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Anyone have any thoughts on using heather as bedding. my idea being to put it through a garden shredder and having it when i house any sheep. would there be any problems with using it would a shredder get it fine enough. my own thought being it will be easy to clean up and spread on the ground...

How soon could I let the ewes and lambs mix together after being weaned. want to let the ewe lambs back to the hill just wondering how long I should leave it. will a week be long enough.

At the moment the ewes get a fluke and worm dose pre tupping end of Oct start Nov. It is usually Supaverm i use. They get done again pre lambing March sometime with a fluke dose usually flukiver. Just thinking if i should do the ewes again before they get sent back to the hill after running with...

Main aim at the moment with the flock is to increase the lambing and the weaning %. Last year was a bit of a disaster so hoping the coming year will be alot better. getting some ewes blood tested tomorrow to see if they are lacking anything that can be sorted with a bolus. Going to harness the...

Use to dip the sheep every autumn but the last few years since it became more expensive for the dip and there are less people with sheep in the area I have just jagged them with dectomax and spray with Dysect when they come in for tupping. With the area of hill the sheep cover we very seldom...

The croft is badly needing drained and reseeded. Can't afford to do either at the moment so going round with my spade for the drains and as far as the reseeding goes I am just trying to manage the grass that is there the best way to improve it and get the most out of it. From reading various...

I am crossing half my blackface ewes with a cheviot to compare how the cheviots do compared to the blackies. What i am wondering is how many generations down the line will I be able to make a fair comparison between the 2. with hybrid vigour would it only have an affect in the first cross or is...

how much harm does feeding ewe nuts to tups do the tups. The labels on all the ewe feed says not to feed to breeding tups but we usually just leave the tups along with the ewes and they get fed the same. We have never noticed any problems but how much damage could we be causing tups. I do not...

A few pictures of the short spell of bright dry weather, it lasted about an hour then I got soaked. My poor wee hill ewes look very poor compared to the ewes that are in the lambing shed thread.

Toying with the idea of housing my ewes for 4 weeks pre lambing. Plan would be to house them once they are gathered of the hill then let them out once they start lambing. At the moment where i feed them gets poached and muddy and the little grass there is gets hammered. It will prob cost me more...

Sheep are said to be a good way into farming as you only need a stick and a dog:rolleyes:. I don't have many sheep but built a shed to house any sick ones and store feed and equipment. Made pens for sorting doing any sheep work. Bought a mixer for making the pens and concreting in fencing stays...

With High prices seen for some tups and not so much for others. How do people budget what they are going to spend on a new tup. Is it X amount over the the number of ewes you have. 100 ewes £2 ahead 2 seasons £400 sell for £100 or 100 ewes £2 ahead keeping for 4-5 seasons £1000. How long would...

reading a report on ewes it says that after 100 days the ewe is providing more competition for grazing than she is supplying the lamb with milk. So better to wean around the 100 day mark. My lambs coming off heather onto grass should get a big lift from that alone so doubt the ewe does much...

I am surprised that people keep mule/suff ewes. I always thought the mule was the end of the line, I know all the mule breeders sell all the lambs in one bunch. Some sell 20 some sell 100 but always mixed never seen anyone with a mule sell a ewe lamb of it. That is them leaving the island they...

Seeing as a lot of my flock management is down to information on here one thing I have been thinking about lately is the best way to decide what replacement ewes to pick. For the next couple of year I am going to keep all ewe lambs tup them as shearings then pick the ones that did the best job...

Just looking at the sensible prices being paid for hill tup lambs. I am sure they will be on top of a wind swept heather hill in November or December working though:cool:. Got me thinking about the reasons tup breeders sell tups when they do. I would think a terminal would be a good bet to buy...

My neighbour has a couple of ewes that I have ended up looking after. They were his mothers but she just wanted something on the croft so there are only half a dozen. When she passed away he moved home and has kept the sheep and is planning on getting a few more. I have young ewes that don't...

Just wondering what you guys that record lamb birth weight sit the lamb in while you weight them. My only concern is passing on any diseases through the naval. So may as well find out what the experts do. Cheers

Just Been reading through the Rob-Hodgkins-report. Must admit I have not read all the way through it but what I have read has been very interesting, one thing I have read so far is. "The main factors that will dictate how quickly lambs grow and thus how profitable your sheep enterprise is, are...

My uncle was telling me that when they used to wean the lambs, they use to tie them all together to take them from the hill fank to the house. They would tie 4 or 5 at a time so they would not run away on the way in. One year they actually lost 4 or 5 when they all ran into the sea. Male lambs...