General sheep thread

farawaygrass

wrangler wrote: »

When we put cobalt in the worm dose we have to put the dose through a tea strainer to ensure it doesn't clog the dosing gun.
Maybe some doses sediments out too if left for a while

Are you not afraid you are straining some of the good stuff out?

wrangler

farawaygrass wrote: »

Are you not afraid you are straining some of the good stuff out?

There'd only be a few grains filtered out but they'd be ideal for blocking a dosing gun......even one is a pain if you're busy

390kid

Any body using the 5 in 1 all guard bolus? When be the best time to give them to ewes?

Lambman

How's tipping going boys? Worst year ever here.. pulling 1 ram from each batch today till go with the horned ewes. Will be a charollais and a texel don't need any replacements so sold the crosser Leicster. Think the mule craze died a death up this way this past 2 years anyways.

390kid

Lambman wrote: »

How's tipping going boys? Worst year ever here.. pulling 1 ram from each batch today till go with the horned ewes. Will be a charollais and a texel don't need any replacements so sold the crosser Leicster. Think the mule craze died a death up this way this past 2 years anyways.

Going ok here, got a bit of a scare when a good few ewes with the new ram got coloured with the second raddle colour but seems to be alright now. Probably do the same as yourself next week with the Charolais to a the horn ewes here. Why do you find the mule craze die a death?

DJ98

How long do people tend to leave rams with ewes? Some out 6 weeks here and more out a month, going to pull them out in another 2 weeks to give the later ewes a chance

Siamsa Sessions

DJ98 wrote: »

How long do people tend to leave rams with ewes? Some out 6 weeks here and more out a month, going to pull them out in another 2 weeks to give the later ewes a chance

All depends. I’ve a cousin never takes the ram away from the ewes! Most lamb from Xmas on but he’d have lambs in June too.

Others lads give them 3 weeks and that’s it. Most seem to go with leaving them in for 6 weeks.

Just a matter of what works for you. At this time of year, most ewes would be covered by the rams within 6 weeks, unless there’s other issues with the ram or individual ewes themselves

kk.man

DJ98 wrote: »

How long do people tend to leave rams with ewes? Some out 6 weeks here and more out a month, going to pull them out in another 2 weeks to give the later ewes a chance

When I had my ewes I left rams with them six weeks before lambing as the ewes would be in the shed at that stage and being fed nuts.
I shore them in May and if hadn't lambed or no sign of lambing at that stage they went to the factory.
My reasoning was it gave them every chance to produce a lamb and if not cull prices were at their peak.

wrangler

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

All depends. I’ve a cousin never takes the ram away from the ewes! Most lamb from Xmas on but he’d have lambs in June too.

Others lads give them 3 weeks and that’s it. Most seem to go with leaving them in for 6 weeks.

Just a matter of what works for you. At this time of year, most ewes would be covered by the rams within 6 weeks, unless there’s other issues with the ram or individual ewes themselves

The cycle is 17 days so I leave them 35 days so they 2 cycles

Dinzee Conlee

kk.man wrote: »

When I had my ewes I left rams with them six weeks before lambing as the ewes would be in the shed at that stage and being fed nuts.
I shore them in May and if hadn't lambed or no sign of lambing at that stage they went to the factory.
My reasoning was it gave them every chance to produce a lamb and if not cull prices were at their peak.

I used to leave the rams with them for 3 weeks, and anything that wasn’t in young at scamming went to the factory...

Reason so short was work, and holidays. Didn’t want ewes lambing for weeks. Used a teaser ram for 2 weeks beforehand...

So you have two opposites there DJ

wrangler

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I used to leave the rams with them for 3 weeks, and anything that wasn’t in young at scamming went to the factory...

Reason so short was work, and holidays. Didn’t want ewes lambing for weeks. Used a teaser ram for 2 weeks beforehand...

So you have two opposites there DJ

90% should lamb to first service when you use a teaser.
You're right, your job should be priority

Dinzee Conlee

wrangler wrote: »

90% should lamb to first service when you use a teaser.
You're right, your job should be priority

Oh, the job is priority - farming is only a hobby...
The numbers were never big so it was always half a hobby i suppose, but I let the most of the place a few years ago and it’s a proper hobby now...

Edit - a big reason for stopping lambing was having to take time off for lambing. It made no sense to take holidays from a well paid 8-hour a day job, to work a relatively poor paying 16-hour a day job...

kk.man

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Oh, the job is priority - farming is only a hobby...
The numbers were never big so it was always half a hobby i suppose, but I let the most of the place a few years ago and it’s a proper hobby now...

