Lambing

mayoireland

Just wondering is there many sheep farmers out there that lamb late April or May. I was think this year of lambing 70 hoggets late April. Most of my lambing would be from 17th of March on but this year I found the later lambs came on the fastest. Maybe it was because there was bad growth and the first ones didn't get the start the later ones did

Dickie10

from 1st of april always a good bet , bright til 8:30 in evening then and bright at 6:30 in morning

k mac

Lambing a small few for the first time this year and aiming for mid april... reason being mainly due to lack of facilities so hoping to lamb outdoors if possiible and am using a charrlois ram so know they can be a bit bare so i suppose maybe a better chance of favourable weather. Other reason with the wettish ground i have i seem to be coming into peak grass growth from around then on, also as i will have a few days off work at Easter it will mean saving on annual leave days having to take. Another consideration is the longer days, if going to be lambing out the more daylight the better.

mayoireland

Well let rams to 40 last week and the rest will be let out for lambing on the 1st of April. It will be the first time so late but big numbers and no grass is an expensive combination for lambing 250 plus in mayo in early March. Sure if prices are any bit close to this year later lambs will be sound

wrangler

How is lambing going, Mainly going well here, had a twin last night and she pushed out her uterus after them, she looks in good form this morning.

The neighbour that has my tunnel rented is after doing 48 hrs straight until 4am this morning, he has half of 150 lambed in eight days.

The implications of whats happening around the world is massive, Merchants here have practially stopped selling fertiliser, they're telling farmers that they'll guarantee a ton of ration next winter for every ton of grain a farmer supplied...... terrifying if you're no growing grain.

Roundup supposed to be up from €80 to €240 for anyone thinking of reseeding

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058209182/lambing

Done the 17th March gig, won't do it again ever. Also done out around 8th May. Be late April this year and I may stick to that or 1st May.

Lamb a date you know you will for sure have grass. You can see yourself how "buying in acres" works when the sh1t hits the fan.

Jimbo789

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118766878#Comment_118766878

I went to buy 20 litres of Gallup XL yesterday but in the shop it was sold out. They had gotten in a pallet and it sold out in a couple of days at around €240.

paddysdream

Going the finest here this year but slow .Just one dead ewe so far with c.200 lambed as of tonight.

Just pined away a few days after lambing so have 2 strong pets Think about 10/12 lambs in the barrel along with a couple of half formed ones that were part of a scanned double. Yet to find a ewe with a wrong udder or no milk or a difficult lambing .Lots of time for all that yet as I well know .

Still managed to find a few with poor mouths despite thinking they were all gone last September

Lamb losses were a couple born dead ,3 lay on in the pen ,one with e coli and another unlicked and smothered The rest? No idea

Another week should see the bulk of them lambed although better weather would be nice .

For my sins bought a lock of sheep from a neighbour .Mainly ewe lambs running with ram since October along with a number of hoggets and a few mature ewes.None scanned but a lot springing at this stage .Nice strong sheep that will make good ewes .

Annoying thing is that the good prices of last year's crop will be gone with the cost increase of inputs before I even get to contemplate what to squander it on .Got text that meal supplier is putting it up 25 a ton across the board from this weekend.

Time to head to yard for a last look and they can mind themselves till morning .

Could never understand those who would look at them during the night. Probably have had in excess of 20k sheep lamb here over the years and could safely say that if I had spent all night every night with them would have maybe had an extra 5 or 10 lambs a year live on average along with perhaps a ewe or 2 per year .Not worth the hassle in a one man operation in my opinion .

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776551#Comment_118776551

Most ewes will lamb on their own as you say, but lambing in a shed there can be some right chaos some mornings if left unattended too long. We had ewe with rotten lambs tonight but a triplet lambed beside her and we got one of them onto her, and had a 7.5 kg lamb this morning that got too much hacking in the pull. The rest of the lambing so far is straight forward.

As for the cost increase, theres no point worrying about what you can't control ,

paddysdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118776693#Comment_118776693

So far this year have had no ewe "claiming "other lambs .Usually get a few each year who show an amazing interest in another ewes lambs .It can be one who might not lamb for a couple of weeks at times .

