Best oil for raddle?

Remind me again: why do folk raddle their tups? Especially when the scanner can identify the later lambers.
I have at least four groups running with a single tup. Raddling him at the start lets me check that he's working and raddling the chasers makes it simple to identify any frontline tups that have fired blanks.

I was told linseed oil for mixing raddle. Mixed with yellow powder looks like korma sauce. Dogs obviously think it is korma sauce! Used sunflower oil last year, very similar and cheaper.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Remind me again: why do folk raddle their tups? Especially when the scanner can identify the later lambers.
I do it so I can prioritise feeding and checking. Ewes are marked so I know within 7-10 days when their lambing. Those ewes get checked more often and get put on the earlier fields compared to the ones in the second 10 days cycle. Easier to check 4-500 ewes a few times a day than checking the whole farm multiple times a day in bad weather etc….

I will also lamb multiple pure breds together, by raddling I know which ones have been served by a pure bred and which by a generic sweeper etc…
 

twizzel

Member
I use generic sunflower oil. Ordered it with my shopping last week and it got substituted for sunflower oil with added vitamins at about 4 times the price. Hopefully the tups appreciate the added extras 😂 the price difference came back to me in a voucher 👍🏻
 

Moors Lad

Member
Location
N Yorks
Remind me again: why do folk raddle their tups? Especially when the scanner can identify the later lambers.
There`s folk on here with lots of knowledge about sheep . . . . . sometimes!
Some of us like to know the sire of lambs, or if a tup is actually stopping ewes, we may want to know how early a ewe is going to lamb BEFORE she`s scanned - there`s no doubt a few more good reasons but I`m beginning to think I shouldn`t even have wasted my time rising to the bait....:mad:
 

Kingcustard

Member
Sorry for the late arrival.

Had a few problems this year with overfeeding ewes as I don't tease them and don't raddle so they were on full rate feeding but some didn't lamb for 6 weeks. My fault for not thinking about this when moving lambing a month and 2 months earlier, lve got lazy with April lambing, everything just lambs for 17 days 5 months after the tups are out, obviously the earlier you go this is not the case.

Anyway, this year I will be raddling tups so I know what is due when to save feeding and save ewes eating me out of House and home.

Do you have to mix it in with oil or can you just put on the stuff from tubs you buy at the agri merchants.

Are tupping harnesses better than just putting the marking fluid on.

How long will the marker fluid last, I was planning for 2 weekly colour changes, will one application cover 2 weeks.

Cheers
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Not what most people will do but we’ve been doing this 40+ years. Mix with vegetable oil and apply onto the rams chest and neck with a paint brush.

we mark all rams with red and then use “sheep marking fluid” to mark the ewes on the shoulders/legs to tell us what week they are going to give birth and use different colour sheep marking fluids relative to who the ram’s are etc (handy with single siring purebreds so we can notch at birth what pedigree something is)
scanner tells me if their a repeat/late.

Below is a motley crew made up of multiple breeds etc which are all that are left to lamb.

Far left you can see a green stripe down the back leg (this tells me she’s due second week of her group)
The ewe behind her has a green stripe down the front left shoulder (first week of her group) although she was a late.
Few welsh there with faint blue stripes on the front left shoulder saying their due to lamb first half of their cycle but they are also repeats. Ewes are ear notched by breed and pedigree too.

60F88B06-8DE2-49F4-ABB0-E21800C0E72D.jpeg


These ewe lambs have orange stripes front left or back left.
Exlana’s in this group has green front left or back left. The no marks are after.
41572BD4-4A9D-4448-B618-B2060784A5B3.jpeg

You can see the stripes we put on the shoulders. Below was a single ram with 150 ewes, marked on entry and marked again at day 5. 130 served by day 10 so it is fading more Than if you had multiple rams/ram lambs.
979E1380-0C47-482D-9858-706511C181E4.jpeg
 

Kingcustard

Member
Not what most people will do but we’ve been doing this 40+ years. Mix with vegetable oil and apply onto the rams chest and neck with a paint brush.

we mark all rams with red and then use “sheep marking fluid” to mark the ewes on the shoulders/legs to tell us what week they are going to give birth and use different colour sheep marking fluids relative to who the ram’s are etc (handy with single siring purebreds so we can notch at birth what pedigree something is)
scanner tells me if their a repeat/late.

Below is a motley crew made up of multiple breeds etc which are all that are left to lamb.

Far left you can see a green stripe down the back leg (this tells me she’s due second week of her group)
The ewe behind her has a green stripe down the front left shoulder (first week of her group) although she was a late.
Few welsh there with faint blue stripes on the front left shoulder saying their due to lamb first half of their cycle but they are also repeats. Ewes are ear notched by breed and pedigree too.

View attachment 1026963

These ewe lambs have orange stripes front left or back left.
Exlana’s in this group has green front left or back left. The no marks are after.
View attachment 1026968
You can see the stripes we put on the shoulders. Below was a single ram with 150 ewes, marked on entry and marked again at day 5. 130 served by day 10 so it is fading more Than if you had multiple rams/ram lambs.View attachment 1026970
So do the marks not last until lambing time.

Would straight marking fluid last longer
 

Kingcustard

Member
Not what most people will do but we’ve been doing this 40+ years. Mix with vegetable oil and apply onto the rams chest and neck with a paint brush.

we mark all rams with red and then use “sheep marking fluid” to mark the ewes on the shoulders/legs to tell us what week they are going to give birth and use different colour sheep marking fluids relative to who the ram’s are etc (handy with single siring purebreds so we can notch at birth what pedigree something is)
scanner tells me if their a repeat/late.

Below is a motley crew made up of multiple breeds etc which are all that are left to lamb.

Far left you can see a green stripe down the back leg (this tells me she’s due second week of her group)
The ewe behind her has a green stripe down the front left shoulder (first week of her group) although she was a late.
Few welsh there with faint blue stripes on the front left shoulder saying their due to lamb first half of their cycle but they are also repeats. Ewes are ear notched by breed and pedigree too.

View attachment 1026963

These ewe lambs have orange stripes front left or back left.
Exlana’s in this group has green front left or back left. The no marks are after.
View attachment 1026968
You can see the stripes we put on the shoulders. Below was a single ram with 150 ewes, marked on entry and marked again at day 5. 130 served by day 10 so it is fading more Than if you had multiple rams/ram lambs.View attachment 1026970
And is that a Rappa mobile race
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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