7 weeks before lambing - too early to get them in?

[M-J-G]

Christ some of you lot like work [emoji15] brought my twins in yesterday, due too start lambing Friday ... singles will come in Thursday [emoji15] singles on 0.15kg a head and twins on 0.5kg a head triplets on 0.75 a head... twins and triplets got life line buckets and hay

Maybe it's not that they like work it's maybe a case of them having wetter conditions and/or a heavier stocking density than you.

 

[aangus]

Staffordshire

 

[Estate fencing.]

Christ some of you lot like work

brought my twins in yesterday, due too start lambing Friday ..

Much less work for me to 500 in. Hour to feed and bed before daylight is much easier than taking 3 loads of beet and hay out everyday and then finding all the ewes.

 

[Estate fencing.]

No winter grazing around you? 25-30p a ewe too be outside on some nice lush silage ground all winter is a damn sight cheaper than keeping sheep indoors...

What dairy farmer wants you paddling up there lays in the end of January of £100 a week. Mine certainly don’t!

 

[james-stephens2014]

Thank you everyone... Having now read your replies and wondering if I have been feeding wrong for years I went on the ahdb ewe feed guide and calculated it all..... With the silage they are on currently they apparently only need 0.17kg of my concentrate to fill the required energy deficit.. I was going to put them on 0.5! ..... They have crystalyx and apparently they take 50g per day of that, so the question is - how much energy are they getting per day? Can't find the figures online.... The triplets require a extra 2.235 MJ per day, I'm wondering if the crystalyx will cover that...

 

[puppet]

The old formula was quarter pound (0.11kg) first week building up each week to one and half pounds (0.7kg)by week 6 which would be when lambing is due. Two pounds for triplets. Or just a flat rate of three quarter pounds for 6 weeks. Need to put your hand on them as no point over-feeding a fit ewe.
Some hay will be available if weather harsher.
Depends on your stocking. We have 250 spread over 180 acres, mostly silage ground, due late March. Been frosty so had around 8 energy tubs. Last year we fed under 2 tons of concentrate in total. Currently takes under 10 minutes to check they are all upright each day. Least time inside the better but everyone has different systems

 

[Mc115reed]

What dairy farmer wants you paddling up there lays in the end of January of £100 a week. Mine certainly don’t!

There’s more than dairy farms mow grass... Iv got roughly 250 acres of Winter grazing that is all mowing grass and none of it dairy.. allowed on until April also ... must just be in a lucky area

 

[TexelBen]

Thank you everyone... Having now read your replies and wondering if I have been feeding wrong for years I went on the ahdb ewe feed guide and calculated it all..... With the silage they are on currently they apparently only need 0.17kg of my concentrate to fill the required energy deficit.. I was going to put them on 0.5! ..... They have crystalyx and apparently they take 50g per day of that, so the question is - how much energy are they getting per day? Can't find the figures online.... The triplets require a extra 2.235 MJ per day, I'm wondering if the crystalyx will cover that...

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just cake, and not give the buckets?

 

[Northern territory]

What dairy farmer wants you paddling up there lays in the end of January of £100 a week. Mine certainly don’t!

That is such a good point. How do people find the running from early January onwards if not on roots. Any grass we take want you off by then. We have had Hoggs on roots also but sick of the conditions, think everything will be sold backend next year and just have ewes on beet. Fed up of these winters.

 

[Estate fencing.]

That is such a good point. How do people find the running from early January onwards if not on roots. Any grass we take want you off by then. We have had Hoggs on roots also but sick of the conditions, think everything will be sold backend next year and just have ewes on beet. Fed up of these winters.

Another problem around is the lack of people wanting to grow turnips. Cover crops fill the gap to some extent but never seem to last very long. Jan and feb are shite for keeping sheep theses days.

 

[will6910]

That is such a good point. How do people find the running from early January onwards if not on roots. Any grass we take want you off by then. We have had Hoggs on roots also but sick of the conditions, think everything will be sold backend next year and just have ewes on beet. Fed up of these winters.

That’s why I had to bring my first lots in before Christmas as fields were that wet and I didn’t want to annoy the owner or the ground by making utter mess of it. Wouldn’t be much benefit if I destroyed it this year to keep ewes out 2 weeks longer but then not be allowed back for next year at all

 

[Northern territory]

Another problem around is the lack of people wanting to grow turnips. Cover crops fill the gap to some extent but never seem to last very long. Jan and feb are shite for keeping sheep theses days.

Totally agree. It’s depressing unless you are on very clean land

 

[Estate fencing.]

That’s why I had to bring my first lots in before Christmas as fields were that wet and I didn’t want to annoy the owner or the ground by making utter mess of it. Wouldn’t be much benefit if I destroyed it this year to keep ewes out 2 weeks longer but then not be allowed back for next year at all

Good chap. There is always next year.

 

[Estate fencing.]

This is how wet it is for tack lambs. I’m putting the electric up and that’s the mess my feet have made let alone the 600 lambs that are coming into it!

 

[Agrivator]

Hi all

Very wet here! Got the sheep sorted into their bunches based on scan result (and BCS for the odd fat/thin ones).... Thinking about getting the triplets in but worried it's a bit early.... How do I stop them getting to lazy and not lambing well? Or is that a myth?

Diet wise they will be on the normal 18% concentrate starting at 0.5kg once per day and eventually ramping up to 0.75kg twice a day (triplets remember!)... They also have haylage/silage pretty much adlib, and this year I am going to put a rack of straw out for them, hopefully slow them up on the silage a bit and something to chew on....

It's just so wet and next week doesn't look any better.

Thank you in advance!

If it's not too much trouble, if sheep have been housed for along time, it's best to muck out and start afresh just before lambing is due.