Feeding quad scanned ewes

[twizzel]

My small flock have had 1 hell of a scan this morning at 243% 1 older ewe has scanned with quads - what’s the best way of feeding her to give her and the lambs the best chance. At the moment she’s gone out with the triplets onto the best pick of grass we’ve got. Normally feed 1/4 kilo per lamb scanned and lifeline buckets, and bring them in 2 weeks before the first is due.

Am I better bringing her and the triplet ewes in earlier, or in at night out during the day for exercise? They are all in good condition if a little too good hence why concentrate isn’t fed at bigger quantities,
Thank you

 

[David.]

It will seem harsh, but the best feeding of her might be to the Muslim community asap.
40/60 against old ewes quads making it through to a successful lambing I reckon.

 

[Al R]

I had 4 sets of quads last year with 4-5 year old mules and texelX’s. Ran with the triplets on stubble turnips and silage until 2 weeks before then they had 1lb/day barley/oats mix going out in the day and in at night. All 4 sets survived with 3 of the ewes rearing 3.

 

[twizzel]

It will seem harsh, but the best feeding of her might be to the Muslim community asap.
40/60 against old ewes quads making it through to a successful lambing I reckon.

she’s not that old... 2015 ewe, this will be her 4th set of lambs. And I gave her a fluke drench today so culling not an option.

So just need to keep her eating and moving I guess to try and prevent any prolapses?

 

[neilo]

When we use to run the Cambridge x Texels, we would average around 38% triplets & quads. Anything that scanned a quin went the way that @David. suggested, but quads were never particularly a problem getting to lambing. I always just used to run them with the triplets.

Incidentally, now we are outdoor lambing and ewes don't get concentrates, just grazed root crops over the winter, the triplets (& any quads) run with the twins until lambing time, then they do get pulled out to lamb in a better field, but still just green stuff. Do you know what, they manage just fine, exactly as every triplet that gets mis-scanned as a twin does.
Obviously it needs decent forage for them to be able to do that, not silage or hay.

 

[An ancient git]

Don't go berserk . Maybe just feed her for 3s and give her something like Lifeline or EE Crystalyx pre-lambing , to let her self-help and balance job up . Stuffing too many nuts in will increase chances of acidosis , unless you play about X times / day .... She'll be fine , and , if you get it right , will rear 3 of them , no probs . Post-lambing , you can feed well , creep lambs , and you'll have best paying ewe in flock ; but actually simpler to have all with 3s together ongoing .... They REALLY churn out the £s !!!!

 

[z.man]

When we use to run the Cambridge x Texels, we would average around 38% triplets & quads. Anything that scanned a quin went the way that @David. suggested, but quads were never particularly a problem getting to lambing. I always just used to run them with the triplets.

Incidentally, now we are outdoor lambing and ewes don't get concentrates, just grazed root crops over the winter, the triplets (& any quads) run with the twins until lambing time, then they do get pulled out to lamb in a better field, but still just green stuff. Do you know what, they manage just fine, exactly as every triplet that gets mis-scanned as a twin does.
Obviously it needs decent forage for them to be able to do that, not silage or hay.

Just this..... feed the same as twins until maybe 2 weeks before due date then maybe be a little kinder , a ewe can only do so much ....3 smaller lively lambs are easier to start than an over sized set than seem empty for the first week of there life.

 

[An ancient git]

In truth I totally agree with z.man . Ewes here are not scanned , feed all up to 300gms top-spec cake 1x daily .... BUT plus really good forage . They also get EE Crystalyx as a balancer . Singles /twins / 3s are all a decent size ; don't know how , but it works ! Then 3s go on lawn / orchard and fed like hell , plus creep to their lambs . If they're dull enough to have 3 , then they rear them ! Either the smallest / biggest of 4 will need pulling off , but shouldn't be too onerous , as likely will get a buddy from somewhere ....

 

[An ancient git]

Yea , don't worry , and leave her with the 3s . Best idea , and if it doesn't work out ok , don't kick yourself ! Worst scenario is to try push in too much cake ..... They aren't pigs , they're ruminants ..... But sometimes daft enough to conceive , and hold onto , 4s ..... Had one years ago with 4 ; died pre lambing as lost appetite ..... big twins and another 2 normal size ; no rumen space left then ! Kick myself ... NO .... just Nature's quirk sometimes .....

 

[twizzel]

Think I deleted my post by accident anyhow thank you, I will keep her with the triplets and feed with them and plug a couple of the quads onto the milk feeder if we get that far.

 

[David.]

