General sheep thread

charolais0153

Just a thread for miscellaneous questions that don't deserve their own thread iykwim .

Does anyone know what this is? Took this picture a few months ago and she healed after a while through injections and formalin

Username John

charolais0153 wrote: »

Just a thread for miscellaneous questions that don't deserve their own thread iykwim .

Does anyone know what this is? Took this picture a few months ago and she healed after a while through injections and formalin

I don't, but I have seen it enough. I have bought in Suffolk cross lambs now, and a few of em have something like it...

In ewes, I used to cull for it. Cos the ones that had it, seemed to have bad feet overall...

Maybe not what you wanted to hear Charolais

Dylan collins

how many sheep and cattle would u need to become a full time farmer i dont want to but i was just wondering

Username John

Dylan collins wrote: »

how many sheep and cattle would u need to become a full time farmer i dont want to but i was just wondering

Not sure that's a question that can be answered, it depends on so many variables...

If its an academic exercise, better off working out how much money you want / need to get from full time farming, then using Teasgasc profit monitor numbers to see what returns you can get from sheep / beef, then you can work out numbers of animals from that (and then you can work out acres, and then factor in loan repayments, and then shake our head in disbelief and put the workings in a drawer never to be looked at again)

charolais0153

Username John wrote: »

I don't, but I have seen it enough. I have bought in Suffolk cross lambs now, and a few of em have something like it...

In ewes, I used to cull for it. Cos the ones that had it, seemed to have bad feet overall...

Maybe not what you wanted to hear Charolais

Only the one ewe...wanted to get out of her cos she had very little milk as a hoggett and bad feet but the father said give her another year and we'll see how's she like then.:rolleyes:

Dylan collins

is land rental expensive in donegal does anyone know cause i looked up land for rent in donegal but theres only 2 fields which are a long way from me

Crow Pigeon and Pheasant

charolais0153 wrote:

Does anyone know what this is? Took this picture a few months ago and she healed after a while through injections and formalin

Is it foot rot? That's what it looks like from the picture!

charolais0153

Crow Pigeon and Pheasant wrote: »

Is it foot rot? That's what it looks like from the picture!

No smell

nagshead

I would of said foot rot as well , I have had a few funny feet situations lately which i think could be down to using formalin too much where i have had a very lame ewe with no sign of scald , rot or Codd but i think it may have been caused by footbathing with formalin, it cleans and kills anything on the foot or between the toes and hardens up the whole foot trapping a bit of infection on the inside which then has to really get nasty and sore before it can burst out and eventually heal , thats my theory anyway , what i have found is if a sheep does not respond/get better from 2 shots of oxytet in 4 days its probably Codd.
So your probably ok.

IH784man

charolais0153 wrote: »

Just a thread for miscellaneous questions that don't deserve their own thread iykwim .

Does anyone know what this is? Took this picture a few months ago and she healed after a while through injections and formalin

Was thinking of doing a thread like this for a long time,did you pare it then?

charolais0153

IH784man wrote: »

Was thinking of doing a thread like this for a long time,did you pare it then?

No footbath and injection...we've taken teagascs advice about not paring wrighrly or wrongly

charolais0153

Ewe aborted today ....can't factory her either because she got dose with 42 day withdrawal

390kid

Any ideas wat the Cull ewe trade is like? Scanning Tuesday and I'd like to off load the emptys as soon as possible

390kid

charolais0153 wrote: »

Ewe aborted today ....can't factory her either because she got dose with 42 day withdrawal

Any idea what caused her to abort

charolais0153

390kid wrote: »

Any idea what caused her to abort

Just one of those things... She was with a ram lamb and an empty ewe that needed nuts

cattle man

Was going to clip my triplet ewes and house tomorro would 8 weeks wool be enough on them due to start lambing 1st March. ?

stantheman1979

cattle man wrote: »

Was going to clip my triplet ewes and house tomorro would 8 weeks wool be enough on them due to start lambing 1st March. ?