Agree that a heap of ewes lambing together can be messy .That said had one at the start that decided she really only wanted one lamb .She was actually in a pen with nothing either side and I saw her lambing over the course of an hour or so .Seen her totally ignoring one of her lambs but even after a day in the stocks she still decided he was an interloper so stuck him onto an accommodating hogget with a single .

My singles are actually slightly below average in size/weight this year whilst doubles and trebles are actually bigger than usual .Thats just my opinion as never have weighed them at birth .Been a most uneventful lambing so far with both the few early ones and the maincrop ones so far .

Time for coffee and bed I think .Its a dreadful night here in the sunny south east .Nights like this would really make you appreciate good sheds for lambing .Been there done that with outdoor lambing ,both March and April and would never go back to it .Was grand when the shephard was 20 years younger ,regulations were different and the sub meant that a dry ewe was at least producing 20 punts regardless .Totally a numbers game then with lamb price a fraction of todays worth .

Bleating Lamb

Lambing started here yesterday.Ram went out 20th October so wasn't expecting anything till Monday or Tuesday. Lamb outside here as only P/T and if lambing in shed you need to be watching them very closely to prevent mismothering etc....at least outside a ewe will go away and find a corner to lamb in.

Went to feed ewes nuts yday am and was met by a lovely pair born sometime during the night.Another ewe was also trying to claim them so I went down later in evening and knew by her she was thinking of lambing. Checked them on quad at 11 pm....was wet and windy but not cold....got her caught and handled her....she wouldn't have lambed them as two heads and one foot coming. After about 20 mins work I took a good set of twins from her.

Went down this morning and they had sucked but were a bit cold so brought them in for the day as fields flooded from heavy rain overnight......so a good start.....weather forecast looks good from Paddy's Day on so hopefully damn all lamb in next few days as land needs a chance to soak out badly.

arctictree

Only lambing 60 ewes here this year but got 2 vet students. They are a great help and has made a huge difference. Highly recommend it.

Box09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118781265#Comment_118781265

Just wondering how you justify 2 vet students with 60 sheep. I have 200 and I'm part time and i never thought I'd have enough work except for the 5 or so busy days. How long do they stay with you for? Thanks

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118792323#Comment_118792323

I’d have thought the same. The extra hands would be a godsend!

first ewes dropped here during the night, a single, couple and triplet in that order. All have great bags of milk thankfully which is always a worry of mine pre lambing. Roll on the fun

Oldira

Ewe gave birth to a single yesterday. Lamb and her seemed ok. Ate her nuts last night and I go this morning and she’s dead. No idea what could have brought that on.

arctictree

They were here during the busiest 2 weeks. Was great as I could concentrate on my day job and they did all the night time checking and feeding/bedding. Only cost to me was the extra feeding for them!

farawaygrass

for anyone lambing at the moment, talk about an absolute amazing spell of weather for it. Snd it’s looking good all this week too. Didn’t have a jacket on me since I started. Makes the job a hell of a lot easier

Mad about baa baas

Weather is fantastic for lambing . Harsh breeze here though for grass growth..got fertiliser last week but at the price of it I'm hesitant to spread it yet. Want maximumbang for my buck...anyone else spread it yet?

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813245#Comment_118813245

I’m the same as you, holding off a few days with the hard breeze. Not stuck for grass thought luckily enough.

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118812899#Comment_118812899

Yeah its a blessing and is why I try to have the main glut of young lambs born between now and the middle of April. Weather can often turn dodgy again towards the end of April but at least older lambs have a bit more resilience to such things by then

weatherbyfoxer

back when we scanned here,the scan man discovered a bit of an abortion issue,with a few ewes carrying a dead lamb and a high number of emptys.The vet did bloods on 10 random some of which were marked by the scanner as carrying dead lambs.Some showed antibodies to toxoplasmosis but no sign of enzotic.some of the ewes here we vaccinated for toxo when bought in as hoggets but most were not.

now half way though lambing im seeing the odd ewe having one strong health lamb and the other mumafied and not developed properly...currently waiting on a lab report on a sample i dropped to kilkenny a few weeks ago but im all but sure its an outbreak of toxo..anyone any thoughts or advice?

weatherbyfoxer

razor8

You can’t do anymore. Sounds like you’ve found the issue.

