General sheep thread

Young95 wrote: »

How are the lads getting on with the pink eye problem? I have it back again abit with the ewes but dipping next week and will inject the few with it . It really is a scerg!

Picked out any lamb that had it or were starting to get it and injected them with procycline la.. Cleared them all but some of the lambs that were showing no signs of pinkeye have it now, so I think I'll bite the bullet and inject everything

Sold lambs on adverts today. Only put on yesterday and a man came from clare to buy them. Great job with none of the hassle of donedeal wasters

Young95 wrote: »

Another 3 ewes pulled and treated for pink eye and now in isolation. Is there anyone here who has actually been successful in getting it out of there flocks ? Such a pain to have it around !

I had good results a few years back with opticlox ointment.. I had it about 20pc of a small bunch of ewe lambs..as far as I remember you need to catch them 3 says in a row and put ointment in corner of eye.. I only treated the affected ones.. cleared it up and stayed gone.. maybe I got lucky

MIKEKC wrote: »

Neighbour had it a few years ago, did nothing all ewes cleared up in a few weeks. Even a few that went completely blind

Yes I’m starting to believe that . I had one llynn ewe here that got it I’d say 3 or 4 times but the last time I didn’t bother treating her and it cleared up itself . I’m hoping she’s immuned to it now ! Which according to my vet they can’t ! But I see in nz they have built up immunity to it over der in there flocks .

Lano Lynn wrote: »

I don't treat mine for it unless they actually can't see and then treat with a mastitis tube or a drop of oxytet. this year ewes had it for a couple of weeks in august/september but none bad enough to bother. blanket treating the flock will only lead to antibiotic resistance and not help in the long run.
boosting selenium/vit e levels may be a better coarse of action

And those it heal up itself? Even if there’s runny tear drops down along there faces coming from there eyes when it’s shut ?

Lano Lynn wrote: »

clears up itself, like many things it just has to run its course ,we only buy in rams and new rams often are 'weepy' witin a few weeks of arrival. Whatever strain of the bug we have doesn't seem to cause an ulcer to form on the eye they just go cloudy and weepy and then clears up.

Ya I think I’m going to have to just bite the bullet and let it run it’s coarse . Thanks for the feedback

RobinBanks wrote: »

Hi All,

Not a sheep man, but normally i buy in texel cross ewe lambs for the winter to clean up the ground so that i have nice fresh spring grass for the cattle. This year however i am finding it very difficult to purchase these lambs.

With this in mind, I was wondering if anyone has any experience with wether ram lambs. Seen a few bunches advertised but i have no experience of them, i even had to google what a wether lamb was!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. What I am mainly interested in is, Are they hard fatten, what sort of money would they average this time of year to buy, Would they be any different to ewe lambs in terms of looking after them over the winter.

No difference to manage compared to ewe lambs really, and will grow the same or slightly better. No issue fattening them and actually an easier job to finish than rams or ewe lambs and the rams can get lean and the ewe lambs can get too fat so they are a nice intermediate.

You will be looking at approx €20 less for a weather compared to the same weight/quality ewe Lamb..:..€20 difference is for breeding potential.

How is breeding season going for lads that have rams out? Rams out since Saturday evening here. 35% tipped so far. Will change raddle colour on Saturday.

DJ98 wrote: »

Anyone on here know if the sheep sales in baltinglass mart are online and if so which site holds them?

Got the following text;

Baltinglass Mart are now trading ONLINE on MartBids. If you want to buy ONLINE please download the MartBids app from the App Store or Google play Store. It is FREE to download. You will need your email address and herd number to register and BID. Baltinglass Mart will need to approve your request to BID before you BID. Please allow time to familiarise yourself with the APP and the bidding process.

Wonder how will the marts that sell in the pens manage

Quite a few are still doing it and not suitable for selling in the ring

DJ98 wrote: »

Anyone any tips for putting raddle paste on Rams to make it last longer, mixing it here with cooking oil but after about 10 or less ewes the Rams need to be topped up again and am not in a position to catch them every 2 or 3 days

Could you use a harness instead?

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Could you use a harness instead?

The raddle is really messing, I don't know why any one uses it when a harness is available. They're only about €30 and they last years, it's important to tighten them after a couple days though

farawaygrass wrote: »

Would you have to tighten them just the once? My fear with them is if there are hurting the ram and cause sores

I'd never put them on for the first fortnight of mating, that's when the rams would be busiest and sweating, if they scanned in lamb then and weren't marked they'd be lambing in the first fortnight,
so yes would only have to tighten once if that

Young95 wrote: »

Would lads cull a ewe that is starting to bring up her cud ? Or would she get thinner over time ?

If her mouth is often green yes get rid while she’s in good order. Hard to cure.

Very little experience with sheep first off. Bought 10 store lambs on Saturday and all running around fine. Noticed yesterday one of them lame in 1 foot. Fella I bought from said they had been vaccinated with foot vax but don't know. Am in the process of building a bit of a pen in the field and they are coming to the meal trough so won't be able catch them often so wondering what's my best coarse of action. Have no foot bath and even if I had the lamb wouldn't be able to stand on concrete after. Seen an interesting thing where someone on a smallholding was using a Wellington to foot bath. Also seen a reusable sheep shoe for bathing but don't know if it ever went into production. Am I better trying to footbath and if so with what, or would I be better with an injection or spray. Not to worried about the cost more want what will be most effective and not having to try and catch too often. Sorry about all the questions but as I said am starting off.