Lamb Macs

[Nithsdale]

There shouldn't be any need for routine use, but there are (quite often) occasions such as a gale blown snow storms where you can't get vehicle access or don't have sheds available in really crap weather where a mac is literally a life saver and no boasts of "my lambs are harder than your lambs" will alter that.....Of course you lot tend to have a lot of singles, which helps survival

It would be bad if every lamb needed them!

Genuine question - if weather like that has set in, where do you draw the line putting the macs on? What age (days) do you leave the lambs be to get on with it? Is it a case of everything you can catch gets one, or do you just do the new born?

The year we got macs to try, I left the newborns until the lamb had been licked and bonded... the weather was that bad that the lambs were foundered by that point already and had to be fetched in.

Iv changed breeding alot since then, but i have tried the left over macs from that year on some lambs, and leaving others alone in the same field. Iv honestly noticed no benefit.

 

[Downtrodden Dad]

Is anyone wrong in trying their best to ensure as many lambs as possible survive the weather.

 

[Bury the Trash]

start of April----

Do people lamb outside in mid Feb? Is there grass growth to do this?

I do know terminal sire breeders that lamb in Dec/Feb but they all do it inside with central heating
In fact I know terminal sire breeders that lamb indoors in March/April

the OP does. .

 

[JohnGalway]

Is anyone wrong in trying their best to ensure as many lambs as possible survive the weather.

Every farm is different, no one is wrong.

 

[Bones]

Meby just put on bare lambs as they leave the shed and weather is rough,

 

[Nithsdale]

Well yes it probably will actually.....If your genetics are right of course!

Hows that? Lambs mostly suffocate or starve to death in drifts. Snow is an insulator. Only way to save them is keep them moving, or dig them out.

 

[Jerry]

God, wish I never asked now.......

;-)

 

[Bury the Trash]

 

[TALDLONKTUP2]

It would be bad if every lamb needed them!

Genuine question - if weather like that has set in, where do you draw the line putting the macs on? What age (days) do you leave the lambs be to get on with it? Is it a case of everything you can catch gets one, or do you just do the new born?

The year we got macs to try, I left the newborns until the lamb had been licked and bonded... the weather was that bad that the lambs were foundered by that point already and had to be fetched in.

Iv changed breeding alot since then, but i have tried the left over macs from that year on some lambs, and leaving others alone in the same field. Iv honestly noticed no benefit.

I only started using them as I started in 2005 with no shed space at all, just a dozen plywood sided and covered pens I'd thrown up (for 300 ewes) which soon filled with triplets, so had no choice. The ewes were bought in-lamb and the weather was soul destroying -4*C one day then gale driven rain and blizzards the next (The land is 12 miles from home so was living in a caravan in the lambing field.....With Butane gas for cooking and heating, which didn't work !!!). Yes I was out putting macs on new dropped lambs in the night, which I'm sure you'll scoff at, but I can honestly say I don't think I lost a single lamb to exposure, and when you're paying rent and don't get any subsidies keeping every viable lamb alive is crucial.......See why I might want to lamb inside now? !

I certainly don't rush around trying to put macs on any thing in a blizzard, any born that day if they look to be struggling, if not struggling I leave them. Any lambs that are older and struggling, it'll be down to lack of milk so will try and top up with bottle (kept in coat armpit!) and put a mac on as an emergency stop gap to be sorted out later.

Putting macs on lambs as they've dropped is generally fine, not ideal but better than trying to bring inside (though in that instance I had no sheds anyway), especially at night, Just walk round the lambing field with a decent torch, pop a mac on anything new dropped and leave them to it, it works fine, though I foolishly tried to push my luck with a washed pre-used one on a new born lamb once (pre-used are usually fine on licked lambs), which had to get swopped for a new one petty damn sharpish but ultimately no harm done.

In a bad spring they're a god send and actually save a lot of work not bringing sheep in. They're a lot better than walking away from a lamb with it's back up which you know will be dead in the morning. Also, after a few days you see the lambs born in a storm in macs are noticeably better filled out whether or not the benefit persists, I don't know.

 

[Nithsdale]

I only started using them as I started in 2005 with no shed space at all, just a dozen plywood sided and covered pens I'd thrown up (for 300 ewes) which soon filled with triplets, so had no choice. The ewes were bought in-lamb and the weather was soul destroying -4*C one day then gale driven rain and blizzards the next (The land is 12 miles from home so was living in a caravan in the lambing field.....With Butane gas for cooking and heating, which didn't work !!!). Yes I was out putting macs on new dropped lambs in the night, which I'm sure you'll scoff at, but I can honestly say I don't think I lost a single lamb to exposure, and when you're paying rent and don't get any subsidies keeping every viable lamb alive is crucial.......See why I might want to lamb inside now? !

I certainly don't rush around trying to put macs on any thing in a blizzard, any born that day if they look to be struggling, if not struggling I leave them. Any lambs that are older and struggling, it'll be down to lack of milk so will try and top up with bottle (kept in coat armpit!) and put a mac on as an emergency stop gap to be sorted out later.

