Lambing losses.

[delilah]

90 lambs and you lost 1? Fair play if so!

Spot on. Absolutely freakish, as I say i'm passing the baton for next year, fully aware that mother nature will even things up.

 

[ladycrofter]

Running at 8% lambs lost of those born. Puzzled to have a handful of singles to ewes scanned twin, because the single is pretty large, not smallish like a twin was resorbed part way though.

 

[Troward]

Spot on. Absolutely freakish, as I say i'm passing the baton for next year, fully aware that mother nature will even things up.

Great stuff I think the SE has had a very good lambing overall when speaking to people. At least compared to last year!

Lamb outside and we were wet here, but mild, and most of the rain seemed to come in the middle of the night when lambs had sorted themselves out.

Think I'm at 5% here, last year was 10%. Can't take any credit for that, as the only real difference between both years was the weather.

 

[neilo]

I haven’t dare look in here for a bit, but very impressed that so many of you seem to have kept accurate records of losses over lambing.
I have an idea from looking at ewes that scanned as multiples that only have one at foot, but certainly don’t record each loss in my outdoor mob. I mentally acknowledge them of course, and weigh up whether more losses are from one group/breed or another.

My count comes from numbers at weaning, then again after numbers sold/retained at year end.

I do know that our scanning %age was up about 20% this year, but we certainly won’t be selling 20% more lambs.

 

[delilah]

Great stuff I think the SE has had a very good lambing overall when speaking to people. At least compared to last year!

Lamb outside and we were wet here, but mild, and most of the rain seemed to come in the middle of the night when lambs had sorted themselves out.

Think I'm at 5% here, last year was 10%. Can't take any credit for that, as the only real difference between both years was the weather.

Only explanation I can come up with is that we moved farm. Clean ground.

 

[Stw88]

Any day I don’t pick something up dead is a good day at the moment.

I’ve only managed 1 day so far in April. Thought I had bossed it yesterday but there was a lamb laid on in the adopter when I got back at night.

 

[BrianV]

So much for the drought.
BBC weather forecast for TQ12, next 2 weeks

2646264

 

[Top Tip.]

Any day I don’t pick something up dead is a good day at the moment.

Mate of mine reckons he’s had a great day if he’s had a DWD (Day Without Death).

 

[Estate fencing.]

Any day I don’t pick something up dead is a good day at the moment.

I only had one of these in the last 7 weeks. Got more than 90 lambs though.

 

[aangus]

Any day I don’t pick something up dead is a good day at the moment.

Picked 2 up yesterday.

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Lost 3 hoggs in the last week, now that does hurt at the moment

 

[Hill Ground]

How does everyone get on with ewe lamb losses at lambing?

So far we've lambed 58 out of the 82. That scanned in lamb, resulting in 78 lambs born, of which 17 were dead. 22% losses.

Mostly big singles (10 of the 17 were singles)

This is our first time lambing ewe lambs and I think I've been to kind to the singles, but interested to see what other folks think of the above??

 

[edn]

How does everyone get on with ewe lamb losses at lambing?

So far we've lambed 58 out of the 82. That scanned in lamb, resulting in 78 lambs born, of which 17 were dead. 22% losses.

Mostly big singles (10 of the 17 were singles)

This is our first time lambing ewe lambs and I think I've been to kind to the singles, but interested to see what other folks think of the above??

Just keep going......it's a fairly freaky year from speaking to people and looking on here and I've had problems I've never seen before...........It's not a year to get too hung up on the figures- obviously if there is a set cause as you've identified (big singles/too much nutrition) then you can adjust it for next year. Just do your best!

 

[Nithsdale]

How does everyone get on with ewe lamb losses at lambing?

So far we've lambed 58 out of the 82. That scanned in lamb, resulting in 78 lambs born, of which 17 were dead. 22% losses.

Mostly big singles (10 of the 17 were singles)

This is our first time lambing ewe lambs and I think I've been to kind to the singles, but interested to see what other folks think of the above??

I'd say that's not far off how it goes here when I try lambing them


No matter how well they scan, I only ever hope to end up with 1 lamb per hogg (average across the group)

 

[d-wales]

How does everyone get on with ewe lamb losses at lambing?

So far we've lambed 58 out of the 82. That scanned in lamb, resulting in 78 lambs born, of which 17 were dead. 22% losses.

Mostly big singles (10 of the 17 were singles)

This is our first time lambing ewe lambs and I think I've been to kind to the singles, but interested to see what other folks think of the above??

I believe that singles are the worst to lose, as it can result in a ewe without a lamb. If a twin or triplet loses a lamb its not the end of the world but a single

We have just marked a field of 'twins' lambing outdoor. 40 ewes 70 lambs (12% losses) Better than I thought it would be, because for about 2 weeks the field was too wet to take a quad in, so I did my checks from the roadside.

 

[Lili]

How does everyone get on with ewe lamb losses at lambing?

So far we've lambed 58 out of the 82. That scanned in lamb, resulting in 78 lambs born, of which 17 were dead. 22% losses.

Mostly big singles (10 of the 17 were singles)

This is our first time lambing ewe lambs and I think I've been to kind to the singles, but interested to see what other folks think of the above??

Getting the nutrition right for ewe lambs is the tricky bit. Too good = massive lambs, Not good enough = no milk and rubbish mothers. Its a very fine line - every year is different and more a case of good luck than judgement.

 

[Hill Ground]

Thanks everyone, in general im fairly pleased with how they have gone. The ewe losses are about 10% which is a couple £ higher than normal, but given the year im ok with it.

believe that singles are the worst to lose,

One thing I can say is they seem desperate for a lamb. I've only got 2 running with nothing so far, they take to a skin on lamb like a dream!

 

[JMcA]

Small flock of 80 in Argyll. 50/50 mules and blackies. Lost 13% from scanning to running around. Expect to lose another 8% from now untill weaning.