How's lambing going for ye?

Green farmer · 29-04-2015 10:52PM

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

It's been a rubbish Spring for grass growth.

A bit of fair play weather wise would mean a lot at this stage.

All we can do is keep the fingers crossed. Look at last week compared to this week. It can change so fast.lets hope it changes to grass growing weather sooner then later. It's Still better then two years ago with the fodder crisis

rangler1 · 30-04-2015 07:37AM

Green farmer wrote: »

All we can do is keep the fingers crossed. Look at last week compared to this week. It can change so fast.lets hope it changes to grass growing weather sooner then later. It's Still better then two years ago with the fodder crisis

Soil temp this morning is six degrees, hasn't been that low since march

Username John · 30-04-2015 08:51AM

rangler1 wrote: »

Soil temp this morning is six degrees, hasn't been that low since march

Would well believe it - there has been ice on the car every morning this week...

arctictree · 30-04-2015 10:46AM

Green farmer wrote: »

All we can do is keep the fingers crossed. Look at last week compared to this week. It can change so fast.lets hope it changes to grass growing weather sooner then later. It's Still better then two years ago with the fodder crisis

I wont be too popular here but I'm actually glad of the weather recently. My paddocks were coming on a bit strong there last week and the cold has slowed them down.

Username John · 30-04-2015 10:47AM

arctictree wrote: »

I wont be too popular here but I'm actually glad of the weather recently. My paddocks were coming on a bit strong there last week and the cold has slowed them down.

Get your coat!

Green farmer · 30-04-2015 10:51AM

Username John wrote: »

Would well believe it - there has been ice on the car every morning this week...

My poor apple and pear trees in my garden are in flower at the moment, their looking battered and I'm not holding out must hope for the bit of summer fruit this year:(:(

razor8 · 01-05-2015 02:28PM

looks like it will be a week before the weather picks up again

Green farmer · 01-05-2015 06:40PM

I don't mind whether it's sun or cloudy or rain is forecast. I just want them in what ever combination is needed to grow some grass.

Username John · 01-05-2015 08:11PM

Christ, I put the sheep and lambs into a small piece I ground in front of the house today. Great grass, but no shelter... The lambs are all humpy enough looking outside now

I think the forecast is bad again tomorrow, might just move em out again...

Connemara Farmer · 07-05-2015 01:43AM

Last ewe lambed (now) yesterday morning, a 4.5kg ewe lamb, and that is that for lambing 2015 on this farm!

MayoAreMagic · 07-05-2015 11:09AM

Connemara Farmer wrote: »

Last ewe lambed (now) yesterday morning, a 4.5kg ewe lamb, and that is that for lambing 2015 on this farm!

Famous last words on a commonage farm...

I cant remember the last time I didn't have 'missed ewes' coming in for shearing with a surprise on tow!

Connemara Farmer · 07-05-2015 12:19PM

MayoAreMagic wrote: »

Famous last words on a commonage farm...
I cant remember the last time I didn't have 'missed ewes' coming in for shearing with a surprise on tow!

There'll be no surprises on this farm, once ever had a late lamb out in June.

arctictree · 24-02-2016 12:42PM

Another year ... Prolapse on Monday, another ewe down yesterday, no lambs yet, the waiting is killing me!!

Green farmer · 24-02-2016 08:36PM

On a bright note, they say all the problem ones like that show up before lambing starts, so you might be getting all rubbish out of the way before the good stuff starts.

rangler1 · 24-02-2016 09:21PM

Not due to lamb here until first week of march but a ewe lambed on sunday that was living on lectade for three weeks due to TLD....she pushed out three live lambs through a prolapse harness and was producing enough milk by the second day......some ewes you can't keep alive and some you can't kill; eh!!!!!

Dickie10 · 24-02-2016 09:46PM

just finished the ewes last night, theres still to to lamb in around 6 weeks they scanned empty but pretty sure there in lamb. had a pretty bad year last year, didint vaccinate ewes and lost 12 or 13 to lamb dysentry. thank god its all change this year, vaccinated all and have a total of 136 lambs from 72 ewes, delighted with the way it went, lot of long hours and early mornings paid off. lost 1 ewe to prolapse 2 weeks before lambing, she threw all intestines out prob over fat and fed to well before lambing, lost another ewe to masttitis she had it last year and should have killed her then. also had a ewe abort her tin lambs a month before lambing after a bad bout of pneumonia but shes recovered well now and im going to factory next week with her. after this i only lost one lamb peri natal or after they were born part of a triplet, just seemed very weak and gave up the ghost within a minute or two. so only lost two ewes , one lamb after birth and the one that aborted.

still not out of the woods yet though hopefully get through another week or two and they shoould all be fairly well out of danger. so far i have 1.88 lambs in the field/ shed.

ewe lambs start around 1 april

davidk1394 · 01-03-2016 10:34PM

First days busy lambing and not a good one. 10 lambed since now and 3pm. Two sets of twins and the rest triplets.
1 triplet had a prolapse and lambs premature with all the lambs dead. Another triplet had only 1 tit but has 3 fine ram lambs. Another triplet sat on 1 of her lambs and she was in a fone bif shed. Another triplet is slow letting down milk. Different triplet had 1 lamb coming backwards and he died. We had one triplet out beside the house and she lambdoesn't fine and the crowsurrounding came along and pecked the tongue our of 2 of the lambs. I hope things pick up very quickly

razor8 · 01-03-2016 11:00PM

First one lambed 2 weeks early last night. She was off her meal yesterday morning and when I got home from work she had a red water bag out. Put my hand in and nearly fell on me arse with the smell, after a lot of persuading got the lamb out. He was rotton and full of water. Put my hand in to get the next one out to my surprise he was alive and seems to be doing ok

