Moving sheep on a lorry during / post tupping.

[CopperBeech]

Sure it’s been asked many times, but how long after tups have gone in would you be comfortable putting ewes on a lorry to new keep. Journey would be about an hour maybe.

 

[Jerry]

30 days plus.

 

[neilo]

If they're used to being loaded & unloaded, I wouldn't be too concerned tbh. Might be a different matter if they've never been handled?

When I'm doing ET work now, I trailer the recipient ewes 20 miles to the AI centre to have the fresh embryos implanted, then trailer them home again. It doesn't seem to make any difference to conception rates. Those embryos are flushed and implanted 6 days after fertilising in the donor ewes.

 

[CopperBeech]

If they're used to being loaded & unloaded, I wouldn't be too concerned tbh. Might be a different matter if they've never been handled?

When I'm doing ET work now, I trailer the recipient ewes 20 miles to the AI centre to have the fresh embryos implanted, then trailer them home again. It doesn't seem to make any difference to conception rates. Those embryos are flushed and implanted 6 days after fertilising in the donor ewes.

Very rarely handled to be honest. Used to be on lorries a fair bit but some wouldn’t have been for a year or two and some never. Would probably be a decker full or two.

 

[M-J-G]

Will it be any more stressful than being gathered into a corner or pens to change a crayon or swap rams?

I'm not so sure that being transported really stresses stock, ewes eat within seconds of getting off a trailer onto new grass, stressed animals wouldn't do that.

 

[beardface]

We used to walk ewes about half a mile from some floodable grazing to up near farmstead often during tupping and it never did them any harm. Try to leave them 2 weeks before trailering them off tupping ground, but have trailered them when the tups came out before. The worst scanning we ever had was last year and that was due to ewes resorbing when it was lashing down with rain out on cover crops.

 

[neilo]

If you have no alternative, I would suggest running short of feed would have a bigger impact on lamb numbers tbh.

 

[Estate fencing.]

If you have no alternative, I would suggest running short of feed would have a bigger impact on lamb numbers tbh.

That's what I always think better to spend half a day hungry and moved onto good food than spend 3 weeks being short of food because your waiting for them to settle in lambs. I'm moving sheep back 15 miles today that have had the tups in for 30 days but its going to be be 5 loads so some will be in the prattley most of the day.

 

[Frank-the-Wool]

Never seems to make any obvious difference, we move hundreds in the late Autumn after the tups are in. Might be different for early lambing flocks when the sheep cycle less regularly.

 

[CopperBeech]

These will be late April lambers. Wouldn’t be running out of feed where they are, just looking to appease a landlord who has little concept of pre planning

 

[pgk]

That's what I always think better to spend half a day hungry and moved onto good food than spend 3 weeks being short of food because your waiting for them to settle in lambs. I'm moving sheep back 15 miles today that have had the tups in for 30 days but its going to be be 5 loads so some will be in the prattley most of the day.

Ditto

I spent a couple of days taking rams out and moving ewes this week all trailered, there again they are keen to go on as they are used to being moved to new grass by trailer. Mind you we never have brilliant conception rates as we get to graze a lot of old pp.