Lambing from hell

[GTB]

My uncle cut back his flock by 20% years ago and produced the same amount of lambs the following year.

 

[ford4000]

Considering the weather our lambing has gone as well as can be expected however this is because our land is mainly free draining,we have good equipment to cope,maybe not enough shed space and lamb most ewes from 1st April.

So far we have managed to ride out the conditions.

And yes,every year in the middle of lambing I seriously consider why we keep sheep.[emoji99]

Same here Yale, even with starting on 25th Feb and lambing through those 2 beasts from the east snow storms and constant rain, farming on sloping fields water runs off more quickly, (drains have been running really strongly ) and it's not like we haven't had weather like this before

 

[GTB]

Same here Yale, even with starting on 25th Feb and lambing through those 2 beasts from the east snow storms and constant rain, farming on sloping fields water runs off more quickly, (drains have been running really strongly ) and it's not like we haven't had weather like this before

I don't remember it being this wet for so long before though. Our farm has never been in such a mess. Cattle had poached the ground before having to come in early. Then the sheep made more mess before having to come in sooner than normal and the ground still hasn't recovered. And to top it all there are trees down all over the place, some of them have taken fences with them. The place is a complete shambles.

 

[hendrebc]

I don't remember it being this wet for so long before though. Our farm has never been in such a mess. Cattle had poached the ground before having to come in early. Then the sheep made more mess before having to come in sooner than normal and the ground still hasn't recovered. And to top it all there are trees down all over the place, some of them have taken fences with them. The place is a complete shambles.

Snap. Greened up last day or two though but thats all it is a green colour there is absolutley no grass anywere

 

[hally]

I know on a few posts you've said about having problems with gators and them getting stuck, would a quad not be better? I think my fields would look a mess if I had the extra weight of a gator.

2 70+ farmers have told me this week that they've never seen it like this before. So I'm pretty happy, that hopefully we won't have to go through much like it again.

The only thing I'm going to change is to have more indoor pens ready for problems. There's a few that I've left out because I haven't had the pens spare and easy to get to, and I've regretted it.

Our Gator did a lot of the damage in a wet year like this one, a quad is a lot more nimble and ride on the clart instead of ploughing through it

 

[Yale]

You all forgot to mention on top of everything else, the hogs bringing rotten lambs then dying themselves because there was a shortage of toxovac........or is that just me?

We don’t tup ours as hogs,we keep them tight and lamb as yearlings.

Got enough headaches without stuck lambs in ewe hogs.

 

[S J H]

We don’t tup ours as hogs,we keep them tight and lamb as yearlings.

Got enough headaches without stuck lambs in ewe hogs.

Seeing my hoggs with lambs is the most enjoyable part of the job for me

Last year I did question it when I was having far too many hung lambs, but since keeping them on mud this year they seem to be a lot better.

 

[hally]

I don't remember it being this wet for so long before though. Our farm has never been in such a mess. Cattle had poached the ground before having to come in early. Then the sheep made more mess before having to come in sooner than normal and the ground still hasn't recovered. And to top it all there are trees down all over the place, some of them have taken fences with them. The place is a complete shambles.

This place exactly the same, in a perverse way it's good to know I am not the only one

 

[Yale]

Seeing my hoggs with lambs is the most enjoyable part of the job for me

Last year I did question it when I was having far too many hung lambs, but since keeping them on mud this year they seem to be a lot better.

Every cloud (crap spell of weather) has a silver lining?

 

[Yale]

This was 2 days ago.

Thankfully it’s drying up a bit now but it still doesn’t mean there’s any grass.

 

[puppet]

Looks normal for April. Good dry slope for sheep and it is green so they will be nibbling away. Hedges and trees for shelter. The outdoor brigade will be on here soon.

 

[MRT]

[QUOTE="puppet, post: 5018578, member: 25962"The outdoor brigade will be on here soon.[/QUOTE]

I've joined the brigade! Started lambing my too soft too pink too French to lamb out things at the end of March beginning of April and it was hell, lovely now though, two sets of twins two singles in the night all with their mothers in the sun

 

[S J H]

Every cloud (crap spell of weather) has a silver lining?

Probably has done actually, I won't be wishing for another year of it though

 

[S J H]

[QUOTE="puppet, post: 5018578, member: 25962"The outdoor brigade will be on here soon.

I've joined the brigade! Started lambing my too soft too pink too French to lamb out things at the end of March beginning of April and it was hell, lovely now though, two sets of twins two singles in the night all with their mothers in the sun[/QUOTE]

Not NZ bred?!

 

[Yale]

I've joined the brigade! Started lambing my too soft too pink too French to lamb out things at the end of March beginning of April and it was hell, lovely now though, two sets of twins two singles in the night all with their mothers in the sun

Not NZ bred?![/QUOTE]
Ours are NVZ bred.

Does that count.

 

[andybk]

I don't remember it being this wet for so long before though. Our farm has never been in such a mess. Cattle had poached the ground before having to come in early. Then the sheep made more mess before having to come in sooner than normal and the ground still hasn't recovered. And to top it all there are trees down all over the place, some of them have taken fences with them. The place is a complete shambles.

nearly every fiels we have has some sort of fence issue , trees down , sheep with head stuck through fence breaks the corner one off , even the two fields with stone wall boundaries have been breeched , think constant rain has washed them out making them weak .

 

[ford4000]

I don't remember it being this wet for so long before though. Our farm has never been in such a mess. Cattle had poached the ground before having to come in early. Then the sheep made more mess before having to come in sooner than normal and the ground still hasn't recovered. And to top it all there are trees down all over the place, some of them have taken fences with them. The place is a complete shambles.

That's true, you've got to be careful not to twist your ankle crossing the fields our fattening cattle were on in October, going to take some rolling to get them smooth enough for silage again....but it's not the first and I'm sure it won't be the last time

 

[ford4000]

Snap. Greened up last day or two though but thats all it is a green colour there is absolutley no grass anywere

It will grow now...I'm putting fert out today where I can, slaloming around wet patches , avoiding slopes etc. It's not pretty but needs must

 

[hendrebc]

It will grow now...I'm putting fert out today where I can, slaloming around wet patches , avoiding slopes etc. It's not pretty but needs must

I can see a difference again today looks much better from the road and yard. Havent been round yet (cow calved) so will ger to see how the fields look up close. Ewes and lambs seem happy from what i can see though

 

[David.]

What a difference a day makes, lambs laid out in the sun, they need the chance to get dry between wet days; poor little devils have been wet and cold since a week last monday here.