you can only plan for next year at this stage & get all young sheep vaccinated

k mac

New to lambing starting in a few weeks have to call to the vet to pay a bill and while there was going to stock up on lambing supplies e.g. after a hard lambing, what do i need, was thinking something long acting would alamycin or betamox or the likes be what i need

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118832570#Comment_118832570

You can’t do anything about it now for this year, but I’ll tell you my story with toxo.

we had an outbreak in 2020 and I enquired with a vet about vaccinating for the following year. His reply was that there was probably no need as all sheep would have been exposed in the sheds and there should be herd immunity going forward.

still had an outbreak last year so I ending up vaccinating for this year, for both toxo and enzo.

it was a big cost to do so, but in the middle of lambing this year and obviously I can’t say 100% it’s down to the vaccines, but there is some difference. Not only in the amount of dead or aborted lambs but also very few weak lambs or one massive and one small.

i definitely will be vaccinating going forward. The first year is the hardest as you have to do all breeding sheep but after that it’s just the younger stock Coming through or bought in stock.

finally, while it was a big cost I could safely say with all the extra healthy lambs on the ground it will well pay for itself this year alone.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118832818#Comment_118832818

I don’t know if the rules are being implemented yet but If they are you can’t buy bottles of antibiotics like that as a just in case, but check with your vet.

mid for after a hard lambing, an anti inflammatory or pain killer would be a good shout.

something like chanotol is good to give a ewe that’s off feed or needs a boost.

after that, some form of colostrum replacement for lambs that need some, your rubber bands for tails, iodine for navels, lubricant can help too, and for your own sake get full arm length gloves, you won’t have near as much wet dirty sleeves and washing then as a result.

clonagh

"The first year is the hardest as you have to do all breeding sheep but after that it’s just the younger stock Coming through or bought in stock."

Is there a yearly top-up required?

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118833115#Comment_118833115

No yearly top up required

DJ98

Lambing here this year as been somewhat of a disaster. Have lost quite the amount of ewes and lambs. Only a small flock less than 100 ewes but have lost 3% of the ewes and almost 15% of lambs. Very few lambs were lost through fault of my own with the majority being born dead, the vet reckons toxo and Enzo. Have also had quite a few small weak lambs born but anything that is born strong and healthy is up and gone with no issues. A small proportion of the lambs were lost by a ewe lying on a set of twins, triplets with 1 weak small lamb or big lambs that got hardship being pulled. It's quite disheartening as every morning you enter the yard you are expecting to see a loss and its beginning to take a toll now bith mentally and physically. Especially with the year we are in with the increasing prices of inputs you would be hoping to maximise output ie through having the most amount of lambs available to sell as possible. I understand every one will have losses but for a small flock I consider the percentages above extraordinary.

Mad about baa baas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837139#Comment_118837139

That is very disheartening..its especially hard when you are doing your level best...all I can say is keep doing your best and it probably feels worse now because you are tired...as the old lads would say as long as its outside the house...

Hopefully this year is an anomaly and next year goes smoothly

Most importantly mind yourself...this too shall pass..is a quote that got me through some tough times

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837139#Comment_118837139

I was beginning to think that I was the only one that ever got a year like that, Toxo/enzo are very common now, and I believe there are symptoms other than abortion with both. Enzo will kill ewes but toxo isn't so bad ,

My advice would be to do the vaccines, it's only expensive the first year, after that it's only the replacements need them.

Also if you're not using pain relief in the ewes with hard lambings, start now, you'll have far less ewes lying on lambs. It's unreal the way they brighten up after giving it to them

Dinzee Conlee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837139#Comment_118837139

That’s tough going DJ…

We only ever had small numbers, but a good few years ago we had a toxo outbreak like that…

it was very disheartening - I think the final tally was 25% lamb losses and we lost a good few ewes as well, probably to sepsis.

Going into the shed every morning was tough going for a while, as you were expecting the worst…

But it passed. We injected the ewes for toxo and enzo afterwards and the year after I think we had a great lambing…

I know that’s not much help to you now, but try to keep going as best you can. It is tough, facing into it, but it won’t be for too long more hopefully…

paddysdream

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837139#Comment_118837139

Everyone gets years like that .Toxo was a problem here last year with 50% of the scanned in lamb ewe lambs never even springing.