We shear everything after scanning. So some would have only 6weeks wool on them. My theory is if youre letting out a two day old lamb with no wool then surely the ewe with 6-8 weeks wool will be ok.

roosky

If ewes with wool need 18 inchs to eat meal how much less do they need if i was to shear them

rangler1

roosky wrote: »

If ewes with wool need 18 inchs to eat meal how much less do they need if i was to shear them

It's not recommended to reduce feeding space, in fact the recommened space for lowland ewes (80kg +) is nearer to 20 inches.
Not enough trough space is a recipe for trouble

Jonny303

Need to rearrange my lambing shed after an awful first run. For Suffolks, do you think I would want the full 24 inches of feed space?

rangler1

Jonny303 wrote: »

Need to rearrange my lambing shed after an awful first run. For Suffolks, do you think I would want the full 24 inches of feed space?

Don't know but i used to feed 10 pedigree vendeens in 16ft and they were big sheep, probably not as wide as suffolk though.

If you look at the ewes in the tunnel at the far end, you'll see they're eating out of walkthrough troughs at right angles to the feeding passage, they're 12 ft long and i can throw the meal from the feeding passage....can you put some in to your setup

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/704803/404610.JPG

kk.man

rangler1 wrote: »

Don't know but i used to feed 10 pedigree vendeens in 16ft and they were big sheep, probably not as wide as suffolk though.

If you look at the ewes in the tunnel at the far end, you'll see they're eating out of walkthrough troughs at right angles to the feeding passage, they're 12 ft long and i can throw the meal from the feeding passage....can you put some in to your setup

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/704803/404610.JPG

That is a lovely set up Rangler!

roosky

rangler1 wrote:

If you look at the ewes in the tunnel at the far end, you'll see they're eating out of walkthrough troughs at right angles to the feeding passage, they're 12 ft long and i can throw the meal from the feeding passage....can you put some in to your setup

rangler1 wrote:

Don't know but i used to feed 10 pedigree vendeens in 16ft and they were big sheep, probably not as wide as suffolk though.

Seen that shed from the road manys a time rangler and it excites me from the outside alone........what do you do to replace the hardship of ring feeders and troughs....i would have so much free hardship with a set up like that !

charolais0153

rangler1 wrote: »

Don't know but i used to feed 10 pedigree vendeens in 16ft and they were big sheep, probably not as wide as suffolk though.

If you look at the ewes in the tunnel at the far end, you'll see they're eating out of walkthrough troughs at right angles to the feeding passage, they're 12 ft long and i can throw the meal from the feeding passage....can you put some in to your setup

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/704803/404610.JPG

If you had to have more housing for sheep would you build a tunnel or shed

rangler1

roosky wrote: »

Seen that shed from the road manys a time rangler and it excites me from the outside alone........what do you do to replace the hardship of ring feeders and troughs....i would have so much free hardship with a set up like that !

Thanks, feeding meal instead of hay or silage reduces the hardship hugely, those ewes are only getting bedded plus .5kg meal/day at the moment but they'll go up to 1kgmeal/ day in february...

rangler1

charolais0153 wrote: »

If you had to have more housing for sheep would you build a tunnel or shed

probably a shed if i was 30 years younger, I went for the tunnel because i wanted it up in a hurry, that one was erected in a week once i had the base ready, the weather was brutal at the time and i wanted the sheep in quick.

roosky

rangler1 wrote:

Thanks, feeding meal instead of hay or silage reduces the hardship hugely, those ewes are only getting bedded plus .5kg meal/day at the moment but they'll go up to 1kgmeal/ day in february...

So no silage or hay??..

My ewes for example twins will get silage and then meal from 7 weeks out building from 200g to 700g

How do you do it....just 500g every day housed and then build from a few weeks out ?

rangler1

roosky wrote: »

So no silage or hay??..

My ewes for example twins will get silage and then meal from 7 weeks out building from 200g to 700g

How do you do it....just 500g every day housed and then build from a few weeks out ?

yea, count .5kg meal +straw as equal to silage and supplement from there, I need to be at 1.25 kgs for the last two weeks pregnancy, so they're fed 3 times a day then
It sounds expensive compared to pit silage but not compared to average silage in round bales

Just edited to say that they're on a high energy hogget finisher ration a the moment, 14%P.

