Ewes not mothering lambs

Chev54

Member
Having terrible trouble with ewes not mothering or wanting their lambs, especially noticeable in the singles , some just drop lambs and go and others seem to lick them off and fine for a day then not worried either way if their lambs with them or not .

All ewes have lambed before and any that haven’t reared lambs in past are culls so then know what they’re doing and were fine last year, I’m pretty strict on culling out anything with bad mothering instincts . They’ve enough milk and the lambs are a tidy size, just can’t work out what the problem is. Could it be a deficiency? Any suggestions welcome .
 

Chev54

Member
Presumably you have cheviots, I have a few of those crossed with Texel's and are enough to drive me to drink, them seem to reject lambs at 2 days for no other reason than to wind me up.

They’ve been great mothers for 20+ years, going to blood test as seems strange it’s only in one bunch.
 

andybk

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Mendips Somerset
selenium and cobalt can have funny issues in ewes and lambs , soggy lambs , ewe problems , poor fertility , worth getting half dozen blood tested , its not expensive
 

Guleesh

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Isle of Skye
There's a few cheviots here who don't seem to give a damn about their lamb beyond having the milk taken off them, basically unless their udders are bursting and the ewe wants relief then they're indifferent to their lambs.
 

Welshram

Member
I had plenty of ewes not clean there lambs properly this year was fine with the lambs otherwise strange how so many people having problems could it be the weather or something changed in the cake ?
 

abitdaft

Member
Location
Scotland
Having terrible trouble with ewes not mothering or wanting their lambs, especially noticeable in the singles , some just drop lambs and go and others seem to lick them off and fine for a day then not worried either way if their lambs with them or not .

All ewes have lambed before and any that haven’t reared lambs in past are culls so then know what they’re doing and were fine last year, I’m pretty strict on culling out anything with bad mothering instincts . They’ve enough milk and the lambs are a tidy size, just can’t work out what the problem is. Could it be a deficiency? Any suggestions welcome .
We have had a lot of issues with mis mothering this year. Sun shines, lambs fall asleep, ewe wanders off and forgets she has lambs or has lost count. What is your grass like? the further a ewe has to forage the further she goes from her lambs and the harder it is for her to come back to them. We have very little grass and as a consequence are having more issues with mis mothered lambs. Sounds like your ewes are more interested in looking for food? Just a suggestion.
 

Welshram

Member
We have had a lot of issues with mis mothering this year. Sun shines, lambs fall asleep, ewe wanders off and forgets she has lambs or has lost count. What is your grass like? the further a ewe has to forage the further she goes from her lambs and the harder it is for her to come back to them. We have very little grass and as a consequence are having more issues with mis mothered lambs. Sounds like your ewes are more interested in looking for food? Just a suggestion.
It’s the ones that lambed inside so that can’t be the problem j
 

Farmer_Joe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
The North
Cull, think that would literally drive me to dispair lambing’s plenty hard enough without shite like that,

Miss mothering is the worst to, perfectly healthy ewe lamb that fine just needs feeding it’s the one thing I can’t stand, I tag em straight away for cull and if there really annoying they get profanities on the side of the ewe
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 78 42.9%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 63 34.6%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.5%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 5 2.7%

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

  • 1,286
  • 1
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/
Top