General sheep thread

White Clover

Lambman wrote: »

Not even 24 hours old yet... sorry lads was in lambing shed there gonna be a busy 1 thank god there inside... can lambs be born with joint illl?

No, usually got through naval from dirty bedding. Important to get iodine on naval ASAP after birth.

Lambman

Yea done religiously here... first time I seen this tho

Buford T. Justice XIX

Lambman wrote: »

Yea done religiously here... first time I seen this tho

I've seen something like that in lambs and calves. At 24 hours old it probably is some tendon or ligament problem rather than joint ill. Keep an eye on it, it will probably right itself in a week or so when the tendon/ligament sorts itself out.

Farrell

Green farmer wrote: »

You know the flexi tags / slaughter tags for get 0.20cent , could you get blank ones in the different colour ? Just stick the tag in with a flexi tag applicator ? I don't know, can you ?

Is there any tag like this who can be written on with a perm marker which will keep the ink?

Lambman

Yea as I say we had it in a calf last year vet called it tendonitis? Hopefully will rightify itself a few big sheep men seen it there 1 said give it a vitamin injection and will be grand in a few days the other says no need will come good itself... so I'm going till let it go till see because I don't think it's a deficiency as all singles we're fed the same and in same field and this is the only lamb like this... but both did agree it's a big lamb from a hogget so lighten off had much room inside her which likely caused it till start with.

Green farmer

Farrell wrote: »

Is there any tag like this who can be written on with a perm marker which will keep the ink?

Got these lads in the post this morning. Will stick a blank red tag in cull ewes years, and spot them easily after weaning. Not sure what the little metal pen is for though.

Ard_MC

Green farmer wrote: »

Got these lads in the post this morning. Will stick a blank red tag in cull ewes years, and spot them easily after weaning. Not sure what the little metal pen is for though.

Is it not a spare applicator for the tagger? The pin you have might not fit the tags..just a guess.

Green farmer

Ard_MC wrote: »

Is it not a spare applicator for the tagger? The pin you have might not fit the tags..just a guess.

That's it alright. Just didn't know what to make of it initially.

davidk1394

Green farmer wrote: »

Got these lads in the post this morning. Will stick a blank red tag in cull ewes years, and spot them easily after weaning. Not sure what the little metal pen is for though.

Have the blue version here. Very handy for spotting ewes for culling. Have the tagger in the pocket all the time as well as a few tags. No ewe slips under the radar anymore.

White Clover

Lads, got back into a few sheep this year after a 20 year break! Lambing going well, averaging 200% so far so can't fault that!
My question is on tagging,
What tags do ewes require?
Ditto lambs?
Which ear should I put my own management tag?
I notice some ewes missing the eid (I think) tag from their right ear. What do I do with these ewes?
Appreciate any info on this,
Thanks

Username John

White Clover wrote: »

Lads, got back into a few sheep this year after a 20 year break! Lambing going well, averaging 200% so far so can't fault that!
My question is on tagging,
What tags do ewes require?
Ditto lambs?
Which ear should I put my own management tag?
I notice some ewes missing the eid (I think) tag from their right ear. What do I do with these ewes?
Appreciate any info on this,
Thanks

Ewes need to have EID tags

Lambs need to be tagged by 9 months of age (so you have time yet)
Ewe lambs kept for breeding, need EID tags
Lambs going to factory have factory tags or Mart tags
Lambs going to the mart, need to have Mart tags
EID tags would do for factory or mart as well, but are more expensive.
Factory tags only do for the factory

For management tags, I used to tags on different ears (rams = right, ewes = left)

Missing EID tags, you should order a replacement.

ganmo

White Clover wrote: »

Lads, got back into a few sheep this year after a 20 year break! Lambing going well, averaging 200% so far so can't fault that!
My question is on tagging,
What tags do ewes require?
Ditto lambs?
Which ear should I put my own management tag?
I notice some ewes missing the eid (I think) tag from their right ear. What do I do with these ewes?
Appreciate any info on this,
Thanks

ewes need an eid in the right and a normal one on the left
lambs need one tag in the left, a normal one if its going to the mart or a white slaughter one for straight to the factory
lambs don't need to be tagged till theyre leaving the farm

ewes missing tags can get a full new set with the old number recorded against the new number
or the individual tags can be ordered

Username John

ganmo wrote: »

ewes need an eid in the right and a normal one on the left
lambs need one tag in the left, a normal one if its going to the mart or a white slaughter one for straight to the factory
lambs don't need to be tagged till theyre leaving the farm

ewes missing tags can get a full new set with the old number recorded against the new number
or the individual tags can be ordered

I wasn't sure about that, I might have done it in the past, but wasnt sure about recommending it.

Thanks Ganmo...

arctictree

ganmo wrote: »

ewes need an eid in the right and a normal one on the left
lambs need one tag in the left, a normal one if its going to the mart or a white slaughter one for straight to the factory
lambs don't need to be tagged till theyre leaving the farm

ewes missing tags can get a full new set with the old number recorded against the new number
or the individual tags can be ordered

I have a few ewes who have lost both tags. What am I supposed to do in this scenario?

At the moment I am just retagging them and putting a note in the flock register that they have lost both tags.

davidk1394

arctictree wrote: »

I have a few ewes who have lost both tags. What am I supposed to do in this scenario?

At the moment I am just retagging them and putting a note in the flock register that they have lost both tags.

It's the most straightforward way if your handling a big flock. You'd never find out which ewe it was originally

ganmo

arctictree wrote: »

I have a few ewes who have lost both tags. What am I supposed to do in this scenario?