Was some job to get rid of the smell from under the fingernails!

fanadman1 · 01-03-2016 11:04PM

Anybody seeing alot of prolapse this year was never a problem here. But this last few days i jave had 3. Geting good at puttin it in and fitting the harness

rangler1 · 01-03-2016 11:43PM

razor8 wrote: »

First one lambed 2 weeks early last night. She was off her meal yesterday morning and when I got home from work she had a red water bag out. Put my hand in and nearly fell on me arse with the smell, after a lot of persuading got the lamb out. He was rotton and full of water. Put my hand in to get the next one out to my surprise he was alive and seems to be doing ok

Was some job to get rid of the smell from under the fingernails!

Always use gloves here for that reason, you'd be getting the smell for days after

ganmo · 01-03-2016 11:54PM

davidk1394 wrote: »

First days busy lambing and not a good one. 10 lambed since now and 3pm. Two sets of twins and the rest triplets.
1 triplet had a prolapse and lambs premature with all the lambs dead. Another triplet had only 1 tit but has 3 fine ram lambs. Another triplet sat on 1 of her lambs and she was in a fone bif shed. Another triplet is slow letting down milk. Different triplet had 1 lamb coming backwards and he died. We had one triplet out beside the house and she lambdoesn't fine and the crowsurrounding came along and pecked the tongue our of 2 of the lambs. I hope things pick up very quickly

razor8 wrote: »

First one lambed 2 weeks early last night. She was off her meal yesterday morning and when I got home from work she had a red water bag out. Put my hand in and nearly fell on me arse with the smell, after a lot of persuading got the lamb out. He was rotton and full of water. Put my hand in to get the next one out to my surprise he was alive and seems to be doing ok

Was some job to get rid of the smell from under the fingernails!

tough day for you two guys

is the crows going for the tongue a recent change? happened here last year

Dickie10 · 02-03-2016 12:46AM

i had 3 prolapse about 2 weeks before lambing in january, two were a success with harness but one threw out the whole intestiines they were in good condition prob too good and getting chopped silage, so i cut out the chopped silage and just hay and a few nuts and that solved it.ewes are in savage condition this year so no need to feed too much, nearly as bad as under feeding, sheep are a lot hardier and easier on feed than we give them credit for

razor8 · 02-03-2016 09:55AM

rangler1 wrote: »

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Always use gloves here for that reason, you'd be getting the smell for days after

Unfortunately I wasn't prepared and had no gloves in shed. There's a new box in it now!

Nekarsulm · 02-03-2016 10:09AM

Had a ewe got caught in briers before Christmas, Fox and crow got to her and she lost one eye and an ear. Was sure she'd die but she recovered well. However, with the stress and all the antibiotics she got at the time, I thought she might throw the lambs or have dead ones.
Fine pair of twins arrived safely and doing well.
Sometime the small successes make everything worthwhile!

solerina · 02-03-2016 10:16AM

ganmo wrote: »

tough day for you two guys

is the crows going for the tongue a recent change? happened here last year

No, it happens a fair bit to us, depends on the year tho. None last year and about 5/6 the year before. I think it depends on the ewe, if she is strong and gives birth at a reasonable rate all will be ok, weaker ewes are more at risk of grey crows attacking the lamb. All ours lamb outdoors. Horrible thing when it happens. We had one two years ago where the crow got about a third of the tongue, lamb struggled for a few days and we gave him bottles, then he got going and was a grand lamb afterwards.

gazahayes · 02-03-2016 11:22AM

Anyone using the plastic lamb jackets? Half tempted trying them need to keep sheep moving out of the shed

And what are lads using to prevent foxes taking lambs? Using Stockholm tar on their necks here so far so good with a lot of foxes active around.

Sami23 · 02-03-2016 12:31PM

razor8 wrote: »

Unfortunately I wasn't prepared and had no gloves in shed. There's a new box in it now!

On the gloves subject do most of ye use the long AI type gloves or the small ones to the wrist. I use the small ones myself as don't think I would get the same 'feel' with the long ones as they are so loose ?

White Clover · 02-03-2016 12:57PM

Sami23 wrote: »

On the gloves subject do most of ye use the long AI type gloves or the small ones to the wrist. I use the small ones myself as don't think I would get the same 'feel' with the long ones as they are so loose ?

Put a small glove on over an AI glove here.

Birdnuts · 02-03-2016 01:26PM

gazahayes wrote: »

Anyone using the plastic lamb jackets? Half tempted trying them need to keep sheep moving out of the shed

And what are lads using to prevent foxes taking lambs? Using Stockholm tar on their necks here so far so good with a lot of foxes active around.

I enjoy a bit of shooting so the foxes are not here in big numbers. The local Gun club would be only too happy to sort them out for ya. I hear stockholm tar works very well at putting them off young lambs alright. Not a lambing here for another few weeks, but I do use lambing jackets most years and in these conditions wouldn't be without them.

farawaygrass · 02-03-2016 02:26PM

Birdnuts wrote: »

I enjoy a bit of shooting so the foxes are not here in big numbers. The local Gun club would be only too happy to sort them out for ya. I hear stockholm tar works very well at putting them off young lambs alright. Not a lambing here for another few weeks, but I do use lambing jackets most years and in these conditions wouldn't be without them.

How long do you leave on the jackets for? Do you have to take them off again or are they disposable?

How's lambing going for ye?

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