TexX ewes - which Tup to use?

[Nithsdale]

Not particularly obvious in either case from your description. Sorry

Ok, thanks.

The reason i said White muscle Disease - we had lambs go down with it 10 or 11 years ago. Those lambs looked very similar as to how the one on its side is behaving. But those lambs were born fine, and it developed at 4-7 days of age IIRC. Iv never seen a lamb born like this, without having an obvious disability.

 

[Ysgythan]

The way dad is going through it I'm sure he's got shares in Ritchey? Spending more coin on spray markers each day than we do on concentrate's mind

Concentrates aren't poison

 

[ThatsSomeSheep]

Ok, thanks.

The reason i said White muscle Disease - we had lambs go down with it 10 or 11 years ago. Those lambs looked very similar as to how the one on its side is behaving. But those lambs were born fine, and it developed at 4-7 days of age IIRC. Iv never seen a lamb born like this, without having an obvious disability.

Sit yourself down with The Veterinary Book for Sheep Farmers.

Read it.

Then be like me and still attribute cause of most deaths to "want o' breath."

TSS

 

[Nithsdale]

Sit yourself down with The Veterinary Book for Sheep Farmers.

Read it.

Then be like me and still attribute cause of most deaths to "want o' breath."

TSS

They are breathing fine...

In the shed this morning to a good surprise. The one which has been on its side since birth is up and had escaped it's pen!!

I would describe it as a bit dizzy the way it walks - but definite hope for it now

 

[Nithsdale]

Left the dog tied up this morning... thought I'd just quietly go and survey the mess.

First lot i go round is the 230 commercials. Every thing is doing fine, all lambs well and mothered up. 2 pairs and a triplet born first thing, all alive.

Next round the TexX ewes with Suffolks. 1 lamb (Texel), 2 wk old, dead will catch the ewe later when I'm back with the dog and figure out why its dead. The rest all going well and not bothered in the slightest.

Then into the hill ewes... 1 lamb off a set of twins, 2 days old. Dead. 1 ewe with a pair born last night, 1 lamb hasn't sucked. She was fetched in. Everything else going well! 1 single, 4 pairs and a triplet in this bunch.

But, with the weather we have had their fields are practically ploughed and they've stripped the youngest reseed bare already... so in this batch i have a slight grass issue. I may just open up and give them the 50 acres grazing above - need to check the weather first as it is quiet exposed in places.

 

[Bill dog]

Left the dog tied up this morning... thought I'd just quietly go and survey the mess.

First lot i go round is the 230 commercials. Every thing is doing fine, all lambs well and mothered up. 2 pairs and a triplet born first thing, all alive.

Next round the TexX ewes with Suffolks. 1 lamb (Texel), 2 wk old, dead will catch the ewe later when I'm back with the dog and figure out why its dead. The rest all going well and not bothered in the slightest.

Then into the hill ewes... 1 lamb off a set of twins, 2 days old. Dead. 1 ewe with a pair born last night, 1 lamb hasn't sucked. She was fetched in. Everything else going well! 1 single, 4 pairs and a triplet in this bunch.

But, with the weather we have had their fields are practically ploughed and they've stripped the youngest reseed bare already... so in this batch i have a slight grass issue. I may just open up and give them the 50 acres grazing above - need to check the weather first as it is quiet exposed in places.

Continued congrats for keeping us up to date!! My oldest ewe, 8 crops , had a pair in the rain on sun night. Lambs sire is new Incheoch lleyn tup. She is now too old , but going to keep the tup lamb for future use here. So Bob the tup lamb will be added to the motley crew!

 

[Woolless]

Continued congrats for keeping us up to date!! My oldest ewe, 8 crops , had a pair in the rain on sun night. Lambs sire is new Incheoch lleyn tup. She is now too old , but going to keep the tup lamb for future use here. So Bob the tup lamb will be added to the motley crew!

I have a ten crop ewe here scanned for quads. I must be getting soft in my old age, as she is in the stable along with her daughter she reared as a hogg who is carrying triplets. Think I'll need to retire her before she commits suicide by litter size.

 

[Nithsdale]

Glorious sunshine here, and very warm today - after a frost first thing.

The wee lamb in the shed, which wouldn't get up... then acted abit dizzy yesterday, still isn't 100% but is very close. And will probably go out today

3 TexX ewes lambed this morning 2 pair and 1 which had 1 on the ground, might be another pair all going well The big lamb which was dead in this lot yesterday morning... i have not seen any sign of its mother so i guess she will escape with no lamb

1 single in the commercials first thing and 2 ewes stood with waterbag out.

Hill ewes have exploded into life! 11 pairs, 1 single, 2 triplets... and this girl

Ewe, and all 4 lambs doing well. 2 boys and 2 girls, so she is now an all female outfit. Hopefully her daughters are not quite so prolific

 

[spark_28]

Geez their nice lambs. I hope my Lleyn X wont be so prolific. Going to be my first year lambing my lleyn X gimmers only 10, but excited to see how they perform. Especially as I kept all my ewe lambs (23 of them) last year as replacements!

 

[Nithsdale]

Geez their nice lambs. I hope my Lleyn X wont be so prolific. Going to be my first year lambing my lleyn X gimmers only 10, but excited to see how they perform. Especially as I kept all my ewe lambs (23 of them) last year as replacements!

This is her 2nd lambing. She is a pure ewe bought, as a gimmer, at Carlisle from Messers Kavanagh, West Berwick farm, Yorkshire. Theres a very high chance the sire is one of my own, pure, homebred rams (3 home bred shearlings, 1 homebred aged tup and 2 full mouth bought in tups running with all 250 ewes)

This is my first ever quad from Lleyns. Quads are very rare here, and usually spell disaster (the last one i had was a Scotch Mule 10+ years ago - she, and all 4 lambs died soon after). The ewe has been ran with the rest and fed 1.68lb feed (see page 24 of this thread), with constant access to Hi energy buckets for the last 4-5 weeks.

