Sheep men!

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

Gulli said:
Are they all still alive and in the right field?

yes all alive, none escaped (after the first day or so when they learnt what a fence was) and all look healthy

we have some in lamb but which is an issue but not a big problem

I need to find a way to make sheep abort for next year - I'm told mustard in my cover crop might do that ?

spin cycle · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
yes all alive, none escaped (after the first day or so when they learnt what a fence was) and all look healthy

we have some in lamb but which is an issue but not a big problem

I need to find a way to make sheep abort for next year - I'm told mustard in my cover crop might do that ?

thats horrible....why not sell them as in lamb....probably worth more

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

spin cycle said:
thats horrible....why not sell them as in lamb....probably worth more

We might lamb them and sell them with lambs - I'm told they often sell well like that

not keen on the idea of sending them to slaughter heavy in Lamb even though I'm told people do this

there are only a few so not a big issue but something that could be a big problem if we scale this next year

How would more experienced sheep farmers deal with this ? interested to hear ideas ? keep in mind keeping them behind late march is not an option, i have no land for them then

S J H · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
yes all alive, none escaped (after the first day or so when they learnt what a fence was) and all look healthy

we have some in lamb but which is an issue but not a big problem

I need to find a way to make sheep abort for next year - I'm told mustard in my cover crop might do that ?

Good thing to write on a public forum.

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

S J H said:
Good thing to write on a public forum.

Its how it is, seems the livestock industry is hard

my solution this time will be to let them lamb and then sell with lambs at foot however Im nots sure thats practical at scale

If cover crops had something like mustard which apparently can cause abortion then this problem wouldn't exist

I'm certainly not going to do what Im told some farmers do and send heavily pregnant animals to slaughter

unlacedgecko · Feb 29, 2016

S J H said:
Good thing to write on a public forum.

@Clive doesn't want lambs from the ewes as they are slaughter culls. So if he can find a way to naturally ensure that these ewes don't have lambs then what's the problem?

There has been plenty of talk on here of pedigree flock masters getting vets to inject abortion drugs into ewes following tips escaping etc

Northeastfarmer · Feb 29, 2016

unlacedgecko said:
@Clive doesn't want lambs from the ewes as they are slaughter culls. So if he can find a way to naturally ensure that these ewes don't have lambs then what's the problem?

There has been plenty of talk on here of pedigree flock masters getting vets to inject abortion drugs into ewes following tips escaping etc

Depends how far on they are...at this time of the year they're going to be fairly well on

GTB · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
I need to find a way to make sheep abort for next year - I'm told mustard in my cover crop might do that ?

Every other sheep keeper in the country is trying to find a way to stop them aborting. :scratchhead:

unlacedgecko · Feb 29, 2016

Northeastfarmer said:
Depends how far on they are...at this time of the year they're going to be fairly well on

Yes. But the reference to abortion is for next year when the enterprise will be scaled up.

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

Northeastfarmer said:
Depends how far on they are...at this time of the year they're going to be fairly well on

I was talking for next year, i.e. they would abort when they first got here in October, very early in pregnacy

Northeastfarmer · Feb 29, 2016

I stand corrected

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

GTB said:
Every other sheep keeper in the country is trying to find a way to stop them aborting.

these are cull ewes - they are here from november - march waiting for the slaughter house basically. I'm not running a 365 day sheep enterprise just buying low and selling high using cover crops as a over winter storage facility

lambs take away yield and prevent me from selling them when I need to, I don't want them in the first place but buying cull ewes it seems some come pregnant if you like it or not

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

I'm actually pretty shocked to learn that some do send heavy pregnant ewes to slaughter - that is wrong IMO

For next year if some are gong to lamb I might have to have a grass field somewhere on the farm to keep them long enough after lambing to be able to sell as ewes with lambs at foot. that might be a better plan than trying to get early abortion ?

I'm told ewes with lambs can make good prices ? is that right ?

Northeastfarmer · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
I'm actually pretty shocked to learn that some do send heavy pregnant ewes to slaughter - that is wrong IMO

For next year if some are gong to lamb I might have to have a grass field somewhere on the farm to keep them long enough after lambing to be able to sell as ewes with lambs at foot. that might be a better plan than trying to get early abortion ?

I'm told ewes with lambs can make good prices ? is that right ?

Depends on age and breed...yours will be broken mouthed if you bought them as culls?

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

Northeastfarmer said:
Depends on age and breed...yours will be broken mouthed if you bought them as culls?

yes they are old sheep ! always destined for mutton

it would be better if they could be made to abort really as they probably wont all be able to raise lambs and bottom feeding etc isn't a practical proposition on any kind of qty

what do drugs cost to do this per sheep ?

Northeastfarmer · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
yes they are old sheep ! always destined for mutton

it would be better if they could be made to abort really as they probably wont all be able to raise lambs

what do drugs cost to do this per sheep ?

You need estrumate...I've never jabbed a sheep to make it slip, estrumate is quite expensive but sheep won't need much...how many are in lamb? The bags might be knackered on them if they're culls too

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

Northeastfarmer said:
You need estrumate...I've never jabbed a sheep to make it slip, estrumate is quite expensive but sheep won't need much...how many are in lamb? The bags might be knackered on them if they're culls too

about 5% of the culls in lamb - some do have knackered bags so its a problem

next year early abortion is the best solution I think ? the few we have this year we can deal with though and we have enough horse grass paddock to keep them a bit longer than intended

Northeastfarmer · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
about 5% of the culls in lamb - some do have knackered bags so its a problem

next year early abortion is the best solution I think ? the few we have this year we can deal with though and we have enough horse grass paddock to keep them a bit longer than intended

I've never heard of mustard making ewes slip but if it does and you can empty them out before say xmas then it will probably for the best...as lambing sheep with knackered bags and no colostrum is going to be a pain in the arse, sending them in for killing heavy in lamb is a big no no so you'll have to try your best with them this year

yellowbelly · Feb 29, 2016

Clive said:
We might lamb them and sell them with lambs - I'm told they often sell well like that

They will sell with lambs at foot.Problem may be your ewes are culls for a reason - if that reason turns out to be a bad bag ,or worse still,no bag,lambing them down will suddenly not look like such a great idea.

Edit: my slow typing strikes again

Looks like you've got it covered

Clive · Feb 29, 2016

yellowbelly said:
They will sell with lambs at foot.Problem may be your ewes are culls for a reason - if that reason turns out to be a bad bag ,or worse still,no bag,lambing them down will suddenly not look like such a great idea.

fortunately there are not too many - its this kind of reason we didn't go mad with numbers in yr 1 - we need to find and learn about these pitfalls

Think drugs will have to be the way forward on arrival if we do more next year

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