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

yea, count .5kg meal +straw as equal to silage and supplement from there, I need to be at 1.25 kgs for the last two weeks pregnancy, so they're fed 3 times a day then
It sounds expensive compared to pit silage but not compared to average silage in round bales

Just edited to say that they're on a high energy hogget finisher ration a the moment, 14%P.

I fed straw and ration the last 2 years I was lambing... cos twas handier more than anything...

My facilities would not be as nice for either man nor beast as ranglers

I used to throw in a round bale of straw into the pen with the ewes and they would eat what they wanted, twould take care of feed and bedding for a few days... bales would want to be bales right tho, if not they'd fall apart too quick and you'd go through the straw too quick...

Cos I was at work, I could only feed em twice a day. 0.5kg morn and eve.
First year I used to feed them outside where they were penned, so I could put out the ration and then added extra soya bean on top to up the protein %

Last year, I fed em in the pen, so twas just ration, no soya...
Lambing went very well, but the ewes were thinner than I'd like after lambing. But I didn't want to go over 0.5kg in one feed...

But, twas only for very small numbers...

roosky

Ya its very interesting .....get it hard to imagine them without silage, old habits and all that

rangler1

It's an ideal system for the likes of myself that likes an easy life, also suits someone that hasn't many ewes as using silage for a small amount of ewes isn't easy....nor is buying hay good enough for sheep,
Also very clean near a dwelling,

rangler1

Username John wrote: »

I fed straw and ration the last 2 years I was lambing... cos twas handier more than anything...

My facilities would not be as nice for either man nor beast as ranglers

I used to throw in a round bale of straw into the pen with the ewes and they would eat what they wanted, twould take care of feed and bedding for a few days... bales would want to be bales right tho, if not they'd fall apart too quick and you'd go through the straw too quick...

Cos I was at work, I could only feed em twice a day. 0.5kg morn and eve.
First year I used to feed them outside where they were penned, so I could put out the ration and then added extra soya bean on top to up the protein %

Last year, I fed em in the pen, so twas just ration, no soya...
Lambing went very well, but the ewes were thinner than I'd like after lambing. But I didn't want to go over 0.5kg in one feed...

But, twas only for very small numbers...

Might be worth your while to feed the twins 1kg/day for the last six weeks if you thought they were thin at lambing, in effect they'd be getting the same amount as I use in the last 6 weeks, just not peaking at 1.25kg at lambing.

Sami23

It is approx 6 weeks from lambing ye would recommend vaccinating with Heptavac or Covexin 10.
Thanks
Usually do that but no harm asking what others do

Username John

rangler1 wrote: »

Might be worth your while to feed the twins 1kg/day for the last six weeks if you thought they were thin at lambing, in effect they'd be getting the same amount as I use in the last 6 weeks, just not peaking at 1.25kg at lambing.

Nothing lambing here this year Rangler... so no feeding worries...

Couldn't justify the time spent lambing, at least not in the short term... Miss it a bit (which is maybe a strange thing to say) But hopefully we might lamb a few again in a few years...

rangler1

Sami23 wrote: »

It is approx 6 weeks from lambing ye would recommend vaccinating with Heptavac or Covexin 10.
Thanks
Usually do that but no harm asking what others do

heptavac p+ probably the best as it covers the common diseases as well as pasturella pnuemonia,
We've had a few cases of a clostridial disease called sardellii which heptavac doesn't cover,so we've had to change to covexin 10 but also had to use Ovipast to cover for Pnuemonia as well which is a pain

AntrimGlens

Username John wrote: »

Nothing lambing here this year Rangler... so no feeding worries...

Couldn't justify the time spent lambing, at least not in the short term... Miss it a bit (which is maybe a strange thing to say) But hopefully we might lamb a few again in a few years...