Putting macs on lambs as they've dropped is generally fine, not ideal but better than trying to bring inside (though in that instance I had no sheds anyway), especially at night, Just walk round the lambing field with a decent torch, pop a mac on anything new dropped and leave them to it, it works fine, though I foolishly tried to push my luck with a washed pre-used one on a new born lamb once (pre-used are usually fine on licked lambs), which had to get swopped for a new one petty damn sharpish but ultimately no harm done.

In a bad spring they're a god send and actually save a lot of work not bringing sheep in. They're a lot better than walking away from a lamb with it's back up which you know will be dead in the morning. Also, after a few days you see the lambs born in a storm in macs are noticeably better filled out whether or not the benefit persists, I don't know.

That's fair enough.
I don't have much space to bring ewes into either, the sheds are full with cattle. I have 9 individual pens and an open area which can hold about 10 ewes with lambs... I try to only bring in what I really need to.

We get sub's, but its not much - and we have no idea when itl come this year with the failure that is the new system (not that I'm worried).

 

[hally]

Does Wiltshire get any harsh weather though?

 

[hally]

Although we lamb inside if the weather is crap we just keep them in an extra day or two but we generally lamb 60 a day so not long before our individual pens fill up and the OH starts putting on the pressure to get them out. So this is when we mac them and we dont do singles or lambs with a bit of age on them as it is a bit of hassle when the pressure is on.Getting macs on and out the shed pronto is the aim and cheaper than a divorce

 

[GreenerGrass]

Does Wiltshire get any harsh weather though?

2 inches of rain forecast for the next 24 hours, and 50mph winds. All mine lamb outside, I had twins born yesterday, and on the strength of the forecast bought a pack of lammacs today, and put them on.

Had a single born three weeks ago today, you know the days when it dropped down to -5 at night. She didn't have anything and was fine, but it was not raining and little wind. But it's the rain and wind forecast for tonight/tomorrow and then more of the same onSunday. Some of the feedback from users on this topic spoke highly of them, for helping protect against wind and rain and in the circumstances felt it was a worthwhile thing to do.

 

[hally]

2 inches!!!! Thats just slightly moist around here wouldnt even bother with the leggings for that

 

[hally]

Seriously though I would be amazed if they go down with a mac on, it will be money well spent

 

[Jackson4]

There shouldn't be any need for routine use, but there are (quite often) occasions such as a gale blown snow storms where you can't get vehicle access or don't have sheds available in really crap weather where a mac is literally a life saver and no boasts of "my lambs are harder than your lambs" will alter that.....Of course you lot tend to have a lot of singles, which helps survival

If hes gonna breed better sheep then he will have to test them to see, something maybe all breeders should be doing Yer going to get that on here, but for fat lambs its obviously different.Nobody would argue that their lambs are hardier than yours, the BFL is hardiness epitomized.. that spade it comes with is to dig itself out for the second coming... can dig the wife out while he's on

 

[TALDLONKTUP2]

If hes gonna breed better sheep then he will have to test them to see, something maybe all breeders should be doing Yer going to get that on here, but for fat lambs its obviously different.Nobody would argue that their lambs are hardier than yours, the BFL is hardiness epitomized.. that spade it comes with is to dig itself out for the second coming... can dig the wife out while he's on

I've never owned a BFL, male or female......If that is in fact what you're trying to say, which I'm not entirely sure about! As for testing hardiness, which is hardest? A live lamb born in the sunshine or a dead lamb born in a snowstorm at night? Is a big single genetically harder than a small triplet needing a mac? That whole argument is moronic

 

[Jerry]

Does Wiltshire get any harsh weather though?

I know it is not normal or even a recent event but when I was just 10 years old I can remember Feb '76.

Most people rember 76 fir the drought, I remember it for the snow at the end of Feb. We are just 3 miles from the south coast but were snowed in fir over a week, drifts 10 foot deep, dragging hay bales by sledges to get to the sheep, no quads then and could not get the tractors out of the shed.

So yes we can cop it as well, not seen any snow for about 5 years but we can suffer as well.

 

[Jackson4]

Oh good you wont take it personally then ... saved you a bit of digging you said you wished you'd put one over the gritstones.. how longs it take to get one, tagging people about swaley's etc i didnt know you were speaking without personal experience

 

[TALDLONKTUP2]

Oh good you wont take it personally then ... saved you a bit of digging you said you wished you'd put one over the gritstones.. how longs it take to get one, tagging people about swaley's etc i didnt know you were speaking without personal experience

Yes, I think I could have bred some good mules from the Gritters, and I may well do just that in the future on suitable land. I personally haven't owned a BFL. My parents had some tups 'til about 20 years ago when we bred mules, father's brothers still breed them, as do my mother's brother and cousins, and my first cousins......And of course they all breed mules, mother's cousin have been selling mule gimmers to the same large Derbyshire estate for at least 25 years so I presume they're happy with the quality (even though they could buy them from farmers on one of their own estates). I'd call that personal experience my self . When I started, I got sucked in to the whole Llyen, texel x hype but they just had too many problems (massive major problems) and didn't give the performance I needed. If the Aberfield had been around then I might have crossed them and persevered but at the time it was lucky I didn't own a gun, or I'd have shot f'king lot of 'em