ollie989898
Member
Any livestock experience at all Ollie? Milking ? Lambing?
Done both. What point are you making?
Any livestock experience at all Ollie? Milking ? Lambing?
These lot start tomorrow, I do agree and wouldn't be lambing these indoors myself, the day staff are the people who pay me and a coupe of extra hands they have during the day. They used to have around 140-160 pets and only lamb 320 ewes. The lamber before me lost 37 lambs in one night but obviously there are nights the lambing is quiet.Just to muddy the water further, it’s ok and it does stack up to lamb 400 ewes inside with 100 pets and pay something like £400 a day/night in staffing...... because the tax payer bumps up the farms profits through sub.
It’s just not really enough ewes to be lambing inside as late as April, paying staff and associated indoor costs.
It’s all very well saying you have to pay x to get people into the industry, but I think the issue is much deeper.
Just to muddy the water further, it’s ok and it does stack up to lamb 400 ewes inside with 100 pets and pay something like £400 a day/night in staffing...... because the tax payer bumps up the farms profits through sub.
It’s just not really enough ewes to be lambing inside as late as April, paying staff and associated indoor costs.
It’s all very well saying you have to pay x to get people into the industry, but I think the issue is much deeper.
At this place the ewes tend to be busiest lambing 7-11.30 and 4-7 so here you would get quite a few, I have had nights where I have lambed 40plus ewes and they are terrible for pinching as well as mispresentation and stuck lambs. Welfare standards are high here and I honestly don't think the farmer would entertain leaving them for that long every night, putting right all the wrongs in the morning can also take so much time when they are left to lamb alone - that's sheep in general at lambing in my experience.A little off topic but, if you checked 400 ewe's at say 9pm and left them alone until 7am what sort of loses would you see in 3 weeks?
I know nothing about sheep other than my mother in law owns a sheep farm.
I’ll do last checks at 11, if all’s well it’s lights off. Brother gets here at 6 next morning. We might lose the odd lamb overnight. But it certainly isn’t 1 a night. Although we usually only get 5/6 that lamb before he gets here if that. Ours lamb like mad between 6.30 &7.30 before we feed. Guessing it’s because he’s woken them all up and started things stirring. The odd ewe that dies, I could have sat with her all night and she will still have died. Ours don’t tend too die during lambing. I can only remember 1 doing it in my time! Die for a host of other reasons... yes of course, but not ones I could do a lot about! Like you say, you get lambs born dead, it happens! Yes it would be handy too be there and do a straight wet adoption, but a good nights sleep is handy too and just put her in an adopter pen with a pair of triplets before feeding and carry on. I think a lot of the time lambing is as hard as you make it.That’s why I put above we’ve never had a night lamber, only triplets and singles on my biggest flock are in ( currently 125 ewes due tomorrow came in yesterday) I check at 8am, 12noon, 5pm and 10.30pm, at night I literally tube what I have to keep them alive until morning and do any adoptions. I expect to lose 1 lamb a night inside, sometimes it’s none but I bargain on 1 lamb a night at least for a period of 10-12 hours that I’m not there and you can tell with most that I’ll find dead they were born dead to so they would have been born dead while paying someone too I think you’ve got to be up big numbers per day to justify night lambers.
These lot start tomorrow, I do agree and wouldn't be lambing these indoors myself, the day staff are the people who pay me and a coupe of extra hands they have during the day. They used to have around 140-160 pets and only lamb 320 ewes. The lamber before me lost 37 lambs in one night but obviously there are nights the lambing is quiet.
1 death/born dead a night average wasn’t for the 120 indoors but including 1300 outdoors to. Nothing dead for 4 days and then 3 this morningI’ll do last checks at 11, if all’s well it’s lights off. Brother gets here at 6 next morning. We might lose the odd lamb overnight. But it certainly isn’t 1 a night. Although we usually only get 5/6 that lamb before he gets here if that. Ours lamb like mad between 6.30 &7.30 before we feed. Guessing it’s because he’s woken them all up and started things stirring. The odd ewe that dies, I could have sat with her all night and she will still have died. Ours don’t tend too die during lambing. I can only remember 1 doing it in my time! Die for a host of other reasons... yes of course, but not ones I could do a lot about! Like you say, you get lambs born dead, it happens! Yes it would be handy too be there and do a straight wet adoption, but a good nights sleep is handy too and just put her in an adopter pen with a pair of triplets before feeding and carry on. I think a lot of the time lambing is as hard as you make it.
