewes scanned today,
39 ewes
3 triplets
27 twins
8 singles
1 dry.
Another great scan.Scanner said they will be lambing good and compact too.

razor8

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Got rest of ewes scanned today,
39 ewes
3 triplets
27 twins
8 singles
1 dry.
Another great scan.Scanner said they will be lambing good and compact too.

A good scan always a nice start to the year.
What breeds do you keep?

Bleating Lamb

razor8 wrote: »

A good scan always a nice start to the year.
What breeds do you keep?

Wicklow Cheviots,Suffolk x (Suffolk ram x with Cheviot ewe) and horned x and a few brockets.

Farrell

Bleating Lamb wrote: »

Wicklow Cheviots,Suffolk x (Suffolk ram x with Cheviot ewe) and horned x and a few brockets.

Are you finding any particular breed to be preforming better?

ganmo

Scanned here Friday. Not bad result 5% empty but in the group that was ment to start lambing till April the scanner found a few earlier ones.

And one of them lambed this morning. She's lucky to be in the shed

Sami23

Bit off topic but didn't want to start a new thread for simple question.
I'm relatively new to sheep myself and just wondering do ewes carrying triplets usually lamb earlier than expected as someone told me this before.

Say my flock is due to start lambing on 20th February could the triplets arrive before this or are they going to be the same as the singles and twins ?

Farrell

Sami23 wrote: »

Bit off topic but didn't want to start a new thread for simple question.
I'm relatively new to sheep myself and just wondering do ewes carrying triplets usually lamb earlier than expected as someone told me this before.

Say my flock is due to start lambing on 20th February could the triplets arrive before this or are they going to be the same as the singles and twins ?

Maybe breed has something to do with it, we've a trip due today off a CHX (145 days), so far twins have been 145,147,148 & 149 days

Bleating Lamb

Farrell wrote: »

Are you finding any particular breed to be preforming better?

Sorry was so long replying.....tbh on this years scan the spread of twins was quite even across all breeds....but over say last five years would typically find the 'Borris' type ewes [Suffolk ram with Cheviot ewes] as the most prolific.

Typically PB Cheviot ewes are not overly prolific but we try to counter this by mainly keeping the twin lambs as replacement ewes and it definitely helps their prolifacy in the long run.