Out door lambing

[Devil's advocate]

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

Yes was only saying on Friday to a farmer friend who agreed, those accidents always seem to be ok, yet if we did it on purpose would be a blood bath.

 

[Devil's advocate]

The shed thing, we really need another, but for before end of January for machinery.

By late Feb we have sold potatoes, hay & straw & if we jiggle things around we have lots of space.

Different for every farmer, but I would be mad not to take advantage of that, we are 1st March this year.

 

[Jerry]

How I spent a few days of lambing last Feb....

just sat in quad watching things happen.

(bet that’s put the mokkers on this years fun!)

 

[neilo]

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.

To be fair, April lambing on a sandy farm is going to end in tears in the summer, when the grass burns up and the pasture quality falls off a cliff. Horses for courses and all that.?

 

[Nithsdale]

I've seen me finished lambing then hit with snowdrifts in April hurting guys lambing later. We had snow here in May a couple years ago and there's stories of snow on the hill when shearing in June... Dad has stories from 1981 - he lost a hell of a lot of 3-5 week old lambs in early May in huge snow drifts. He spent a week just digging out the dykes.

I've seen me wishing I had lambed in February because it was cracking weather, better than March April and May combined.

Point is you can get totally f**ked over by the weather at any time of the year.
Figure out when suits you/your farm/your system and just go with it. Sometimes things are well and truly out of your hands - regardless of a Plan B or C.

I don't have a vacant shed to lamb in and I don't see the costs tallying up to make it worth me doing it. Yes, I'll lose a few more lambs, probably - but I'm doing 600 ewes alone. I just couldn't do that inside...

The laws of averages I do very well lambing when I do - and any year it has been bad, I've never been the worst off when others say what they've been through

 

[Jerry]

To be fair, April lambing on a sandy farm is going to end in tears in the summer, when the grass burns up and the pasture quality falls off a cliff. Horses for courses and all that.?

Very true.

I have get the lambs away to a good start. Last few years grass is going back come May.

( fed more haylage in August 2018 than I did all following winter)

currently where the ewes go post lambing theres shed loads of grass.

biggest change 24 months ago was new clover based leys on arable ground and this years challenge is rotational grazing on old perm pasture.

 

[Al R]

Very true.

I have get the lambs away to a good start. Last few years grass is going back come May.

( fed more haylage in August 2018 than I did all following w

currently where the ewes go post there shed loads of grass.

biggest change 24 months was new clover based leys on arable ground and this years challenge is rotational grazing on old perm pasture.

I’m the same I burn up early to.
i fed more haylage last August in the 2019 drought that I have so far this winter.

 

[ford4000]

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!

. Shut up fields early enough and you'll have grass , starting to lamb here in 2 weeks, it will be my 3rd time lambing indoors after 28 outdoor lambing. Which is best? Lambing outside in good weather, worst is lambing outdoors in bad weather!!
I spend more time lambing inside, but it's easier work, and I can lamb them by myself now. No Dragging a shearling out of a ditch after she's run away from her lamb, or racing around trying to beat the ravens who would peck the lambs eyes and tounge while it was being pushed out

 

[Farmer_Joe]

ha ha ive got grass shut 30 + acres off in nov, but it would not take them long to eat it off, if its not regrowing at a decent rate.

I konw what you saying though, ive scanned and have then in decent areas where there not to bad to catch.

 

[unlacedgecko]

ha ha ive got grass shut 30 + acres off in nov, but it would not take them long to eat it off, if its not regrowing at a decent rate.

I konw what you saying though, ive scanned and have then in decent areas where there not to bad to catch.

Catch dogs are invaluable at lambing time. They're pretty useful the rest of the time as well.

 

[ford4000]

Catch dogs are invaluable at lambing time. They're pretty useful the rest of the time as well.

One of my dogs would knock a lamb over and lie on him to stop him escaping till I got there.... But sometimes he would get off and nudge the lamb with his nose just before I got there so he could catch the lamb again.... He enjoyed it too much. Wish I had filmed it, he's 14 now and got that old dog talent of standing in gates when you want to take sheep through

 

[spark_28]

doesnt matter here if its march april or may with weather. this winter though has been awful, just water everywhere. id love a shed to put them in till may then chuck them out to lamb, probably save money but would also do wonders for my morale

 

[cotswoldcs]

Wow I am envious of that grass @ford4000. I don't think we could grow that much grass until Mid April here regardless of when it was shut off.

 

[neilo]

Wow I am envious of that grass @ford4000. I don't think we could grow that much grass until Mid April here regardless of when it was shut off.

My lambing paddocks have been shut up since the beginning of November, and don’t have a fraction of that on! The ryegrass leys, shut up since Christmas, are a bit greener, but still way behind that.

 

[ford4000]

Wow I am envious of that grass @ford4000. I don't think we could grow that much grass until Mid April here regardless of when it was shut off.

770 feet hight there, this was grazed off 3 weeks ago and greening up nicely again. Should be good grass for Hoggs and lambs in mid April. Only 400 feet though

 

[SteveHants]

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.

I dunno, even in the balmy tropics of the Hampshire/Dorset border, I put off lambing until April.....

 

[Jerry]

Ewes moved onto lambing paddocks yesterday. This is a 16mt old ley with loads of clover in it.

grazed up to Christmas with stores.

dry enough to tootle around with the merlo this morning doing a little fencing with out making a mark ??

Not so balmy here today though. Cold wind!!

 

[Devil's advocate]

Ewes moved onto lambing paddocks yesterday. This is a 16mt old ley with loads of clover in it.

grazed up to Christmas with stores.

dry enough to tootle around with the merlo this morning doing a little fencing with out making a mark ??

Not so balmy here today though. Cold wind!!




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Well done

My first reaction was that beggar should have his SFP taken off him & given to the rest of us, lol.

Nice red soil in the background, amazing you can travel with the merlo.

 

[Al R]

Ewes moved onto lambing paddocks yesterday. This is a 16mt old ley with loads of clover in it.

grazed up to Christmas with stores.

dry enough to tootle around with the merlo this morning doing a little fencing with out making a mark ??

Not so balmy here today though. Cold wind!!




View attachment 857909View attachment 857910

I measured well over 3,200kg/dm/ha on some fields that were grazed until January 6th.. the winds have taken 5-800kg/dm/ha off most of the farm in 2 days now mind. Ewes will be going on them from next Monday.

This picture was Sunday afternoon on Turnip ground during a “storm”

 

[Jerry]

I measured well over 3,200kg/dm/ha on some fields that were grazed until January 6th.. the winds have taken 5-800kg/dm/ha off most of the farm in 2 days now mind. Ewes will be going on them from next Monday.

This picture was Sunday afternoon on Turnip ground during a “storm”
View attachment 857976

I’m not looking forward to the weekend forecast. Looks like we could take up to 20mm of rain.