General sheep thread

DJ98

Anyone know if there would be a big difference in mules bred from mayo, lanark or swaledale ewes?

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119477935#Comment_119477935

Lanark type be the best of them in my experience..had swale type and mayo type both too narrow..seems to carry through to the lambs a bit leaving them slower to fatten..the lanark breed brings a bit of squareness

White Clover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119478720#Comment_119478720

Funny you should say narrow. I was passing through Ennis on Saturday morning and called in to see the hoggets selling. There was 50 or 60 Suffolk mules there, tall framey sheep but very narrow and lacking power. I was thinking that the fault had to go back to very fine grandmothers.

Dickie10

anyone any ideas on nice ram breeds for commercial factory lambs. have texel and HD , any other good breeds ? might try charollais are they really as cold as people say a few days after lambing? how are they at birth? what about vendeens? i heard they stagnate onve they get to 38kg?

joe35

I think the main thing is to get a good ram. A lot of variation within breed.

We bought 2 charlollais ram lambs last year (nothing between them at purchase) and ran them with ewe lambs.

We had trouble lambing them this year. Thought a texal ram most of broke in to them or something.

Turns out 1 of the Charollais rams is an absolute smasher. He seriously out grow the other.

joe35

Would people mix groups of ram lambs throughout the year.

I read in the independent last week that 'John Large' had 2 groups of weaned lambs. He is feeding meal to lambs over 38kgs. As lambs become fit and sold to the factory he tops up this group with the heaviest lambs from the lighter group.

Once we wean lambs and group them we never let them mix again. Father says if you mix batches all they do is chase after each other and the weight falls off them

As you can imagine this is difficult from a management point of few. And we end up feeding meal to lighter lambs.

JJust wondering what other farmers thoughts are. Would John large have wether lambs and maybe isn't mixing ram lambs

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119486204#Comment_119486204

Meal works better if the lambs are big to start with as once they get fat, thrive slows down hugely and meal feeding isn't economic.

If you start meal feeding at 32kgkg you could have a lamb fat at 38 whereas if you wait a few weeks and let him grow then feed for 4 or 6 weeks you'll have a beter lamb.

This is my experience of ewe lambs and wethers so maybe ram lambs is different

DJ98

Noticed some of the lambs biting at themselves and plucking their wool, can't see anything on them but reckon it's lice. Done with click and lambs are all clean so it's not blowfly. What would be the best product to treat with, ideally with a short withdrawal period as most of the lambs are over 40 kg at the moment

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119487082#Comment_119487082

Ectofly, withdrawal is eight days I think.

Sounds like scab too, Any sheep around you

DJ98

I don't think it would be scab, not scratching at wire or anything, just biting at themselves as such and can't see any signs of anything on the skin/wool.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119487452#Comment_119487452

Ectofly will cure it so

https://gibsonsonline.ie/product/ectofly-pour-on-2.5l?gclid=CjwKCAjwo_KXBhAaEiwA2RZ8hL0s-64VPnHnCIOaxoVwB-Wf7Z-iidb2_13eAF8Bm63Zvmz6px4itRoCnQ8QAvD_BwE

Just some information for ya, not trying to selll for gibsons or anything

Mad about baa baas

Question re the ram effect...ewes are currently in a field that has walls all around it..was aiming to set up a pen outside gate so ram on one side..can't put him in the field in pen/trailer as there is horses in the field too..

Just wondering is the gate enough of a window for them to see each other and it to work. As in ewes will have to decide to come near him..

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119495313#Comment_119495313

Thats all we have and the ewes come to the gate.

The no mate harness is another alternative if you think there's not enough contact at a gate

https://www.stockhealth.ie/matingmark-no-mate-harness

Mad about baa baas

Thanks..I'll chance him at gate. Curiosity should get the better of them hopefully

White Clover

Does anyone know someone on hire with a mobile dipping unit in the Cork/Kerry/Limerick area?

Ard_MC

Has anyone any experience with Chartex rams? Would they be suitable for outdoor lambing?

MIKEKC

Have scotch ram lambs 42kg wondering what they should make in mart

Jonnyc135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119502394#Comment_119502394

Depends on how well fleshed they are. Alot of people at the mart look down at horn lambs I find. If you were able to get a decent field of grass and push them on with meal for a few weeks factory would be a better option, Depends on your circumstances and if u wanna spend the money on meal.or not.

DJ98

Have lambs here well dosed and only on fair quality grazing but noticing the Suffolks all scouring, its almost purely water. What would be the best way to treat this and dry them up?

farawaygrass

lambs here are very dirty too and dosed to fec. If you wanted to put out a small bit of hay to seem if they eat at it, that should help

weatherbyfoxer

Place burnt up here with the want for rain,ewes on baled silage from paddocks I took out on May so in theory it should be as good as end of August grass,pulled off all my 38kg+ fattening lambs and put them on a pick of grass and ad lib meal,..lighter lambs and replacements are on what little remaining grass is available..anyone else in a similar boat?

clonagh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119506928#Comment_119506928

Have they been getting Cobalt? This year I started dosing lambs every two weeks with it and noticed a great improvement. I'm assuming that's what helping as everything else is the same.

Jonnyc135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509052#Comment_119509052

You must be the East of the country, lush with grass in the North West, and plenty of rain last 3 days here. I think widespread rain throughout the country this week but next week there saying it could be 25 degrees and good weather again

Young95

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509052#Comment_119509052

have you fertilizer left to go out? If not I’d be ordering some ready to go out in September

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119509330#Comment_119509330

Yea,in kildare,have urea to go out once there is a bit of rain forecast

Mad about baa baas

South tipp is burnt up at the moment..rain been forecast several times but haven't had any Worth talking about..Will.take a lot.of rain to help matters

Jonnyc135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119495459#Comment_119495459

Half thinking on trying a Vendeen ram on Leicester x Texel Hogget's and Suffolk x Cheviot Hoggets this year as the wooliness might help with lambing start March. How easy are they lambed what the liveliness like out of them when compared to a suffolk. I notice yours seem to kill out very well, but what would be a typical time frame to get to 44kg. Also any decent breeders around the North West area

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119513769#Comment_119513769

We used to lamb 120 ewe lambs here every year using vendeen as the sire, might have one ceasarean out of that so they're easy lambed, theyre wooly and lively when born. We'd be selling the march born lambs from the adult ewes from early august to end september. we'd feed meal from 37kgs to finish. we started meal last week because we ran outa grass , They're getting .5kg/day just to spare the grass a bit.

They work well here

Jonnyc135

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119514286#Comment_119514286

Thanks Wrangler, very tempted chance one.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119514378#Comment_119514378

I'm a long time out of the breeding but Tom Duffy or Brendan Rooney used to breed good stuff,

We're using a really good ram bred by Mc Menamin at the moment

You'll get a list of breeders on page 63 of this link

https://issuu.com/irishtexelsheepsociety/docs/nsba_directory_web