Lambing losses , through to weaning

[Wood field]

Going through the last of the lambs and overall happy enough with them , but we seem to have really high losses from scanning to weaning.. so my question is , what steps do folk use to ensure best chance of a lamb to sell .
Be it mineral drench, vaccinations, feed etc

 

[M-J-G]

That's a broad question as that period covers over half of the year, is there a particular point at which they are being lost?

 

[Wood field]

That's a broad question as that period covers over half of the year, is there a particular point at which they are being lost?

More within the first month or so I would say.
Hill ewes to ncc tups and last year a hundred or so hoggs to easycares

 

[DB67]

Short memory of what weather was like at lambing time? I don’t think many folk will have had a rare time of it unless you started mid April onwards.

 

[delilah]

what steps do folk use to ensure best chance of a lamb to sell .

Reduce stocking rate.

 

[Wood field]

Short memory of what weather was like at lambing time? I don’t think many folk will have had a rare time of it unless you started mid April onwards.

True it was grim weather

 

[Wood field]

Reduce stocking rate.

We did reduce from being at the “sweet spot” to a hundred and fifty below.
Unfortunately small farm as it is we need as many lambs to sell as possible.
Now we are almost as in 90% , running home bred ewes that can live up here without melting

 

[M-J-G]

More within the first month or so I would say.
Hill ewes to ncc tups and last year a hundred or so hoggs to easycares

What do you feed? I'm just thinking of colostrum quality.

Do you lamb in or outside? Lambing hygiene

 

[Wood field]

What do you feed? I'm just thinking of colostrum quality.

Do you lamb in or outside? Lambing hygiene

18% ewe roll and ad lib hayledge inside from Jan to mid March lambing , we do this to rest the ground , these inbye ewes scanned at 155%
The rest are lambed outside from April and have ring feeders and molasses ball licks plus ewe rolls a month before lambing .

We were just saying about colostrum, the ewes seemed to be good and milky this last year.
I am wondering if I should get on to the lambs quicker for vaccinations/minerals etc , maybe a bit more attention to detail?post lambing

 

[ford4000]

I think it was a bad year this year for losses, heard a lot of people complain and it was very troublesome here too, especially having to pick up lambs that were short of milk at around a week old, ended up with a lot of pet lambs on the milk machine

 

[M-J-G]

18% ewe roll and ad lib hayledge inside from Jan to mid March lambing , we do this to rest the ground , these inbye ewes scanned at 155%
The rest are lambed outside from April and have ring feeders and molasses ball licks plus ewe rolls a month before lambing .

We were just saying about colostrum, the ewes seemed to be good and milky this last year.
I am wondering if I should get on to the lambs quicker for vaccinations/minerals etc , maybe a bit more attention to detail?post lambing

You sound to be feeding them well enough (not to sound patronising)
I don't think mineral drenches or vaccines into lambs quicker would have major effect on lambs before a month old

 

[Wood field]

You sound to be feeding them well enough (not to sound patronising)
I don't think mineral drenches or vaccines into lambs quicker would have major effect on lambs before a month old

Maybe I expected to much, like others say, weather among other things was awful.
It’s demoralising though ! I worked out we are on a25% loss from scanning to selling

 

[livestock 1]

I always find if you have a good number of lambs in the ewes to start with you will loose more than you would otherwise

 

[Farmer_Joe]

Going through the last of the lambs and overall happy enough with them , but we seem to have really high losses from scanning to weaning.. so my question is , what steps do folk use to ensure best chance of a lamb to sell .
Be it mineral drench, vaccinations, feed etc

IVE HAD MY WORST EVER YEAR,

sh!t caps! usually around 10% deaths (been like this for years and years) this year im much higher losses, unlucky timing with nematrodirus worming lost me an extra 10. most losses this year were at a week to 2 weeks old, bad weather and hard winter on the ewes so less milk than normal plus really crap weather for first weeks of their life have f**ked it,

spoken to a few farmers and they said they have had higher losses too.

Just gotta roll with it, i was well pee'd off when i counted them up could not believe it but i cant change the weather, i was convinced someone had stolen them i was that short, drove around counting ewes but they were spot on

Just take some consonance in your not the only one, its been a hard year and we are all feeling it

 

[ford4000]

I always find if you have a good number of lambs in the ewes to start with you will loose more than you would otherwise

Yeah it's strange how that works out!! Get a good scanning and everything will be against you and you don't end up with many more lambs sold

 

[Wood field]

Yeah it's strange how that works out!! Get a good scanning and everything will be against you and you don't end up with many more lambs sold

Bloody demoralising though!
I worked out despite scanning numbers we’ve ended up with around 1 lamb to 1 ewe ( some say that’s perfect for hill ewes)

 

[ford4000]

Bloody demoralising though!
I worked out despite scanning numbers we’ve ended up with around 1 lamb to 1 ewe ( some say that’s perfect for hill ewes)

Finding it harder to get a good lambing lately, there's more diseases around for a start, abortion problems were almost unheard of when I left college, as was nematodirus deaths, coccidiosis etc, sheep have gone softer too as I'm feeding them more to get worse results

 

[Wood field]

Finding it harder to get a good lambing lately, there's more diseases around for a start, abortion problems were almost unheard of when I left college, as was nematodirus deaths, coccidiosis etc, sheep have gone softer too as I'm feeding them more to get worse results

I went down the route of breeding our own from Cheviot x Welsh , they are hard little buggers , now crossing some with easycare, if nothing else they lamb easily and are very wick.
I’ve some cocci buckets left over that I put out , they seemed to have worked this last year

 

[Yale]

Had more joint ill than normal, pens were bedded and limed but weren’t as on the ball with iodine on navels. Considering stopping ear notching and moving to antibiotic spray on navels, cans make more sense as you can carry them in your pockets. Cans are expensive but so are dead lambs.

 

[Wood field]

Had more joint ill than normal, pens were bedded and limed but weren’t as on the ball with iodine on navels. Considering stopping ear notching and moving to antibiotic spray on navels, cans make more sense as you can carry them in your pockets. Cans are expensive but so are dead lambs.

I stopped ringing tails , may be coincidence but don’t see much joint ill
We use pump action spray of iodine on navels and like you lime mothering pens between ewes
Strangely we had two lambs with joint ill , both born outside ! There seems no logic to lambing sometimes