Scanned c 100 in early January 2021 with about 80 or so in lamb .rams were only in 3 weeks .

Less than 40 actually lambed although those that did were perfect.Kept all the sheep but perhaps 10 or so of the dry ones from last year had tiny lambs this March. Healthy etc but very small singles from decent sized hoggetts.

Lambing here down to about 70 at this stage ,ewe lambs plus a few ewes rescanned in February as in lamb.

Middling enough scan rate in general but probably have more lambs out in the field at this stage than most years .Very little losses ,no disease pressure and hardly any lambing difficulties. One dead ewe so far where most years would have 10 plus at this stage.

No exact reason although culled very tight last autumn.Had one broken mouth escaped the cull and one dry one ( so far )

Always say once it's outside the door it's surmountable

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837564#Comment_118837564

If you can go with the mentally that you are learning all the time to makes things easier or better next year its a small saving grace. The important bit to that thought is to act on whatever the issue was for next year.

everyone in life encounters problems but if you look at the ones who are successful and happy, a lot of that is down to their outlook.

weatherbyfoxer

scanning rate here was back a bit due to toxo..was back to 1.78 from around the 2.0 we scan most year..now we are over half way through lambing im starting to wonder why id want to scan over 1.8 ever again?!..this year with 15 more singles than thriplets we are able to foster off every thriplets lamb..no pets or stinkin feeder to worry about..near every ewe is gone out to the field with 2 lamb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118837139#Comment_118837139

Everyone has years like that.....i lost 12 out of a bunch of 30 replacement hoggots before...you think it wouldnt be possible to do them wrong

We lost something like 20% to smallenberg one year

Cold comfort now,but afaik those sheep should have certain immunity to it going forward......have you many cats about on the farm,some of them can spread toxo on hay etc,i remember the father having a pure dose of it one year and launching a purge on wild cats around the place

Tileman

That’s tough going. As others said most important thing is to look after yourself.

try get as many fit ones with their lambs out of the shed. It helps to visually reduce the number in the shed and feels like your getting through the lambing a little more.

even the noise of 100 shed in a shed would go through u when ure not feeling 100%.

everyone has a year like it but at least it’s outside the door.

clonagh

It's very difficult when you get a year like that but we have to hope and believe that next year will be better...

Birdnuts

Its kicked off here with a big whore of a ram lamb that has the ewe sore and struggling a bit. At least she has started to show more interest in him the past hour or so as she wasn't keen on having him anywhere near her this morning

Bleating Lamb

Sorry to hear of your hassle DJ98…..hopefully next year is a better one for you.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118847680#Comment_118847680

Did you give her anything for pain relief,

Even before vets were advocating injecting for pain relief here we used to give two panadols down the neck after a hard lambing

clonagh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118841393#Comment_118841393

That's impressive, what's your fostering technique?

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118849818#Comment_118849818

Vet happened to be checking our ponies at the time and she got pain relief and stuff for inflammation. Thankfully seems to have worked cos she is in much better form 2day.

weatherbyfoxer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118850176#Comment_118850176

mixture of wet fostering and foster units.

orm0nd

Fairly hectic week here with ewe lambs lambing, never had them all lamb in such a short time frame.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118864129#Comment_118864129

Same here, 59 ewes and 20 ewe lambs all lambed in 20 days, most of them in 7 days, rams were out with them 35 days , nice to get them over so quick

k mac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118849818#Comment_118849818

when you say 2 panadols down the neck, is that crushed in water or just the tablets whole. Had a ewe prolapse yesterday and cleaned it with warm water and put it back in and put on a harness, gave her an antibiotic in case of a infection, but she is lying down alot since and think she might need pain relief.

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118865271#Comment_118865271

Made a mistake there, it was disprin we used, we'd just shove two dispirins down the neck, dispirin is soluble as well so quicker acting

wrangler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118865271#Comment_118865271

Has she lambed or in lamb

k mac

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118865583#Comment_118865583

In lamb, about 2 weeks from lambing. Gave her some solphadeine there now

Birdnuts

Clown up the road from me whose sheep are always straying due to not bothering to properly fence his place, lost 2 lambs to a road accident today. I and others have warned him several times about this issue but he is too tic to be bothered. Lady involved was well shaken too but thankfully uninjured but bumper and headlight on car damaged