Edit - a big reason for stopping lambing was having to take time off for lambing. It made no sense to take holidays from a well paid 8-hour a day job, to work a relatively poor paying 16-hour a day job...

+1.. Same here

Buford T. Justice XIX

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

All depends. I’ve a cousin never takes the ram away from the ewes! Most lamb from Xmas on but he’d have lambs in June too.

Others lads give them 3 weeks and that’s it. Most seem to go with leaving them in for 6 weeks.

Just a matter of what works for you. At this time of year, most ewes would be covered by the rams within 6 weeks, unless there’s other issues with the ram or individual ewes themselves

Same here, have a few ewes lambing in mid December, the bulk in the first 2 weeks of January and 3 or 4 going into February. There's 8 or 9 not showing up in lamb so I will probably cull those.

I'm hoping to have a ram paddock sorted out in a few weeks so I can remove the rams next year and put them in a paddock beside the ewes in July to start doing a bit of teasing.

Siamsa Sessions

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

I'm hoping to have a ram paddock sorted out in a few weeks so I can remove the rams next year and put them in a paddock beside the ewes in July to start doing a bit of teasing.

Snap. I need to sort out a similar paddock here. Have an old "sacrifice" ewe with the ram at the moment in a separate field to keep him company but being able to keep them away from everything for 9-10 months of the year would be very handy.

In fairness, the same sacrifice ewe had two lambs in June this year so she saved herself being culled

I loaned the ram to a lad with one Jacob sheep, two goats, and a few llamas last year to get him out of the way between tipping and scanning. I was also thinking of housing him (it'll be them from next year on) to get them out of the way.

But having their own paddock would be most useful.

DJ98

Siamsa Sessions wrote: »

Snap. I need to sort out a similar paddock here. Have an old "sacrifice" ewe with the ram at the moment in a separate field to keep him company but being able to keep them away from everything for 9-10 months of the year would be very handy.

In fairness, the same sacrifice ewe had two lambs in June this year so she saved herself being culled

I loaned the ram to a lad with one Jacob sheep, two goats, and a few llamas last year to get him out of the way between tipping and scanning. I was also thinking of housing him (it'll be them from next year on) to get them out of the way.

But having their own paddock would be most useful.

House the rams here just for handiness and let them back out then when the space is needed come lambing

Dinzee Conlee

Anyone here dose their sheep/lambs with cobalt?

If so, how much and how often?

I gave mine a bolus in August, but they looked like they were lacking in cobalt there a while again again. So gave em a cobalt dose (home mixed job)

Just wondering if anyone doses theirs lambs all the time?

wrangler

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Anyone here dose their sheep/lambs with cobalt?

If so, how much and how often?

I gave mine a bolus in August, but they looked like they were lacking in cobalt there a while again again. So gave em a cobalt dose (home mixed job)

Just wondering if anyone doses theirs lambs all the time?

We give cobalt in the worm dose even though we use animax boluses, animax is supposed to give half the required cobalt per day and most grass is expected to give the rest.
but I think ours isn't doing that.
I'm thinking now that animax isn't as good as it's supposed to be, might try mayo next year
Cobalt dose only lasts a fortnight, animals can't store it so if you're dosing it has to be done every fortnight.

Dinzee Conlee

wrangler wrote: »

We give cobalt in the worm dose even though we use animax boluses, animax is supposed to give half the required cobalt per day and most grass is expected to give the rest.
but I think ours isn't doing that.
I'm thinking now that animax isn't as good as it's supposed to be, might try mayo next year
Cobalt dose only lasts a fortnight, animals can't store it so if you're dosing it has to be done every fortnight.

I’ve dosed now every 2 weeks for last 6 weeks, but to be honest, I don’t know if I’d keep that up long term...

I bloused with the mayo 4-in-1 bolus, and am a bit disappointed it didn’t do a better job.
Now, I knew we low in cobalt but I had hoped the bolus would do the job with the occasional top-up, but I don’t know if it is...
I think Mayo have a bolus that has more cobalt, but I haven’t looked into it yet...