Hi Username John, did you buy in ewe lambs to replace the ewes and run over as dry hoggs?
Same as yourself I sold the ewes out in the back end also, kept two of the pedigrees and bought in a few hundred mule ewe lambs to run and sell as hoggs.
Brought them off the hill on Saturday past and they've stretched out since they got their second fluke dose. Opened the first bales of silage for them on tuesday and was strange not to be worrying about scanning rates and targeting silage to litter size. I do miss the real interest in that side of things and trying to up my game, but the upside was that i got to spend the whole of Christmas with the family worry free and have nearly got the whole place fenced as i want it, instead of running round like a blue arsed fly, as the day job has been manic and will be for another couple of years.

If work calms down in a few years and i get my sheep house up, i'll probably get back into lambing as i'll always have the hoggs to put a ram too, but we'll say how Brexit plays out first.

Jonny303

rangler1 wrote: »

It's an ideal system for the likes of myself that likes an easy life, also suits someone that hasn't many ewes as using silage for a small amount of ewes isn't easy....nor is buying hay good enough for sheep,
Also very clean near a dwelling,

You wouldn't recommend hay for sheep? Or you wouldn't recommend bought in hay?

Jonny303

rangler1 wrote: »

Don't know but i used to feed 10 pedigree vendeens in 16ft and they were big sheep, probably not as wide as suffolk though.

If you look at the ewes in the tunnel at the far end, you'll see they're eating out of walkthrough troughs at right angles to the feeding passage, they're 12 ft long and i can throw the meal from the feeding passage....can you put some in to your setup

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/704803/404610.JPG

Our layout was a disaster this year. Seemed OK at first, but found harder to spot ewes going off on their own due to the narrow pens. Walking through the walkthrough feeder was like running the gauntlet, and then when we started lambing you had to train as a hurdler as we started adding in pens into the main pens either side.

Shed 1 is what we have

Shed 2 is what I am thinking of changing too next week

What would you think?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Jonny303 wrote: »

You wouldn't recommend hay for sheep? Or you wouldn't recommend bought in hay?

I think he was saying it's difficult to get hay good enough for lambing ewes, a lot is left go too strong to be good enough for ewes

Username John

AntrimGlens wrote: »

Hi Username John, did you buy in ewe lambs to replace the ewes and run over as dry hoggs?
Same as yourself I sold the ewes out in the back end also, kept two of the pedigrees and bought in a few hundred mule ewe lambs to run and sell as hoggs.
Brought them off the hill on Saturday past and they've stretched out since they got their second fluke dose. Opened the first bales of silage for them on tuesday and was strange not to be worrying about scanning rates and targeting silage to litter size. I do miss the real interest in that side of things and trying to up my game, but the upside was that i got to spend the whole of Christmas with the family worry free and have nearly got the whole place fenced as i want it, instead of running round like a blue arsed fly, as the day job has been manic and will be for another couple of years.

If work calms down in a few years and i get my sheep house up, i'll probably get back into lambing as i'll always have the hoggs to put a ram too, but we'll say how Brexit plays out first.

Pretty much the same as that Antrim

Bought some ewe lambs last August, plan to sell em next August... make my fortune

Well, except in far, far smaller numbers than a few hundred... Its still only a hobby farm really for me...

The main drivers for me were
1) Time - new addition due to the family in 3 weeks.
2) Financial return - as twas a hobby, there wasn't much to show for the time put in
3) Opportunity cost - as I used to take some time off for lambing, I was losing through not being paid in full-time work (or using holidays, which goes back to the time item) but also not making a whole pile from lambing...

Having said all that, I would like to be able to go back in a few years, when am not so caught for time... I think when the kids are a bit older, having a few lambs around is good... But we'll see how we go...

Jonny303

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

I think he was saying it's difficult to get hay good enough for lambing ewes, a lot is left go too strong to be good enough for ewes

I'm someone who really needs to improve my knowledge of all things nutrient. Would straw be better than hay? Or is rangler getting all his nutrients through the meal and only roughage through the straw?

I have, what I class as good hay. But im purely going off smell and the ewes reaction to it being put out. They are getting their fair share of meal as well

charolais0153

Jonny303 wrote: »

I'm someone who really needs to improve my knowledge of all things nutrient. Would straw be better than hay? Or is rangler getting all his nutrients through the meal and only roughage through the straw?

