Indoor Lambing Flock?

[SteveHants]

If you had to have an indoor lambing flock, what breed would you choose and why?
Would you pen them individually or have some sort of system whereby they could still roam and were lambed in batches?

Bear in mind that I'm not a massive fan of mules, but I'm willing to have my mind changed.
This would be in the south west of the UK, to lamb Feb-sh.

Cheers.

 

[Andyt880]

I house my ewes in early January and lamb in March. They are in groups of 12/14 and then penned individually with their lambs as they lamb down.
I prefer a Suffolk cross ewe, not a massive fan of the mule here either. Although I have some Suffolk and texle x Mule here this year and they performed ok. They were put back to a rouge ram and have some good lambs on them. The mule has its place but not for me. The mule cross to the Suffolk or texle is a different sheep to a first cross mule.
If you are SW you will likely have a better winter than what we get up here, would outwintering on a forage crop not be a better option? If my land was dry enough and we got less rain during winter that’s I would be doing but it’s just not an option here as a winter system.

 

[SteveHants]

These are potentially for a college system - so they must lamb when the students are about. I'm used to mananging later outdoor lambing flocks, hence my asking for input.

Has anyone ever lambed Lleyns like this?
I like Lleyns.

 

[unlacedgecko]

These are potentially for a college system - so they must lamb when the students are about. I'm used to mananging later outdoor lambing flocks, hence my asking for input.

Has anyone ever lambed Lleyns like this?
I like Lleyns.

Yes Lackham College have a flock of indoor lambing Lleyns.

 

[CopperBeech]

Yes.

I’ve tried lleyns.

Your issue will be that if you are going for a high input indoor system, you need both the lamb numbers and the growth rates to justify it.

That’s why mules are so popular.

Lleyns will be hit and miss for your scanning %, it will be down to where you source your ewes from.

There are lots of other things to say, but my experience of indoor lambing on a large scale was ....... never again!

 

[SteveHants]

Yes.

I’ve tried lleyns.

Your issue will be that if you are going for a high input indoor system, you need both the lamb numbers and the growth rates to justify it.

That’s why mules are so popular.

Lleyns will be hit and miss for your scanning %, it will be down to where you source your ewes from.

There are lots of other things to say, but my experience of indoor lambing on a large scale was ....... never again!

Part of my rationale for Lleyns is to reduce the inputs a bit to be honest, that might make up for a slightly lower lambing percentage. Having never really fed concentrates except in emergencies, my eyes did bulge a bit when I saw the costs of feeding concentrates!

To add: Did you mean "never again" lambing indoors or "never again" lambing Lleyns indoors?

 

[tr250]

I know you say your not a Mule fan but they just work so easy to get hold of and consistent don’t underestimate their ability to lamb easily as ewe lambs and put whatever tup on them and they will lamb. you will probably get shearers quicker too. Only down side is there cull value or it is for us anyway as we have big strong but generally fat culls. If they have white or black heads they will make £10 more even if there identical

 

[SteveHants]

For reference - the existing mule flock put to beltex and aberblacks reared 133%

 

[tr250]

For reference - the existing mule flock put to beltex and aberblacks reared 133%

Don’t go to anything less prolific then or you will be in trouble. What % do you scan normally

 

[SteveHants]

They appear to be scanned in at 177% this year.

 

[CopperBeech]

I had the miss pleasure if taking on a failing indoor lambing system (well, two actually). One I sorted out and one I didn't. . . . . the one I sorted out, i continued with the same sheep and just sorted out all of the other failings and bad practice.

The one I didn't manage to sort out, I changed the sheep - was a case of too many things to fix / change in one year.

My advice would be look at the sheep they have got, maybe try some tups (i.e lleyn tups on some of the better mules).

There will no doubt be many many more cheaper and simpler ways to up the success and lower the costs that a straight breed swap.

 

[CopperBeech]

Part of my rationale for Lleyns is to reduce the inputs a bit to be honest, that might make up for a slightly lower lambing percentage. Having never really fed concentrates except in emergencies, my eyes did bulge a bit when I saw the costs of feeding concentrates!

To add: Did you mean "never again" lambing indoors or "never again" lambing Lleyns indoors?

I meant indoor lambing! I say never again, I could be persuaded if it was for the right people. But in this case it was a nightmare! Extremely expensive and stressful and I couldn't see any benefits!

 

[SteveHants]

I've got a bit of leeway to do some "interesting" things, as long as it is of benefit to the students. I'm thinking abour reccomending a small Lleyn flock to run alongside the mules to compare performances.

Although, buying a Lleyn ram to breed replacements as opposed to using terminal x ewe lambs is very tempting also.

 

[exmoor dave]

I've got a bit of leeway to do some "interesting" things, as long as it is of benefit to the students. I'm thinking abour reccomending a small Lleyn flock to run alongside the mules to compare performances.

Although, buying a Lleyn ram to breed replacements as opposed to using terminal x ewe lambs is very tempting also.

Suffolk x mule would be a good shout for feb lambing.

The "interesting" bit could be using a range of terminal sires, then getting students to evaluate the performance and pitfalls of those sires

 

[primmiemoo]

Would it be possible to elaborate on your comment about penning individually, please, @SteveHants ?

Here, the ewes are grouped according to scanning result (+/- body condition score, and/or likely need of TLC for issues found too close to lambing to change), and housed until lambed from then. Usual 6-8 weeks before first lamb due (weather and grazing dependent).
They only see individual pens on being put in one for monitoring for c24 hrs after lambing. Then out to bigger mothering up area, or go straight out.

Have lambed Suffolk x Mules, and found them ok. Too heavy for me, but that's a failing in the keeper.

 

[SteveHants]

Would it be possible to elaborate on your comment about penning individually, please, @SteveHants ?

Here, the ewes are grouped according to scanning result (+/- body condition score, and/or likely need of TLC for issues found too close to lambing to change), and housed until lambed from then. Usual 6-8 weeks before first lamb due (weather and grazing dependent).
They only see individual pens on being put in one for monitoring for c24 hrs after lambing. Then out to bigger mothering up area, or go straight out.

Have lambed Suffolk x Mules, and found them ok. Too heavy for me, but that's a failing in the keeper.

I knew I'd seen indoor systems where the ewes weren't indiviually penned, but have no experience of them, having only ever lambed out of doors.

 

[SteveHants]

Suffolk x mule would be a good shout for feb lambing.

The "interesting" bit could be using a range of terminal sires, then getting students to evaluate the performance and pitfalls of those sires

They already do that - they have Aberblack, Beltex and Beltex x sires.