Recording data for sheep

[Wood field]

Something I’ve never done really, not sure where to start and what to record, we had our own ways of ear notching females and then picking the best to keep, occasionally ear tagging things such as twin females.
As an example, we just scanned our moor ewes and picked up on a hogg that was bagged up, next day she had a nice gimmer lamb , she’s a brilliant mother , milky and possessive of her lamb, what traits and how would we record ?
Ps I am a bit of a technophobe, although we have a basic Eid reader

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Something I’ve never done really, not sure where to start and what to record, we had our own ways of ear notching females and then picking the best to keep, occasionally ear tagging things such as twin females.
As an example, we just scanned our moor ewes and picked up on a hogg that was bagged up, next day she had a nice gimmer lamb , she’s a brilliant mother , milky and possessive of her lamb, what traits and how would we record ?
Ps I am a bit of a technophobe, although we have a basic Eid reader

Ear notch gimmer lambs from twins and triplets that lamb easily , then pull the biggest you like the look of out at weaning, also mark any treated for lameness and don’t keep them. I think you fast get into the law of diminishing returns doing a lot more

 

[Wood field]

Ear notch gimmer lambs from twins and triplets that lamb easily , then pull the biggest you like the look of out at weaning, also mark any treated for lameness and don’t keep them. I think you fast get into the law of diminishing returns doing a lot more

Pretty much what we’re doing

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Pretty much what we’re doing

I’ll probably get shot down for it

 

[Wood field]

I’ll probably get shot down for it

Why though… keep it simple
I am probably overthinking it , what we do and what you describe is a nice simple way

 

[Macsky]

Ear notch gimmer lambs from twins and triplets that lamb easily , then pull the biggest you like the look of out at weaning, also mark any treated for lameness and don’t keep them. I think you fast get into the law of diminishing returns doing a lot more

Do you ear notch them as they’re born?

 

[Wood field]

Do you ear notch them as they’re born?

I don’t know about @Aspiring Peasants but we notch all gimmers on the end of the left ear , and all lambs are double notched upper left ear as our flock mark , tend to do them as we’re ringing males and tailing the lot

 

[tr250]

We don’t have any computerised system and I’m not sure
A) we want to learn about the computer program

B) have the time to do it properly I can see it taking another half person in the lambing shed.

C) I’m not sure we would get close enough for the outdoor ones.

our system is the first fat is best and anything that pisxes us off gets culled.
currently struggling like hell with smallenburg and too be honest feels like it throws every management system out the window because it’s almost an act of god the only thing we can think of is dipping at tupping might help

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Do you ear notch them as they’re born?

When they’re ringed in first 24 hours

 

[Wood field]

We don’t have any computerised system and I’m not sure
A) we want to learn about the computer program

B) have the time to do it properly I can see it taking another half person in the lambing shed.

C) I’m not sure we would get close enough for the outdoor ones.

our system is the first fat is best and anything that pisxes us off gets culled.
currently struggling like hell with smallenburg and too be honest feels like it throws every management system out the window because it’s almost an act of god the only thing we can think of is dipping at tupping might help

We’re very fortunate ( in a way ) that being high up and bleak , the midges are long gone so , so far , have never suffered smallenburg, We do dip two weeks before tupping as well
Best wishes to you , it must be soul destroying

 

[Macsky]

When they’re ringed in first 24 hours

Do they bleed much? Blood on white lambs attracts winged vermin here

 

[tr250]

We’re very fortunate ( in a way ) that being high up and bleak , the midges are long gone so , so far , have never suffered smallenburg, We do dip two weeks before tupping as well
Best wishes to you , it must be soul destroying

Thanks yes it’s hard wouldn’t say we’re soppy sorts but it’s seeing what the ewes have to go through to get them out my son had to watch us shoehorn the most horrid looking ridged things out of a ewe earlier so she’s a chance of living and I pulled one out 2 days ago with its head completely set back. . We havnt actually lost a ewe to it yet and most we’ve managed to hang a lamb or 2 on and as soon as they are rid of them they go on fine so we not overly fussed on financial losses

 

[Jonp]

I've got a ludite system.
Ram lambs blue on back of neck.
Ewe lambs red on rump.
Twin ewe lambs get red on neck as well as on rump.

