Sheep Scanning

[neilo]

View attachment 852104

a Scottish scanner on Facebook

That’s about where we used to be with the Texel x Cambridge ewes. It did mean that we only ever had about half a dozen ewes turned out to rear singles each year (usually 1 quartered ewes that had been missed, or sick ewes), but the downside was up to 100 on a machine too!

Tbh, I wouldn’t be too concerned about getting back there again, but without so much Texel blood meaning we had to assist so many lambings. To be fair, a good few of the assists were due to tangled up multiples though.

500ewes selling/retaining over 1000 lambs? That sort of output pays for some inputs in terms of lambing labour & milk powder maybe?

 

[muleman]

Scanned 800 swaledale ewes tonight at 206% .....143 singles, 421 twins,198 triplets, 17 quads and 19 empties, pleased enough with that.

 

[Wishful Thinker]

To make sure I took it in... I had to read it 4 times!!




STUPID call using a midget. Miracle he tupped anything, IMO

Live and learn. Bought ewe lambs cheap enough, getting near a fat price where I’ll just shift empties on.

 

[Nithsdale]

Live and learn. Bought ewe lambs cheap enough, getting near a fat price where I’ll just shift empties on.

Offt I wouldn't say stupid. If it had worked, you'd be laughing now. But aye, live and learn - we've all moments like that

 

[Al R]

Scanned 1 lot a few days ago, 181%, down 6% on the year but half the amount of triplets, twice the amount of singles and 40% were under 2 year old so very happy with it from over 800 ewes. ExlanaX second crop yearling’s won the show with 192%

 

[@dlm]

Scanned 170 Suffolk mule 3croppers Saturday. 197% not got card by me but roughly 125 2s 4empty 19 3s 1 quad and 21 singles. Well pleased after drought summer, didn’t flush with cake just varied them from one field of no grass to another. Scanner man who only does quite local are said seen varied results from a legman flock drop from 224% to 146% in year and old ewe flock increase from 154 to 188%. Just 2 examples of variables in southern area

 

[d-wales]

Scanned 1 lot a few days ago, 181%, down 6% on the year but half the amount of triplets, twice the amount of singles and 40% were under 2 year old so very happy with it from over 800 ewes. ExlanaX second crop yearling’s won the show with 192%

Sounds perfect. [emoji106]

 

[Bob the beef]

Yes, l agree with nithsdale, upland /hilly ewes need a bite of cake from six weeks to go, it's pretty much impossible to cut cake altogether, maybe in England that's total different from wet/bare upland places in Scotland, the ewes would be as lean as wood come lmbing time. I would bolove to cut concentrates down abit but what to feed in there place??

Lamb a bit later when the grass is growing and utilise forage crops and deferred grazing. Don’t feed any hard feed here apart from energy buckets available 3 weeks from lambing. We’re at 700ft upland verging onto hill

 

[Bob the beef]

Yes, l agree with nithsdale, upland /hilly ewes need a bite of cake from six weeks to go, it's pretty much impossible to cut cake altogether, maybe in England that's total different from wet/bare upland places in Scotland, the ewes would be as lean as wood come lmbing time. I would bolove to cut concentrates down abit but what to feed in there place??

Lamb a bit later when the grass is growing and utilise forage crops and deferred grazing. Don’t feed any hard feed here apart from energy buckets available 3 weeks from lambing. We’re at 700ft upland verging on

 

[Highland Mule]

Lamb a bit later when the grass is growing and utilise forage crops and deferred grazing. Don’t feed any hard feed here apart from energy buckets available 3 weeks from lambing. We’re at 700ft upland verging onto hill

Late May or into June then, I guess. It’s not just altitude but also the latitude that makes a difference - compare the daylight length in summer and winter.

 

[Greythundercloudys]

I would never lmb in May, jesus still lmbing when folks at silage, no way.

 

[Woolless]

Lamb a bit later when the grass is growing and utilise forage crops and deferred grazing. Don’t feed any hard feed here apart from energy buckets available 3 weeks from lambing. We’re at 700ft upland verging onto hill

I'm at about the same altitude but a mile in from the coast. I normally start first full week in April. I needed to put blocks on the lambing fields once in the five lambings since we've been here. When do you start?

 

[neilo]

I would never lmb in May, jesus still lmbing when folks at silage, no way.

If folks in your area are on silage in May, then you would ideally have been lambing earlier to feed the ewes for milk from that grass growth that others are silaging.

We’re not high up but there is a massive difference in when the grass starts growing between fields that have been improved & reseeded, and those that are ancient pp. My lambing paddocks are the latter, but old parkland with plenty of shelter. There will be little grass before April, even when closed up from October. Where I have been feeding bales out on some of that land until recently, there will be nothing before the end of April. Ryegrass leys still growing now, albeit very slowly.

 

[Bob the beef]

I'm at about the same altitude but a mile in from the coast. I normally start first full week in April. I needed to put blocks on the lambing fields once in the five lambings since we've been here. When do you start?

Start 14 April. Ewes are off all the parks from now until 5th April. Amazing the recovery in the grass even in a cold spring. Lambs were all fat off grass alone by mid November, apart from 45 sold store at end of November

 

[Highland Mule]

I would never lmb in May, jesus still lmbing when folks at silage, no way.

100% agreed on not waiting until May, hence we feed the ewes - often feeding them post lambing into late April too, until the grass starts growing. Not much silage cut in May around here though either.

 

[Woolless]

Start 14 April. Ewes are off all the parks from now until 5th April. Amazing the recovery in the grass even in a cold spring. Lambs were all fat off grass alone by mid November, apart from 45 sold store at end of November

Similar to me, last wee trailer load went store early December, rest had gone fat previously. What type of ewes do you run?

 

[Jim75]

100% agreed on not waiting until May, hence we feed the ewes - often feeding them post lambing into late April too, until the grass starts growing. Not much silage cut in May around here though either.

You’ll be aiming for selling your mule ewe lambs in September though so wouldn’t be many lambing late where the buyers want the biggest?

 

[Stw88]

Scanned 800 swaledale ewes tonight at 206% .....143 singles, 421 twins,198 triplets, 17 quads and 19 empties, pleased enough with that.

I would be devistated if i had a scan like that in swale ewes! Where do you run all them twins and triplets on a hill farm? If your farm is good enough to run them why would you have swales?

 

[puppet]

58 ewes lambs......
38 empty
12 singles
8 doubles.

That went well. [emoji30]
3 weeks and a beltex ram lamb that must have been too small obviously was a bad call. Knew he couldn’t cope with them all but thought that he would have got at least half of them.

We get the message, but your scanning is still the same.
3 weeks maybe too soon for hoggs? We lamb hoggs and look at the lambs as a bonus so on the bright side you have an extra 28 lambs

 

[Bob the beef]

Similar to me, last wee trailer load went store early December, rest had gone fat previously. What type of ewes do you run?

Aberfield out of NCC, trying a highlander on a few of the northies this year having seen them elsewhere