Sheep not inlamb.

[ringi]

Or buying in replacement ewes. But for ewe that you care a lot about clearly give as high a level of protection as possible.

 

[Ysgythan]

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
My son started up Pedigree beltex flock a few years ago. This year he decided to ai 7 of his ewes. We followed everything by the book with the ai schedule, got our timings right and introduced a teaser ram at correct time and all 7 ewes came into heat. Got ai'd and introduced cover ram 12 days later. We watched very carefully and had no repeats(Ram has been with them ever since) Got ewes scanned yesterday at 72 days and only 2 off them were in lamb, my son is devastated. What is confusing me is if the sheep didn't hold to ai, why did they not naturally cycle again. I know the cover ram is working as he got all my crossbred ewes in lamb during this period.

It can happen when you sponge, but normally about 1 or 2 in 30, and then not always. Chuck a different breed in and make some Christmas lambs or write them off for this year. Don’t cull them though, it’s not the sheep’s fault, there’s nothing to say they won’t hold next year.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Lad who does our scanning says he's been to a lot of early ish lambers and they either have a lot empty or the embryos are dead. Could it be Bluetongue or similar?

 

[Cathaoir1]

It can happen when you sponge, but normally about 1 or 2 in 30, and then not always. Chuck a different breed in and make some Christmas lambs or write them off for this year. Don’t cull them though, it’s not the sheep’s fault, there’s nothing to say they won’t hold next year.

Definitely won't cull them, my son has put too much time and effort into them, will give them another go next year.

 

[tepapa]

Definitely won't cull them, my son has put too much time and effort into them, will give them another go next year.

Still early enough to put ram back in to lamb in may. Better than leaving them empty for 12months

 

[Cathaoir1]

Still early enough to put ram back in to lamb in may. Better than leaving them empty for 12months

Plan to scan the empty ewes again in January, just in the hope they could have been caught by ram in past couple weeks and were too early to pick up by scanning yesterday.

 

[ladycrofter]

What meds have they had? Bendazole wormers specifically say not before or during tupping. IIRC it's enzo that stops them holding. Toxo causes late abortion, mummies, poor twin etc as it damages the placenta.

 

[ladycrofter]

It can happen when you sponge, but normally about 1 or 2 in 30, and then not always. Chuck a different breed in and make some Christmas lambs or write them off for this year. Don’t cull them though, it’s not the sheep’s fault, there’s nothing to say they won’t hold next year.

Absolutely this! If its disease based, they're immune now.

 

[neilo]

Plan to scan the empty ewes again in January, just in the hope they could have been caught by ram in past couple weeks and were too early to pick up by scanning yesterday.

How early in the season did you sponge them?
If you try to pull them a long way out of their natural breeding season, sheep can go anoestrus if they don’t hold to that heat, then not come on for several months.
Not so much of a problem later in the season, and it would be unusual to affect 5 out of 7 ime.

 

[neilo]

What meds have they had? Bendazole wormers specifically say not before or during tupping. IIRC it's enzo that stops them holding. Toxo causes late abortion, mummies, poor twin etc as it damages the placenta.

Toxo infection can make them abort or re absorb at any stage. Shouldn’t be a problem if they were vaccinated previously though (if they were, some breeders have been known to fib).

 

[Cathaoir1]

How early in the season did you sponge them?
If you try to pull them a long way out of their natural breeding season, sheep can go anoestrus if they don’t hold to that heat, then not come on for several months.
Not so much of a problem later in the season, and it would be unusual to affect 5 out of 7 ime.

They got ai'd 21st September.

 

[neilo]

They got ai'd 21st September.

Late enough for that problem to be unlikely then, imo.

 

[Filthyfarmer]

Lad who does our scanning says he's been to a lot of early ish lambers and they either have a lot empty or the embryos are dead. Could it be Bluetongue or similar?

We had a mare of a scanning last year with 52 out of 570 empty. Took bloods from 6 of the empties all ok for unusual suspects but 5 out of the 6 had antibodies for the schmallenberg virus.
No deformities at lambing so just time of infection in pregnancy it seemed?

 

[ladycrofter]

I'm not an expert on scanning but is that a bit early? And is your scanner reliably accurate? I'm thinking the most important thing here is not the lambs but that your son doesn't get discouaged.
We have all had the most ridiculous, logic- defying, outrageous bulls**t happen from time to time. And usually the more money you've spent, the more outrageous it is.

 

[Cathaoir1]

I'm not an expert on scanning but is that a bit early? And is your scanner reliably accurate? I'm thinking the most important thing here is not the lambs vut that your son doesn't get discouaged.
We have alk had the most ridiculous, logic- defying, outrageous bulls**t happen from time to time. And usually the more money you've spent, the more outrageous it is.

I wouldn’t be an expert at scanning either. Someone told me between 60 and 90 days is best time to scan, ours are at 70 days. My son is gutted as he cares for his sheep like eggs but suppose its part of life.

 

[Estate fencing.]

I wouldn’t be an expert at scanning either. Someone told me between 60 and 90 days is best time to scan, ours are at 70 days. My son is gutted as he cares for his sheep like eggs but suppose its part of life.

I don’t know how old he is but might be a very valuable lesson on livestock keeping.

 

[neilo]

I wouldn’t be an expert at scanning either. Someone told me between 60 and 90 days is best time to scan, ours are at 70 days. My son is gutted as he cares for his sheep like eggs but suppose it’s part of life.

70 days will be fine.

 

[ladycrofter]

Before I had a bull, I was thrilled to get 50% catch with AI. And I knew they were bulling, plus had an excellent AI tech.
Decided to CIDR, to improve things. Even worse!! The vet said any artificial stuff is very chancy and also shouldn't be done more than a few times as it can bugger up their systems, and not cycle properly ever again.

When I was AI'ing, certain cows almost always caught first go, and others were reliably terrible and took 2 goes. Moral of the story, I think you've sussed it, get or hire a good tup and let him sort it out

 

[Cathaoir1]

I don’t know how old he is but might be a very valuable lesson on livestock keeping.

Before I had a bull, I was thrilled to get 50% catch with AI. And I knew they were bulling, plus had an excellent AI tech.
Decided to CIDR, to improve things. Even worse!! The vet said any artificial stuff is very chancy and also shouldn't be done more than a few times as it can bugger up their systems, and not cycle properly ever again.

When I was AI'ing, certain cows almost always caught first go, and others were reliably terrible and took 2 goes. Moral of the story, I think you've sussed it, get or hire a good tup and let him sort it out

Yep, it will be natural service next year. he will have better success

 

[Pistonbroke]

We had a mare of a scanning last year with 52 out of 570 empty. Took bloods from 6 of the empties all ok for unusual suspects but 5 out of the 6 had antibodies for the schmallenberg virus.
No deformities at lambing so just time of infection in pregnancy it seemed?

One of the customers had about 60 in 200. They were showing something in the blood tests but he couldn't remember the name. Schmallenberg is more of a warm weather thing so I suppose it's more likely to affect early lambers. Probably that