Outdoor lambing system

[BigSteve]

First time outdoor lambing 300 in April. Lowland Devon. Not yet using software etc. so can choose any system.
Want to leave them alone as much as we can (reading @TimW). Will check regular and get involved if lambs/ewe in trouble, but if all doing well how 'hands off' we should aim for?

How much does everyone else handle ewe/lamb if outdoor lambing:
Just watch and only handle if ewe/lamb in trouble?
Catch new lambs just to spray number ?
Catch new lambs to ring tails & nuts?
Catch new lambs to ring tails & nuts, EID tag lambs, pair up tagged lambs with mothers for lamb linking etc etc
All thoughts welcome...

 

[SteveHants]

Depends on what your focus is.
If breeding replacements then you will probably want to collect data on the performance of the dam in order to decide who to keep. That will almost certainly mean tagging /spraying the ewe lambs at least at birth.
If not, then I'd only get involved when the ewe needed help lambing and then leave them alone until weaning (if I could get away with it - fly treatment notwithstanding).

I ran two flocks - "neucleus" GP flock for replacements and "commercial" flock producing three way cross lambs for the fat market. The commercial lambs were barely touched until weaning - I found the less I did, the better/quicker they grew.
I would, of course have been monitoring them "internally" by performing regular FECs.

 

[Woolless]

I have to catch lambs for tagging in the performance recorded flock. Usually number them as well, when I have them. If they weren't recorded, I would leave them to it. Having said that, if I was breeding my own replacements without full recording then I would want some way of identifying ewe lambs that I didn't want to breed from.

As you say, the main decision is whether to ring and tail. I ring and tail the commercial singles but I leave the twins and do them after lambing. I just don't like the idea of the disruption. But a good few on here do them at the time.

 

[scottish-lleyn]

Catch every lamb here and double tag replacement and single tag anything else link to mother and ring tails and balls. Dont bother with numbers on them now unless they have caused me trouble easyer to spot them then. Actually i number all the hoggs lambs aswell. These jobs take up most of my day so i dont want any trouble to deal with thats where the recording pays off in the long term.

 

[Nithsdale]

Drive round and just watch. If a ewe is lambing, leave her be! Unless, ofcourse, it's obvious she's having difficulty. If you see a ewe looking like lambing you're unsure about, leave her and take a mental note and check her next time round... if no farther on, intervene.

No software here.
Once I'm happy lambs have sucked and had a good feed they get rubber banded and twins numbered.

The mob I keep ewe lambs from, if I have to touch the ewe at all - she gets demoted to the other mob and her lambs killed fat. That's all the recording you need to do


The weather will sort itself out, so don't stress too much (because there's nothing you can do about it).

 

[glensman]

Drive round and just watch. If a ewe is lambing, leave her be! Unless, ofcourse, it's obvious she's having difficulty. If you see a ewe looking like lambing you're unsure about, leave her and take a mental note and check her next time round... if no farther on, intervene.

No software here.
Once I'm happy lambs have sucked and had a good feed they get rubber banded and twins numbered.

The mob I keep ewe lambs from, if I have to touch the ewe at all - she gets demoted to the other mob and her lambs killed fat. That's all the recording you need to do


The weather will sort itself out, so don't stress too much (because there's nothing you can do about it).

How do you identify the ewe from the breeding flock, do you tag her or ear notch?

 

[Bill dog]

Any ewe lambs born as a twin that are born unaided, and unassisted get an ear notch. I normally ring at 12 hrs old ( ish) , so I can catch them. They are my replacements to choose from . As they grow any that get dirty/ lame etc get a Roxan plain white management tag, or another ear notch and they go cull. Ewes that let the side down ( this can be for various reasons ), get the white tag !
Toying with the idea of ringing as a mob once they have finished lambing , but not sure if this is the right thing to do. I wonder if just doing it at 12 hrs old will save the hassle .
Anyone on here do a post lambing tailing ??
Probably most of our kiwi/ Aus friends !

 

[HarryB97]

I help them if required but otherwise leave them alone. If a ewe in the maternal group requires assistance/has a problem for anything throughout the year I put a purple tag in the back of the left ear so next year it will be downgraded to the terminal sire group. Her ewe lambs get a slaughter tag so I don't keep them as replacements. It's a very simple system as I don't see the point in recording everything electronically, if it has a problem it gets a pruple tag job done the reason is irrelevant. Any ewe in the terminal group which has a second problem gets a red tag in the back of the year to go as a cull.

 

[Nithsdale]

How do you identify the ewe from the breeding flock, do you tag her or ear notch?

I run separate flocks.

'hill' which my ewe lambs are bred from
'commercial' which run in bye and all lambs are killed from.