Sorry I took it that she was an old granny ewe.
A 15 registration one will *probably* be fine.
If she was mine she'd be inside with a handful of poorer older trebles, and being fed well.
I'm not hard enough to kill them either, though I always threaten it.

 

[neilo]

I'm not hard enough to kill them either, though I always threaten it.

A scanner man I used in a previous life used to run Suffolk x Welsh ewes. He routinely sold all his triplet bearing ewes each year (with scanning %age declared) soon after scanning. He always had a good trade on them, seemingly finding 2 willing buyers in Hereford market that were looking for work.
He reckoned it was a no-brainer as it reduced his costs as well as his workload at lambing time.

Personally, i’d Have been one of the eejits that was thinking ‘ooh, there’s 3 lambs in there’.....

 

[Estate fencing.]

A scanner man I used in a previous life used to run Suffolk x Welsh ewes. He routinely sold all his triplet bearing ewes each year (with scanning %age declared) soon after scanning. He always had a good trade on them, seemingly finding 2 willing buyers in Hereford market that were looking for work.
He reckoned it was a no-brainer as it reduced his costs as well as his workload at lambing time.

Personally, i’d Have been one of the eejits that was thinking ‘ooh, there’s 3 lambs in there’.....

I usually scan 400 mules well over 200% (last year I had 120 triplets and 10 quads) and happy to see triplets and quads at scanning, but never to happy 2 weeks before lambing when they are prolapsing and during lambing when I'm having to give colostrum to 100s of lambs.

Most shepherds seem to have a very short memory for work.

 

[muleman]

My small flock have had 1 hell of a scan this morning at 243% 1 older ewe has scanned with quads - what’s the best way of feeding her to give her and the lambs the best chance. At the moment she’s gone out with the triplets onto the best pick of grass we’ve got. Normally feed 1/4 kilo per lamb scanned and lifeline buckets, and bring them in 2 weeks before the first is due.

Am I better bringing her and the triplet ewes in earlier, or in at night out during the day for exercise? They are all in good condition if a little too good hence why concentrate isn’t fed at bigger quantities,
Thank you

Get 2 ewes that are scanned for singles and sell them with the quad bearer at an inlamb sale scanned at 200%......simple!

 

[Woolless]

A scanner man I used in a previous life used to run Suffolk x Welsh ewes. He routinely sold all his triplet bearing ewes each year (with scanning %age declared) soon after scanning. He always had a good trade on them, seemingly finding 2 willing buyers in Hereford market that were looking for work.
He reckoned it was a no-brainer as it reduced his costs as well as his workload at lambing time.

Personally, i’d Have been one of the eejits that was thinking ‘ooh, there’s 3 lambs in there’.....

I think @Nithsdale Farmer posted last year about good ewes scanned for three sold at Long town for £60? Must have been money in those?

 

[neilo]

I think @Nithsdale Farmer posted last year about good ewes scanned for three sold at Long town for £60? Must have been money in those?

You’d hope so, but I seem to remember my scanner man had topped Hereford one time (would be 9 or 10 years ago now) at £175/hd.

 

[Nithsdale]

I think @Nithsdale Farmer posted last year about good ewes scanned for three sold at Long town for £60? Must have been money in those?

They were Easycares with triplets at that price. Mules were slightly, but not much, more. They were just regular ages. I was down 2-3 years on the trot and that's all they made.

Bloody hard to keep my hand in my pocket at that price

 

[Skintagain]

They were Easycares with triplets at that price. Mules were slightly, but not much, more. They were just regular ages. I was down 2-3 years on the trot and that's all they made.

Bloody hard to keep my hand in my pocket at that price

I develop A nervous blinking in situations like that. That’s what I tell the mrs anyway.

 

[D.S.S18]

first year I had 35 ewes s- 12 had triplets & 2 quads -
we just had lifeline in from beginning of Feb, took ad lib hay out in early march and fed 0.5kg twice a day, from mid march they came in every night and ate what was in the hay racks - we seemed to do pretty well, all got turned out with 3s and did very well, but lambs did have creep from 7 days old. the quads fortunately lambed same time as some singles and got mothered on.

following year - scanning % was down, but more shearlings we expected it - again 8 sets of triplets managed similar way - all got turned out with triplets again . just luck of the draw I suppose

 

[Al R]

You’d hope so, but I seem to remember my scanner man had topped Hereford one time (would be 9 or 10 years ago now) at £175/hd.

Look at the last few weeks Hereford reports with inlamb ewes, £120-130 for Suffolk x triplet bearing due end of January, same people every year putting them in according to the report???