Edit : you’d wonder about using the bolus, when you still have to dose every 2 weeks, especially when they not that cheap...

razor8

I've lost faith in all bolus's now to, tried most of them and never convinced. dose all lambs with cobalt every 2 weeks down the neck. a lot of work but doesnt take that long to do them once there in

have all lambs gone a couple of weeks ago so i know if i wasnt using it, i would still have alot of lambs hanging around

Dinzee Conlee

razor8 wrote: »

I've lost faith in all bolus's now to, tried most of them and never convinced. dose all lambs with cobalt every 2 weeks down the neck. a lot of work but doesnt take that long to do them once there in

have all lambs gone a couple of weeks ago so i know if i wasnt using it, i would still have alot of lambs hanging around

Yeah, beginning to wonder myself now as well...
Dosing every 2 weeks is a pain...

Did anyone ever try to add cobalt to the water?

Also - in January, I was planning on giving another bolus to store lambs that will be going onto stubble turnips...
Anyone have any other options for minerals other than bolus?

I know you need to give iodine when grazing turnips/rape, are there other possible mineral deficiencies associated with brassicas?

Green farmer

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Yeah, beginning to wonder myself now as well...
Dosing every 2 weeks is a pain...

Did anyone ever try to add cobalt to the water?

I thought about mixing it before as was cheaper, but changed my mind when I read cobalt dust in its pure form is highly carcinogenic. So, for the sake of a few quid,it's just safer to buy it already mixed. I also use endospec wormer here and that has cobalt in it, so acts as a 2 in 1 whenever I use it.

wrangler

Green farmer wrote: »

I thought about mixing it before as was cheaper, but changed my mind when I read cobalt dust in its pure form is highly carcinogenic. So, for the sake of a few quid,it's just safer to buy it already mixed. I also use endospec wormer here and that has cobalt in it, so acts as a 2 in 1 whenever I use it.

Cobalt is necessary to maintain vit B12 levels, in New Zealand they use one long acting vitamin B12 injection every six mths. It's surprising we can't get it here.
Save a lot of messing.

https://nz.virbac.com/products/trace-elements/smartshot-b12-plus-selenium

razor8

wrangler wrote: »

Cobalt is necessary to maintain vit B12 levels, in New Zealand they use one long acting vitamin B12 injection every six mths. It's surprising we can't get it here.
Save a lot of messing.

https://nz.virbac.com/products/trace-elements/smartshot-b12-plus-selenium

Was told by my vet that it will be available next year over here under a different name but same product

Mixed reports on it as well

Green farmer

wrangler wrote: »

Cobalt is necessary to maintain vit B12 levels, in New Zealand they use one long acting vitamin B12 injection every six mths. It's surprising we can't get it here.
Save a lot of messing.

https://nz.virbac.com/products/trace-elements/smartshot-b12-plus-selenium

Would make a lot of sense. Are we not allowed it here ? Its labour Saving solutions like that, which allow them to scale up to to thousands of sheep

wrangler

razor8 wrote: »

Was told by my vet that it will be available next year over here under a different name but same product

Mixed reports on it as well

Guys in NZ last year were saying that the straight product was the best, the selenium added was a bad job or even any mineral added to it,
Even though that's what I linked to, your last line reminded me of that information

Anyway you get teh gist

390kid

Anyone at the farmers journal sheep demonstration in Coothill last night?

Lambman

Got a new pup a month ago wondering when do people start training properly? Asked a few trailing men and they said they wouldn't look near it till 9 months for proper training. Probably will send it off till get trained as it's very well bred and seem like an intelligent pup very biddable till a raised voice and when off the lead never leaves your side even from it was 8 weeks. Did anyone ever try tying a pup onto a trained dog so it will learn the commands that way or would it just annoy both dogs and put them off?

wrangler

Lambman wrote: »

Got a new pup a month ago wondering when do people start training properly? Asked a few trailing men and they said they wouldn't look near it till 9 months for proper training. Probably will send it off till get trained as it's very well bred and seem like an intelligent pup very biddable till a raised voice and when off the lead never leaves your side even from it was 8 weeks. Did anyone ever try tying a pup onto a trained dog so it will learn the commands that way or would it just annoy both dogs and put them off?

I'd let the dog decide when to start. taking into account not to put him in a situation where he'd get hurt.
I've had them working at 5mths and I've had dogs that showed no interest until much older, even a year old.
I don't think I'd tie him to an old dog anyway. If he's very lively put a twenty foot rope on him and it leaves him easy caught, all you have to do is stand on the rope when he's passing, it also slows them down

memorystick

Stupid question. Do sheep races have to be fixed to the ground if they’ve a pen at each end? Sick of catching store lambs on my own to dose and inject and mark twice.