They never get mixed.

Tight selection as gimmers when entering the flock as to which goes where, then first lambing sorts out problem ewes

 

[Nithsdale]

How do you identify the ewe from the breeding flock, do you tag her or ear notch?

Just thought - do you mean a ewe I want to demote down to commercial, to cull her lambs?

She gets put in the bike trailer and moved to the other flock. (Or if she's had to come to the shed, she gets marked so I know where I'm putting her).

Any ewe which needs culled ASAP gets an extra, blank, non-eid tag put in its ear

 

[Woolless]

Any ewe lambs born as a twin that are born unaided, and unassisted get an ear notch. I normally ring at 12 hrs old ( ish) , so I can catch them. They are my replacements to choose from . As they grow any that get dirty/ lame etc get a Roxan plain white management tag, or another ear notch and they go cull. Ewes that let the side down ( this can be for various reasons ), get the white tag !
Toying with the idea of ringing as a mob once they have finished lambing , but not sure if this is the right thing to do. I wonder if just doing it at 12 hrs old will save the hassle .
Anyone on here do a post lambing tailing ??
Probably most of our kiwi/ Aus friends !

Yes, I tail and castrate the commercial (Hamp x mainly) twins post-lambing. Keep them in their lambing fields, so there's usually about 60 ewes plus lambs to run in to the prattley. Tails done with hot iron, castration done by mini burdizzos or ring if smaller. Local anaesthetic beforehand.

 

[SteveHants]

Any ewe lambs born as a twin that are born unaided, and unassisted get an ear notch. I normally ring at 12 hrs old ( ish) , so I can catch them. They are my replacements to choose from . As they grow any that get dirty/ lame etc get a Roxan plain white management tag, or another ear notch and they go cull. Ewes that let the side down ( this can be for various reasons ), get the white tag !
Toying with the idea of ringing as a mob once they have finished lambing , but not sure if this is the right thing to do. I wonder if just doing it at 12 hrs old will save the hassle .
Anyone on here do a post lambing tailing ??
Probably most of our kiwi/ Aus friends !

I just didn't tail them.

Seemed to work fine - no loss of revenue as far as I noticed.

 

[Bob the beef]

Much the same as above. If the ewe managing fine leave her to it and don't go near. If I have to intervene depending on the severity of the problem she may get a non eid blue tag which sends her on a way one way trip
All docking done 2-3 weeks after lambing.

Have NCC ewes on hill where all my replacements are bred, any, but the simplest intervention gets a blue tag.

Standing joke among wife and kids if they misbehave......Dads got a blue tag ready

 

[Jerry]

What’s everyone’s night time regime?

I tend to do last round at dusk to see if anything is going on.

Then leave them in peace till hour before sun up

It’s a bit of a leap of faith and you need to trust your ewes and have the right rams.

 

[SteveHants]

Always left them alone in the dark. Checks an hour after dawn and at dusk.

 

[Bill dog]

As @SteveHants says!

 

[edn]

Check them in the morning and late afternoon- tag/tail/move off morning born in the afternoon, afternoon born in the following morning. No software here, pen and paper records. Don't lamb them unless absolutely needed (hung lambs etc.) If there are issues I find putting a pen up around them in the field rather than dragging them into a barn is one way to deal with it.

You have to trust your sheep!

 

[Woolless]

What’s everyone’s night time regime?

I tend to do last round at dusk to see if anything is going on.

Then leave them in peace till hour before sun up

It’s a bit of a leap of faith and you need to trust your ewes and have the right rams.

Head out for last check after tea/before dusk. Afternoon check I'll be sussing out or sorting any problems so that last check is hopefully a quick ride round.

 

[glensman]

Just thought - do you mean a ewe I want to demote down to commercial, to cull her lambs?

She gets put in the bike trailer and moved to the other flock. (Or if she's had to come to the shed, she gets marked so I know where I'm putting her).

Any ewe which needs culled ASAP gets an extra, blank, non-eid tag put in its ear

Yes, a ewe you were going to demote, if you're moving her straight away then there is no need for a mark. I just wondered if you ear notched or not as a tag or a mark could go missing.

 

[neilo]

Catch every lamb here and double tag replacement and single tag anything else link to mother and ring tails and balls. Dont bother with numbers on them now unless they have caused me trouble easyer to spot them then. Actually i number all the hoggs lambs aswell. These jobs take up most of my day so i dont want any trouble to deal with thats where the recording pays off in the long term.

Exactly the same here, apart from tagging the slaughter lambs (which I do as they leave the farm instead).

I don’t number any lambs unless they come in the shed for some reason. Spray cans cost money.....