I have, what I class as good hay. But im purely going off smell and the ewes reaction to it being put out. They are getting their fair share of meal as well

The ewes will tell you everything you need to know about quality

Sami23

rangler1 wrote: »

Sami23 wrote: »

It is approx 6 weeks from lambing ye would recommend vaccinating with Heptavac or Covexin 10.
Thanks
Usually do that but no harm asking what others do

heptavac p+ probably the best as it covers the common diseases as well as pasturella pnuemonia,
We've had a few cases of a clostridial disease called sardellii which heptavac doesn't cover,so we've had to change to covexin 10 but also had to use Ovipast to cover for Pnuemonia as well which is a pain

Yes it's Heptavac P+ they will be getting but was just enquiring is 6 weeks from lambing the optimum time to vaccinate

rangler1

Jonny303 wrote: »

I'm someone who really needs to improve my knowledge of all things nutrient. Would straw be better than hay? Or is rangler getting all his nutrients through the meal and only roughage through the straw?

I have, what I class as good hay. But im purely going off smell and the ewes reaction to it being put out. They are getting their fair share of meal as well

Ewes love the straw here too, but it's still only roughage, all nutrition has to come in the meal, good hay is way better than straw, but some hay is left grow too long and there's no leaf in it
Some of my pens in another shed are like your shed, the pens are 22ft by 15 with a 14 inch wide walk through up the middle. The pens themselves are only 6ft 6 deep by 22ft long and hold 13 sheep either side of the trough ......so the 22 by 15ft bay holds 26 sheep,

stantheman1979

Our pens are the mesh slats 7ft wide by 35ft long. They eat ad-lib cropped silage and their meal along the front.Each pen holds about 25 ewes. Ewes are shorn though.

Sheep breeder

We had first lamb today and are due on Saturday when they were sponged,we are feeding a 20 per cent ration with soya as main protein source and baled haylage/silage to the ewes of good barley straw bed, the ewes are eating straw a lot this year, we had to give up on wheaten straw as the ewes would go mad for it.
When ewes lamb they go fodder beet and meal for a month and then out.

Green farmer

Jonny303 wrote: »

Shed 1 is what we have

Shed 2 is what I am thinking of changing too next week

What would you think?

I've a open 4 span shed with each span 62ft x 25 ft, so similar size to your drawing. For the first few years I lambed in one span but last year I used two. Anyway what workes for me after loads of tweeking is dividing the shed in half ie two big 25ft x 30ft pens. ( similar to your option 2) I then seperate the flock singles and doubles. I run the lambing pens right down at each side of the centre division. Then put 1 ring feeder in the middle of each big pen. Found putting it in corners restricts the amount of sheep able to feed. Also set up 2 water troughs in middle so accessible each side. Having plenty of lambing gates to tweet things helps also.

Jonny303

Was thinking the lambing pens down the side then running wavin pipes on the purlins and cutting gaps as water troughs. Spent the whole week at Christmas carting water around....

razor8

Sheep breeder wrote: »

We had first lamb today and are due on Saturday when they were sponged,we are feeding a 20 per cent ration with soya as main protein source and baled haylage/silage to the ewes of good barley straw bed, the ewes are eating straw a lot this year, we had to give up on wheaten straw as the ewes would go mad for it.
When ewes lamb they go fodder beet and meal for a month and then out.

Do you mind me asking where you buy your meal, paid €345 a tonne for bags last year for ration with soya as second main ingredient

Green farmer

Jonny303 wrote: »

Was thinking the lambing pens down the side then running wavin pipes on the purlins and cutting gaps as water troughs. Spent the whole week at Christmas carting water around....

It's a personal taste thing really, whatever suits yourself. I just put them down the middle as their accessible from either side and can be easily adjusted if more singles or doubles lamb at a certain time etc.

Dylan collins

i farm good land and a good bit of bog land how many sheep/cattle would i need to make a living full time just wondering