Out door lambing

[Devil's advocate]

Every year we get posters on here telling us indoor lambers, what idiots we are. Indoor lambers spend too much on sheds, labour, medicines & some argue we are on the edge of going senile & our land should be taken off us & given to keen new starters because we are so stupid.

However get a day like today, the out door lambers will be moaning about freak weather how unlucky they are. If the indoor lambers don't offer condolences we are kicking a Man when he is down.

The truth is the weather is unpreditable & lambing outside is Russian roulette. A back up plan is needed even if not used every year.

 

[Al R]

Every year we get posters on here telling us indoor lambers, what idiots we are. Indoor lambers spend too much on sheds, labour, medicines & some argue we are on the edge of going senile & our land should be taken off us & given to keen new starters because we are so stupid.

However get a day like today, the out door lambers will be moaning about freak weather how unlucky they are. If the indoor lambers don't offer condolences we are kicking a Man when he is down.

The truth is the weather is unpreditable & lambing outside is Russian roulette. A back up plan is needed even if not used every year.

I’ve got charolais/texel and BFL lambs out They don’t get kept for breeding if they don’t survive a few storms each year..... I do have 5 BFL lambs under 24 hours old which are still in mind. Having a backup plan for a short period/48hours is very handy, small fields makes a world of a difference mind and next to the hedge on a day like today would be healthier than bringing/having them in.

 

[Bury the Trash]

little bit early for outdoor lambing but then again we used to lamb Suffolk x outdoors from December on in the old days , then that progressed to running them in at night, which is a fair compromise.did not have bikes in them days either.

otherwise its the disease and space aspect that's the difference. how can the economics of a breeding ewe flock justify the cost of sheds ?

Prophylactic Ab use for the job is a no no for the future That's for sure.

 

[neilo]

Every year we get posters on here telling us indoor lambers, what idiots we are. Indoor lambers spend too much on sheds, labour, medicines & some argue we are on the edge of going senile & our land should be taken off us & given to keen new starters because we are so stupid.

However get a day like today, the out door lambers will be moaning about freak weather how unlucky they are. If the indoor lambers don't offer condolences we are kicking a Man when he is down.

The truth is the weather is unpreditable & lambing outside is Russian roulette. A back up plan is needed even if not used every year.

Isn’t that why most sensible outdoor lambing flocks time the job to coincide with warmer conditions, when grass is (usually) coming on. Having made the change, I despise the work of lambing my earlier flocks indoors, and breath a sigh of relief when I hit April 1st, and start the outdoor mob.
I wouldn’t dream of trying to lamb outdoors any earlier than that though, but then I’m not farming at the seaside.

 

[beardface]

Every year we get posters on here telling us indoor lambers, what idiots we are. Indoor lambers spend too much on sheds, labour, medicines & some argue we are on the edge of going senile & our land should be taken off us & given to keen new starters because we are so stupid.

However get a day like today, the out door lambers will be moaning about freak weather how unlucky they are. If the indoor lambers don't offer condolences we are kicking a Man when he is down.

The truth is the weather is unpreditable & lambing outside is Russian roulette. A back up plan is needed even if not used every year.

Until your sheds flood and you e got no grass or dry ground to turn out too. Whereas lambing out in April just before spring rise.......

 

[Devil's advocate]

Isn’t that why most sensible outdoor lambing flocks time the job to coincide with warmer conditions, when grass is (usually) coming on. Having made the change, I despise the work of lambing my earlier flocks indoors, and breath a sigh of relief when I hit April 1st, and start the outdoor mob.
I wouldn’t dream of trying to lamb outdoors any earlier than that though, but then I’m not farming at the seaside.

I do agree with Neils comments

But even April can produce a nasty suprise.

I'm certainly not anti outdoor lambing just think it is cost effective to have a plan B.

Have never used antibitoics on new born lambs as routine. Just ewes with problems such as prolapse, abortion, mastitis or difficult lambing. I do have my own straw, I admit that helps.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

1st april for me out side, indoor ok but i dont have huge sheds and surely if you lamb now you have to cake sheep for ages as these no grass? = More cost and less return on lamb plus slower growth and all vacinations/labour required for indoor lambing,

dont add up for me.

but your right any time can have bad weather, you just hope its better by april!

 

[Al R]

I do agree with Neils comments

But even April can produce a nasty suprise.

I'm certainly not anti outdoor lambing just think it is cost effective to have a plan B.

Have never used antibitoics on new born lambs as routine. Just ewes with problems such as prolapse, abortion, mastitis or difficult lambing. I do have my own straw, I admit that helps.

I’ve got all my twins and triplets on turnip’s and green crop yet still got 15t of cereals in the shed as a backup, 2018 we thought we were doing well and the beast from the east took all of the grass, meaning we snackered cereals to the twins post lambing for the first time ever.

my grass was too strong yeaterday with covers exceeding 3,000kg/dm/ha and it was grazed hard before January 6th, in a few days time I’ll have to re evaluate how much grass this storm has wiped out before the ewes hit it next Monday pre lambing.