(Although we only tried lambing 7/8 bred texels once then we culled the entire batch. NEVER AGAIN)
I know we all differ on this point but for me this is why I like my mules, spit them out and just get on with it! If the weathers right the buggers will be outside again too!!
Are you still doing your doctorate? What do trainee’s/students get paid these days compared to a fully qualified doctor?Done both. What point are you making?
That’s why I put above we’ve never had a night lamber, only triplets and singles on my biggest flock are in ( currently 125 ewes due tomorrow came in yesterday) I check at 8am, 12noon, 5pm and 10.30pm, at night I literally tube what I have to keep them alive until morning and do any adoptions. I expect to lose 1 lamb a night inside, sometimes it’s none but I bargain on 1 lamb a night at least for a period of 10-12 hours that I’m not there and you can tell with most that I’ll find dead they were born dead to so they would have been born dead while paying someone too I think you’ve got to be up big numbers per day to justify night lambers.
in NZ I think the norm would be check 4000 ewes at say the 9th and leave them alone until 7 weeks is it not? At prices not long ago it wasn't worth staying up to save a life but with cull ewes making up to £160 yesterday and lambs also flying, loosing a bit of sleep is a little less painful than loosing a ewe and twins.
Just thinking about this and I know it’s off topic but ...... we are discussing the value of a night lamber and if a £5 difference and hour is justified. You say the flock operates a high welfare policy .... but out if roughly 800 lambs 37 dead lambs in around 4.5% loses across total lambs in one shift. That’s like someone with 2000 outdoor lambing ewes scanned at 160% losing around 140 in one days lambing. They have a lot greater savings to be made than on your labour, so charge whatever value you think you bring. Sounds like they need all the help they can get. £15
You must be up lambing sheep?
Lots of thinking going on, far too early for that sort of thing, thanks thoughJust thinking about this and I know it’s off topic but ...... we are discussing the value of a night lamber and if a £5 difference and hour is justified. You say the flock operates a high welfare policy .... but out if roughly 800 lambs 37 dead lambs in around 4.5% loses across total lambs in one shift. That’s like someone with 2000 outdoor lambing ewes scanned at 160% losing around 140 in one days lambing. They have a lot greater savings to be made than on your labour, so charge whatever value you think you bring. Sounds like they need all the help they can get. £15
I contract shepherd 500 mules that lamb inside. All jobs are finished by 7pm, go up at 10.30 to pen any that have lambed, then up the yard at 4.15am to start feeding ewes and ringing lambs. Not very often any ewes have lambed in the middle of the night, but seem to have a bit of a rush on at about 5.30.I’ll do last checks at 11, if all’s well it’s lights off. Brother gets here at 6 next morning. We might lose the odd lamb overnight. But it certainly isn’t 1 a night. Although we usually only get 5/6 that lamb before he gets here if that. Ours lamb like mad between 6.30 &7.30 before we feed. Guessing it’s because he’s woken them all up and started things stirring. The odd ewe that dies, I could have sat with her all night and she will still have died. Ours don’t tend too die during lambing. I can only remember 1 doing it in my time! Die for a host of other reasons... yes of course, but not ones I could do a lot about! Like you say, you get lambs born dead, it happens! Yes it would be handy too be there and do a straight wet adoption, but a good nights sleep is handy too and just put her in an adopter pen with a pair of triplets before feeding and carry on. I think a lot of the time lambing is as hard as you make it.
(Although we only tried lambing 7/8 bred texels once then we culled the entire batch. NEVER AGAIN)
I know we all differ on this point but for me this is why I like my mules, spit them out and just get on with it! If the weathers right the buggers will be outside again too!!
I bet you don’t, Tis always morning when they lamb early morning imo .Our ewes at home lambing indoors are left 11pm- 5am.
We don't have many lambing between those times either.