At the moment I am just retagging them and putting a note in the flock register that they have lost both tags.

by the letter of the law you're meant to put a red tag(i think) in her and then you can only sell her to the factory

White Clover

Thanks lads, have the gist of it now. On management tags... Do lads get the ewes number printed on them or just start at 1 and correlate to the ewe in your own notes?

Username John

White Clover wrote: »

Thanks lads, have the gist of it now. On management tags... Do lads get the ewes number printed on them or just start at 1 and correlate to the ewe in your own notes?

For lambs I assume you mean? I used to use blank ones, and use a marker to write the ewe number on it... and the number of the lamb

eg
Single = 244
Double = 244/1, 244/2

mcgiggles

Username John wrote: »

White Clover wrote: »

Thanks lads, have the gist of it now.  On management tags... Do lads get the ewes number printed on them or just start at 1 and correlate to the ewe in your own notes?

For lambs I assume you mean? I used to use blank ones, and use a marker to write the ewe number on it... and the number of the lamb

eg
Single = 244
Double = 244/1, 244/2

Oh thats a good idea! easy to correlate all at the end! Every days a school day

kk.man

White Clover wrote: »

Lads, got back into a few sheep this year after a 20 year break! Lambing going well, averaging 200% so far so can't fault that!
My question is on tagging,
What tags do ewes require?
Ditto lambs?
Which ear should I put my own management tag?
I notice some ewes missing the eid (I think) tag from their right ear. What do I do with these ewes?
Appreciate any info on this,
Thanks

John has the question answered for you. 200%wow that's a nice return!

adam14

kk.man wrote:

John has the question answered for you. 200%wow that's a nice return!

He had a set of twins 😅

Farrell

Username John wrote: »

For lambs I assume you mean? I used to use blank ones, and use a marker to write the ewe number on it... and the number of the lamb

eg
Single = 244
Double = 244/1, 244/2

What blank tags are you using
Having issues with writing fading

Username John

Farrell wrote: »

What blank tags are you using
Having issues with writing fading

These ones...
http://www.stockhealth.ie/pig-tags

Writing is still perfect on last years tags.

They are a small bit big for very small ears, but they're handy, and they tend not come out. I found the narrow ones were terrible at coming through the ear...

Username John

Username John wrote: »

These ones...
http://www.stockhealth.ie/pig-tags

Writing is still perfect on last years tags.

They are a small bit big for very small ears, but they're handy, and they tend not come out. I found the narrow ones were terrible at coming through the ear...

Here is one of last years lambs, management tag on left ear... you can see she was named 'Super Amy' (my daughter was in charge of names, when she was around at tagging time)

MayoAreMagic

Username John wrote: »

These ones...
http://www.stockhealth.ie/pig-tags

Writing is still perfect on last years tags.

They are a small bit big for very small ears, but they're handy, and they tend not come out. I found the narrow ones were terrible at coming through the ear...

41.50 for how many?

Sounds like it is a cheaper job to just use the spray...

Username John

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

41.50 for how many?

Sounds like it is a cheaper job to just use the spray...

Oh, it would be Mayo. But the spray only lasts a few weeks, the tags are more permanent.

It would also be cheaper to use factory tags, and correlate in a notebook, as you only have one tag to buy - but this is messier...

I pose it would be cheapest of all, to do nothing, no spray or tags, which we used to do when I was small.

It all depends on on what level of recording you want to do really...

MayoAreMagic

Username John wrote: »

Oh, it would be Mayo. But the spray only lasts a few weeks, the tags are more permanent.

It would also be cheaper to use factory tags, and correlate in a notebook, as you only have one tag to buy - but this is messier...

I pose it would be cheapest of all, to do nothing, no spray or tags, which we used to do when I was small.

It all depends on on what level of recording you want to do really...

I get what you are saying, but I'd have thought the spray offers the same level of recording. Fair enough you have to redo it after 5-6 weeks, but chances are you will be handling them anyway for dosing..

Plus, on a personal level, Im not a fan of putting extra tags in animals ears, particularly very young animals. I know people might have different opinions on that but that is just me personally.

Username John

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

I get what you are saying, but I'd have thought the spray offers the same level of recording. Fair enough you have to redo it after 5-6 weeks, but chances are you will be handling them anyway for dosing..

Plus, on a personal level, Im not a fan of putting extra tags in animals ears, particularly very young animals. I know people might have different opinions on that but that is just me personally.

Yeah, and those tags are big for small lambs to be honest.

For me, its kinda the opposite. I am (or was) on holidays for lambing, so if I can do anything during that time off, which might save me time later, I am all for it. As once lambing was over, the time that the sheep get is before work and Saturday mornings.

But, not lambing here any more, so tis all moot now really...

It is a personal thing, combined with what kinda system you want to have I guess...

MayoAreMagic

I get ya, it suits your system. Generally id be all for a 'handle them once' kind of ethos too. Inventing jobs to be doing is daft.

You are finished lambing?! I havent even started 😒
Have you noticed an increase on lambs on the ground from last year or is it much the same?

Username John

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

I get ya, it suits your system. Generally id be all for a 'handle them once' kind of ethos too. Inventing jobs to be doing is daft.

You are finished lambing?! I havent even started 😒
Have you noticed an increase on lambs on the ground from last year or is it much the same?

No no, I am not lambing this year, I only bought a few store lambs. I am a pure hobby farmer now Mayo. That's what I meant by done with lambing...