Btw nothing is crept even my ram breeding flock which are already on the fields.
the last 4 years March has been better weather than April down here..

 

[It was already broken.]

All lambs tucked up nice an warm in ewes tummies at present and on the turnips. They will start to appear from 19th April. No straw, no shed, no feed to move, only labour moving a feed fence once every few days. Spent the day round a friends for lunch. Certainly no stress here.

 

[Devil's advocate]

Until your sheds flood and you e got no grass or dry ground to turn out too. Whereas lambing out in April just before spring rise.......

If my shed floods, it will be the end of civillsation, pretty much top of a hill at 700 foot. I lamb March, if we can't turn out, we gradually make more space in the hay/straw barn & move into there to reduce stocking rate. I've had Feb lambs inside for 6 weeks with few problems.

Lambing date is up to the farmer really to suit his conditions. Many arable farmers like to lamb early, before they get busy with arable work & sell lambs before harvest.

Also we all gain from a long season of lamb sales.

 

[Devil's advocate]

All lambs tucked up nice an warm in ewes tummies at present and on the turnips. They will start to appear from 19th April. No straw, no shed, no feed to move, only labour moving a feed fence once every few days. Spent the day round a friends for lunch. Certainly no stress here.

Late lambing can be a very good system, high output low input. Again not for everyone, it would clash with field work too much here.

 

[neilo]

I do agree with Neils comments

But even April can produce a nasty suprise.

The advantage of a nasty surprise in April is that it's generally warmer, the days are longer and there is a forage growing underfoot that is better feed for a ruminant than anything you could possibly buy in a bag.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You dont lamb outdoors in 1st week off Feb . Come back with your speach in March

 

[neilo]

Late lambing can be a very good system, high output low input. Again not for everyone, it would clash with field work too much here.

That's the key to making the whole farm work better, not just one specific enterprise. Everything has to fit into place, and what you might lose from increased input costs for your sheep, you will hopefully be making back from the other work you are doing in April. For me, lambing outdoors in April means that I can do the lambing rounds, and also sit on a tractor getting Spring corn sorted out between times. I certainly couldn't do that, as a one man band, if I was lambing the same number indoors, as well as looking after my earlier lambed pedigree flocks.

I am still looking to gradually increase numbers in my outdoor lambing flock, but I wouldn't entertain increasing numbers lambing indoors.

 

[M-J-G]

Situations vary, if you are lambing outdoors you need everyone involved to be skilled and probably have suitable dogs.

There are advantages, no need for a shed is the big one, particularly if you don't have one!
No need for carrying water, bedding, penning up ewes and all the time spent turning out is very attractive.

If you already have a shed, lambing indoors is more of an option.
I've seen corrals made with up with square bales next to a shed, with small pens indoors.
If you are lambing indoors you can make use of more help that's less skilled like vet students, kids or an older individual, but obviously you have more need for them.

You'll likely save a few more lambs indoors that might have been lost at birth and you won't have as many succumb to the weather, but day old lambs that were born inside can die when they get turned out too, and often more so than day old lamb's that were born outside.

It's all a balance of labour, facilities and weather conditions.

 

[neilo]

You dont lamb outdoors in 1st week off Feb . Come back with your speach in March

Some do, but they are generally in those places where they have grass growing all winter. If I had that here, I'd take advantage of it too. Every farm is different and we have to make the most of what we've got.

 

[Nithsdale]

Every year we get posters on here telling us indoor lambers, what idiots we are. Indoor lambers spend too much on sheds, labour, medicines & some argue we are on the edge of going senile & our land should be taken off us & given to keen new starters because we are so stupid.

However get a day like today, the out door lambers will be moaning about freak weather how unlucky they are. If the indoor lambers don't offer condolences we are kicking a Man when he is down.

The truth is the weather is unpreditable & lambing outside is Russian roulette. A back up plan is needed even if not used every year.

I would have had no fears lambing outside in that last night.
Don't use sh*tty soft breeds.








The number of flooded out lambing sheds I've seen on Instagram and Facebook today, there's plenty feeling pain today even with a roof over them.

 

[Jerry]

One key point for lambing outside that is often overlooked......soil type.

I’m lucky to have light sandy soil that drains quickly. In Feb / Mar it’s a big advantage and allows me to lamb outside....start in weeks time.

Yes I’m close to the coast and that helps but dry underfoot is another plus point.

I do have pens set up ready for issues but expect the ewes to do the hard bit.....but will pop on lamb macs.

Oh and that’s mainly Charolaise rams on Lleyns.

 

[spin cycle]

i had a few 'accidents' dec/jan......born outside i was surprised to find them alive some mornings......i imagine if you've good grass and kind weather there's nothing better......but a spell of horrible weather would be heartbreaking

 

[lloyd]

You need an emergency plan b for it to work well.
Last year I brought in 18 ewes with lambs just born on one day.
The weather that day was cold and very wet and alot of the newborn texel x
lambs would not have made it through.
On a perfect run of days with the wild vermin under control you can't beat
outdoors but things can turn nasty sometimes.