Routine for lambing outside

[Bluesman]

Am considering lambing everything outside next year and would like to know how people cope with spraying navels, tagging, weighing, numbering etc. We are Pedigree and Signet recorded (and sit on the right hand of the devil) so just wondering how to cope best. What routine works best, that is after you have chased a Shearling half way round the county to help her lamb.

 

[Bones]

I lambed outside this year, was going to ring tails, scratch for orf, ear tag ewe lambs out of good ewes ,all that sort of thing, but after chasing the first lambed ewe and here lambs around a field and not being able to catch the lambs , I just let them get on with it , keep it natural and tried not to disturb any of them,

 

[neilo]

I ring all lambs at birth, and tag/record all potential replacements (by my maternal rams) at the same time. I have already entered service sire data to each ewe at tupping, so just read the ewe's EID tag with the Psion, then allocate the lambs to her as I tag them. I don't weigh them, but do enter an approximate birth weight. That flock isn't recorded with Signet, but do record the same birth info.

I catch & record the lambs as soon as possible after birth, and certainly less than 12 hours, or they'd be off too fast. I don't treat navels, no need to lambing outside.

Of course, you do need placid sheep that don't run off as soon as they see you approaching, and good enough maternal qualities that they don't leg it without their lambs, or can't count to two. Some people with more standoff'ish ewes spray numbers on their sides, or use big visual ear tags.

 

[AftonShepherd]

I ring all lambs at birth, and tag/record all potential replacements (by my maternal rams) at the same time. I have already entered service sire data to each ewe at tupping, so just read the ewe's EID tag with the Psion, then allocate the lambs to her as I tag them. I don't weigh them, but do enter an approximate birth weight. That flock isn't recorded with Signet, but do record the same birth info.

I catch & record the lambs as soon as possible after birth, and certainly less than 12 hours, or they'd be off too fast. I don't treat navels, no need to lambing outside.

Of course, you do need placid sheep that don't run off as soon as they see you approaching, and good enough maternal qualities that they don't leg it without their lambs, or can't count to two. Some people with more standoff'ish ewes spray numbers on their sides, or use big visual ear tags.

Was about to say you'd need a blooming long extension on the Psion to read an eartag on most of my ewes. Not that that's a good thing, but at least it keeps my dogs fit.

 

[scottish-lleyn]

We tag and ring all the lambs within a few hours of birth usually easier to catch that way. If the ewe runs through the crate after lambing and flags up as not recorded at lambing i cull her at weaning if lambs run through untagged they are also shed of with the killer lambs at weaning. Some will just have been missed but these will also have long tails so may be given a repreave but rarely. I like a ewe to be standing close enough to smell her breath when im processing her lambs and most of them do now but it does take a few years of hard work and selection before you get to the stage when you can just cruise around marking lambs and doing very little else.

 

[Green farmer]

I've all mine in 5 acre paddocks. Keep everything unlambed in paddocks. Walk paddocks in the morning and move anything lambed overnight to a adjoining paddock with lambed sheep. tail the lambs at this stage. If their too fresh, I'll leave until later in the day. I can also spot trouble and apply cull tags etc. Bit of work, but with only 150'ish ewes it ain't bad. I can see unlambed paddocks emptying out as we'll and monitor for difficulties etc.

 

[puppet]

Am considering lambing everything outside next year and would like to know how people cope with spraying navels, tagging, weighing, numbering etc. We are Pedigree and Signet recorded (and sit on the right hand of the devil) so just wondering how to cope best. What routine works best, that is after you have chased a Shearling half way round the county to help her lamb.

We are not recording apart from keeping twins and singles separate and the red neck of death in another field. As Neilo says no need for iodine. A good dog helps to catch lambs but our main method is to set up a pen through a gate and quite easy to drive them in each day to ring. Less stressful for man and beast.
I can often catch the first lamb in the field but by the time it is rung the ewe and lamb are 200 yards away and the chase starts again.

 

[HarryB97]

I have my best group of pure Exlanas then another group of not so good ewes to a terminal sire. Any ewe which ever needs any help of any sort throughout the year gets a purple tag in the back of their left ear and will go in the terminal sire group. Once you are in this group you can never move back to the pure group. Any ewe in the pure group which require help at lambing will get a slaughter tag put in their lambs so they arnt kept as replacements. Keep it simple if a ewe never requires any help or is never lame or gets stuck on their back etc then dont record, if their is an issue just move it to a b group and sell all the lambs from that group fat.

 

[Tim W]

Am considering lambing everything outside next year and would like to know how people cope with spraying navels, tagging, weighing, numbering etc. We are Pedigree and Signet recorded (and sit on the right hand of the devil) so just wondering how to cope best. What routine works best, that is after you have chased a Shearling half way round the county to help her lamb.

