Recent content by Sheepfog

Lots will disagree, but a good time saving tip is not to bother ringing lambs at lambing. Used to work on a place with 300 outside lambing mules in March, then 700 hill ewes and 100 cows lambing and calving in April (on my own). First year I tried ringing the mule ewes’ lambs, but took up a lot...

Not Southies. Extreme Park type Northies, particularly from Northern Scotland, have the big heads and heavy bone.

What about a South Country Cheviot tup. Tidy lambs that are up and sucking in no time and very weather proof.

Just to throw something else in the mix have you ever thought of trying a Logie hybrid? I’ve had some a couple of years now, lambed outside to the Logie or Suffolk (fine boned commercial type). Nice efficient ewes who are great mums and produce tidy commercial lambs that very saleable liveweight...

They’ll need to be out of big Park type ewes for that sale I think

Contracts for lambs would only benefit the buyer long term IMHO. They’re a great way of limiting the upside when supply is tight. It effectively removes the opportunity to cash in when there is an exceptional trade (as there is now). Given the national flock seems to be shrinking, I can’t see...

What seed mixes with RC and plantain have you put in?

Our approach to herbal leys is to pick a standard grass mix as normal (late PRG, Timothy, white clover etc), important to cut the rate back. Then add in the other grasses (cocksfoot, fescues etc) and herbs/legumes focussing on red clover, plantain and more white clover. This way we still have...

Condition can be deceptive. Had twins and triplet ewes in great nick last year, did an FEC which came back at over 800 😲

R & A Ellett Shearing & Dipping Contractors 07765 007503 https://g.co/kgs/CnSP8uc Based in Heathfield. Never used them myself, but a friend said you can take them there to be dipped if it’s just a small number.

Could have written that myself! I remember lambing at a place a few years ago and walking up the mothering up pens with several ewes having either a missing or broken EID tag. This was a flock that made a point of checking and replacing any missing/broken tags.

The difference between farming and ranching 👍 I don’t mind if people do or don’t keep pets as replacements, but I hate seeing lambs go hungry so will always lift triplets as a precaution and any lambs not filling up. If that’s because the dam hasn’t got enough milk she will be culled. Properly...

The trouble with the current carbon calculation is that it takes no account of carbon sequestered in pasture/crops etc. If that was taken into account I bet the numbers would look very different. That's before you get into the complexities of the methane cycle etc. Unfortunately, what it boils...

Last of the lambs and culls cleared up this week

This is true. However, hopper feeding lambs to get a good finish doesn’t just add kilos it also increases the value of each Kg due to the improved KO%.