Strange requests

shearerlad

Member
Livestock Farmer
Currently shearing in Norway. Was on farms yesterday shearing breeding stock and when doing the ewe lambs the farmer asked me to cut off any secondary pairs of teats. His reason being that lambs want to latch onto them instead of the milking teats.
 

Al R

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
West Wales
Currently shearing in Norway. Was on farms yesterday shearing breeding stock and when doing the ewe lambs the farmer asked me to cut off any secondary pairs of teats. His reason being that lambs want to latch onto them instead of the milking teats.
I only tend to get 4 teaters with my draft hill ewes but I’ve seen lambs latch onto the smaller teats when milk was coming out and then go onto the normal ones, I’ve also seen lambs latch onto the smaller ones when there was milk in them, they’ve dried up after a few days and the lamb has died as it wouldn’t move to the normal teats. I had a ewe last year with 4 equal sized, serious amount of milk in every quarter, even at 2 weeks post lambing and at weaning she was still milking on all 4.
 

David.

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
J11 M40
Those secondary teats are a real problem if you get a gormless lamb.
Not sure if it would ge legal to snip them off as lambs here, I expect not. Anyone who has carelessly cut a teat off while shearing hoggs would attest to the fact that they are not going to bleed for long.
 

Dry Rot

Member
Livestock Farmer
Used to do that with female piglets as the farmer had some idea that they looked better! (For show?). ?

Is it true that most (?) young animals in a litter will prefer to take the same teat each time when suckling? I heard that somewhere but never checked it out. Some comments above seem to suggest it might be.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
I know someone that routinely snips them off as small lambs. I prefer to cull as soon as I see them (usually the first lambing that they are a problem), then you don't breed any more. It is hereditary, and 4 teated ewes that have reasonable amounts of milk in the extra 'quarters' can be selected for, so equally, you can select against it.
 

Longlowdog

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Aberdeenshire
I've noticed you can get left or right sided suckers. When adopting a second lamb to a ewe after a lamb has learned to suck I've noticed you can have two sucking the same teat and ignoring a full teat inches away. When two lambs learn to suck right away they seem to naturally pick a teat and stay there. It's also noticeable if a ewe looses a quarter that one lamb can fade very quickly simply by not adapting to sucking from the other side.
Perhaps I'll mark a few lambs with port and starboard this year and see if there is any degree of interchangeability.
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
Those secondary teats are a real problem if you get a gormless lamb.
Not sure if it would ge legal to snip them off as lambs here, I expect not. Anyone who has carelessly cut a teat off while shearing hoggs would attest to the fact that they are not going to bleed for long.
the thing of note is not to have gormless lambs.(y) if you do , mr bloke mentioned in the op....change you're breeding theres a good chap.

Cutting them off What shite of an idea :rolleyes:
 

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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