Been doing this for 30 years & the best advice is leave them alone as much as possible
I have a few hurdles handy in case i need to catch anything but generally try to leave them be
Start at about 7.30am at the moment ---quick drive round and check that everyone is ok--i have sprayed numbers on the ewes before lambing so i can tell which ewe lambed on which date
Tagging depends on the location
1) on enclosed fields ---Every few days i run ewes and lambs into a pen (5 or 6 ewes at a time) tag the lambs etc
2) On extensive downlands i try to catch the things within 24 hrs and tag them ---there is always a few that get away on the steep ground but i get them later

I don't dip navels ---it's out doors and ''clean'' so no need
I don't tail or castrate anything
If it's raining take a quick look round and then go home for the day ---lambs don't like being hassled in the wet (and neither do i)

I follow this routine for all stock---maternal and terminal sires (all Signet recorded)

Try to have a look round in the afternoons too if i can & go home before the sun comes down
I'm usually in by 6pm

 

[Bones]

Been doing this for 30 years & the best advice is leave them alone as much as possible
I have a few hurdles handy in case i need to catch anything but generally try to leave them be
Start at about 7.30am at the moment ---quick drive round and check that everyone is ok--i have sprayed numbers on the ewes before lambing so i can tell which ewe lambed on which date
Tagging depends on the location
1) on enclosed fields ---Every few days i run ewes and lambs into a pen (5 or 6 ewes at a time) tag the lambs etc
2) On extensive downlands i try to catch the things within 24 hrs and tag them ---there is always a few that get away on the steep ground but i get them later

I don't dip navels ---it's out doors and ''clean'' so no need
I don't tail or castrate anything
If it's raining take a quick look round and then go home for the day ---lambs don't like being hassled in the wet (and neither do i)

I follow this routine for all stock---maternal and terminal sires (all Signet recorded)

Try to have a look round in the afternoons too if i can & go home before the sun comes down
I'm usually in by 6pm

if your going to do anything more than that , you'd be better of lambing inside .?

 

[A1an]

Everything here is lambed outside, some ewes don't get seen from tupping time to marking time.

 

[Woolless]

Am considering lambing everything outside next year and would like to know how people cope with spraying navels, tagging, weighing, numbering etc. We are Pedigree and Signet recorded (and sit on the right hand of the devil) so just wondering how to cope best. What routine works best, that is after you have chased a Shearling half way round the county to help her lamb.

Here's a link to a blog on the Maternal Sheep Group website which goes through how we record our Easycares outside:

https://maternalsheep.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/How-we-record-lambs-outside-BLOG-2-1.pdf

 

[JohnGalway]

I suppose I'll bolus them at about six weeks age (average). That's about it until weaning.

 

[ford4000]

I lambed all the lleyns in one field, as they lambed I would move them to different fields a day or 2 after with the quad bike and trailer, catch lambs, take them into the trailer and most ewes would follow the lambs straight in, shearlings could be harder work and might need to be chased down and dragged in. Easy to tag lambs, read ewe tags, ring tails etc then....... It's even easier now that I lamb indoors though

 

[yellowbelly]

Was about to say you'd need a blooming long extension on the Psion to read an eartag on most of my ewes.

I'm lambing a few hill ewes outside here for the first time this year. Started off with the best of intentions of recording the lambs to the ewes. Even with the extension ...............

.............it wasn't practical.
Finished up just numbering the lambs when I ring them 12-24 hours after they're born.

 

[unlacedgecko]

I contract lambed some blackies 3 years ago. Started a bare bones recording system for the customer.

Ewes in 1 of 3 fields. Every day, move unlambed ewes to a new field, leaving fresh lambed ewes.

Next day, the lambed ewes from previous day were walked to a pen, one at a time. Then lambs processed, and turned out. Unlambed ewes could then move to newly empty field, leaving fresh lambed ewes behind. Etc

 

[dogjon]

I contract lambed some blackies 3 years ago. Started a bare bones recording system for the customer.

Ewes in 1 of 3 fields. Every day, move unlambed ewes to a new field, leaving fresh lambed ewes.

Next day, the lambed ewes from previous day were walked to a pen, one at a time. Then lambs processed, and turned out. Unlambed ewes could then move to newly empty field, leaving fresh lambed ewes behind. Etc

We call that drift lambing here and can do it under the right circumstances in good weather. In bad weather the drop group goes into a wooded area with lots of brush cover at night then the unlambed ewes are let out to graze around 11:00am.

 

[@dlm]

Lamb 600 nc mule ewe lambs outside. Started off in 2 fields of 25 and 20 acres, had been hammered over winter as over half of farm under water. Convenient fields for me as few gates to other fields, so remove lambed ones into field of twins, or huge ewe lambs with singles as opposed to normal sized ewe lambs with singles etc. Important to me as sell them all as shearlings. Dont number or tag anything as i dont retain any breeding stock, have a few hurdles through gateway to band lambs and load few mothers that lost lambs, go down to one field after a week and this field has a narrow chute at end of field, also locate water tank near this and turn other tank off during lambing, results in lambed ewes within 24 hours being near the sorting gateways and if get a loss they run towards the few hurdles that just about qualifies as a pen!! Lost 2 singles today, that didnt get in, thats the second and third ive failed with, mainly as getting a lot of cows and calves out. Not foolproof but, easy lambing tups, mules, no feed, 600 ewe lambs no staff, it works fairly well

 

[Woolless]

I contract lambed some blackies 3 years ago. Started a bare bones recording system for the customer.

Ewes in 1 of 3 fields. Every day, move unlambed ewes to a new field, leaving fresh lambed ewes.

Next day, the lambed ewes from previous day were walked to a pen, one at a time. Then lambs processed, and turned out. Unlambed ewes could then move to newly empty field, leaving fresh lambed ewes behind. Etc

The lambs would need to be very fresh or they'd move with the ewes? How do you separate lambed from unlambed en masse reliably? Does your dog 'speak up'?

 

[neilo]

I'm lambing a few hill ewes outside here for the first time this year. Started off with the best of intentions of recording the lambs to the ewes. Even with the extension ...............

.............it wasn't practical.
Finished up just numbering the lambs when I ring them 12-24 hours after they're born.

Did you make a ‘zoosh’ sound every time you used it Mr Skywalker?