 

[Wood field]

I've got a ludite system.
Ram lambs blue on back of neck.
Ewe lambs red on rump.
Twin ewe lambs get red on neck as well as on rump.

I am probably over thinking it, I think rather than notch all the gimmers, I’ll just do twins as suggested above , then at year end select the keepers from the notched lambs

 

[Aspiring Peasants]

Do they bleed much? Blood on white lambs attracts winged vermin here

Never had a problem

 

[Hill Ground]

Do they bleed much? Blood on white lambs attracts winged vermin here

I think they bleed less when they're new born. Notched lambs seen to bleed much less than the ewes that get a cull notch.

I am probably over thinking it, I think rather than notch all the gimmers, I’ll just do twins as suggested above , then at year end select the keepers from the notched lambs

That's what we do. Anything that's a twin, that is no trouble, with a ewe that is attentive gets a notch.

You have to do plenty though to be able to be picky when your drawing them later in the year.

 

[Wood field]

A spot of blue spray soon stems any bleeding
On lambs

 

[Global ovine]

There is very little to be gained by recording traits in a commercial flock if culling of unproductive breeding ewes is a routine practice.
The traits which give the most bang for buck are; reproductive rate (twinning), lamb survival, growth to six weeks, growth to 14 weeks, then conformation.
The first two have very low heritability, therefore slow improvement can be made, but most importantly, if new rams with no comparative hard data about their genetic background (unrecorded) are introduced into the flock, the effort of recording anything can be completely nullified.

Large flock improvements can be made by sourcing sires from flocks of known genetic superiority. The improvement of commercial traits that affect flock profitability is solely the prerogative of the ram breeder. That person holds the flock owners future, as a ram is an investment in the future. In the case of maternal breeds, that can extend out more than 9 years directly from its progeny.

Improving genetics per generation is one of the only ways to inflation proof a flock's profitability. Find a breeder that is improving those things that pay. The difference between good and poor genetics can be 2 to 3 times the amount of pasture (and grub) consumed to get the same saleable result.
Leave the improvement to the switched on breeders and record any offenders so they no longer contribute to the flock gene pool.

 

[Norfolk Hill Farmer]

Dot on the neck at 24 hours for males, and and females who need intervention at lambing. Dot on the rump for ” keeper “ female’s then ear tag at the end of lambing, before the dots have worn off. Single tag in lower part of left ear for slaughter, double tag in top part of both ears for keeper. Hopefully then if they loose a tag we can still put them in the right category.
Stripe down the back for slaughter, of any keeper that doesn’t grow,goes daggy, or lame during the summer.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Something I’ve never done really, not sure where to start and what to record, we had our own ways of ear notching females and then picking the best to keep, occasionally ear tagging things such as twin females.
As an example, we just scanned our moor ewes and picked up on a hogg that was bagged up, next day she had a nice gimmer lamb , she’s a brilliant mother , milky and possessive of her lamb, what traits and how would we record ?
Ps I am a bit of a technophobe, although we have a basic Eid reader

Just wondering,
Do you buy in breeding ewes or just the rams ?

and will be a bit different trying to keep to a certain type for the high ground ie moor or Hill i guess.

and do you you sell breeders as well as meat lambs ?


Lots of commercial flocks around just buy in female breeders (ie Mules) so it would be a bit of waste of time for them doing anything more than just what the Ewe herself is about negatively ie prolapsed, mastitis, tight pelvis etc .
but for those breeding them breeders to sell ,well that's a different matter .


sorry not meaning to stir up a hornets nest. just very interested in the subject and how it fits in with reality at that all important lambing time in particular,

trouble is Anything else (like tagging etc)to do other than basics a particularly busy time is not going to get done without at least a bit more time consumed but there again modern kit is fantastic and the early connection of lamb with dam is so useful ,particularly in working out actually what weight of lamb (meat) she is producing..