 

[spark_28]

mine are currently on just less than half a kilo a ewe. Last years feeding seemed to work well so I haven't changed anything. ive also stopped giving out crystalyx buckets too as I think they were just a waste of money as its the high energy crystalyx ewe rolls they get. Sheep are in good nick, I prefer them to be a bit overly better than a tad leaner which I know some folk do. get away with it lambing to the lleyn.

Prolificay is my worry with the lleyn, triplets are even a pain for me to be honest. my sheep lambing percentage increased 30% in the two years ive used the lleyn on them, mortality rates also decreased so its a road I want to continue going down. I suppose ill just need to carefully select my next Lleyn tup or put something else in to mix it up a little.

 

[Nithsdale]

Those ewes were pretty thin coming off the hill so they've been inbye longer as usual. They've also got 2 bales of very good quality haylage, as grass is very short in their fields, but the ewes haven't touched them yet!!

It's Downland Opti-lix buckets, which are very similar to Crystalix but cheaper.
I'm in 2 minds wether to use them again - they are good buckets, but putting the molasses into their feed ration I'm not sure they really need the buckets, too. I might swap for a tonne or 2 of hi protein rumevite blocks next year instead - although, if it ain't broke...

Lambing % has gradually gone up here using the Lleyn - but my next 2 nearest neighbours run Scotch Mules, and both (lower in the valley) end up with many more lambs per ewe tupped than i do. But I'm closing the gap - cautiously, as i don't want a barrage of triplets either!

 

[Nithsdale]

The 3rd TexX this morning did have a 2nd, so 3 pairs in there today, and a single tonight.

Commercial ewes have finished the day on just 2 pairs and 3 singles.

And I'm struggling with the hill ewes - i think the tally stands at 5 singles, 17 pairs, 2 triplets and the quad!

Nothing brought in, no dead lambs and only 1 single needed lambing. If every day was like today...

 

[Al R]

The 3rd TexX this morning did have a 2nd, so 3 pairs in there today, and a single tonight.

Commercial ewes have finished the day on just 2 pairs and 3 singles.

And I'm struggling with the hill ewes - i think the tally stands at 5 singles, 17 pairs, 2 triplets and the quad!

Nothing brought in, no dead lambs and only 1 single needed lambing. If every day was like today...

Well done! After an easy week with 60/70 a day popping out but no problems we had another storm of shihite today!

3 conventional broker glamorgans had a massive dead single each by them, all shredded by birds but all brought back and skinned (didn't take much) and taken.

In the home flock: 1x AberfieldXWelsh ewe lamb slipped a lamb a week early and no milk so into empty flock, another of same breeding had twins a week early but had milk so adopted and taken. A yearling of the same breeding had 2 rotten lambs and no milk again so into empty flock.
1 triplet TexX which has been HUGE for weeks gave birth to 1 crap lamb, 1 really crap lamb and 1 the size of a duckling. She also has massive teats and only takes a minute to get 350ml of colostrum.
1 triplet muleX was lambing 11pm last night and I had a phone call off dad to come in as he couldn't pull it (I live a few mile away) I ended up bending a spray can which had the rope around it getting the lamb out, 22lb and was dead but it had been alive just before I got there. 1 of the other lambs was of very big size and the 3rd was a duckling again so wet adopted and the ewe is now doing well!

Also got a group of 48 ewes and 95 lambs in to trim ewes arses today! Weather has been gorgeous and dust if flying everywhere!
Hoping for a better day tomorrow lambing wise!

 

[Bill dog]

Those ewes were pretty thin coming off the hill so they've been inbye longer as usual. They've also got 2 bales of very good quality haylage, as grass is very short in their fields, but the ewes haven't touched them yet!!

It's Downland Opti-lix buckets, which are very similar to Crystalix but cheaper.
I'm in 2 minds wether to use them again - they are good buckets, but putting the molasses into their feed ration I'm not sure they really need the buckets, too. I might swap for a tonne or 2 of hi protein rumevite blocks next year instead - although, if it ain't broke...

Lambing % has gradually gone up here using the Lleyn - but my next 2 nearest neighbours run Scotch Mules, and both (lower in the valley) end up with many more lambs per ewe tupped than i do. But I'm closing the gap - cautiously, as i don't want a barrage of triplets either!

Your neighbours down the valley have many more lambs per ewe tipped to the mule, but would they have many more come weaning time? And they probably eat twice the steak n chips of ur lleyn girls !

 

[Nithsdale]

Your neighbours down the valley have many more lambs per ewe tipped to the mule, but would they have many more come weaning time? And they probably eat twice the steak n chips of ur lleyn girls !

Aye, the next nearest farm with sheep is a family friend. He weans 180-190% each year!! But his feed bill is 2.5-3 times bigger than mine... and he runs 250 less sheep.

His lambs also don't make as much as mine ppkg.

 

[Nithsdale]

Glorious day here. Absolute belter

Nothing new in the TexX ewes. I reckon less than 10 left to lamb.

2 pair and a single in the commercials. There's 112 pairs marked in there, and I'd guess 50 or 60 singles (really haven't a clue, the singles are just left to get on with it) - so there's still maybe 60-70 ewes to lamb in this mob. This is only day 15 of the first cycle though, so plenty of time...

10 pairs, 1 triplet and 2 singles in the hill ewes today so far. One of the singles was a pair, but one lamb is dead first thing. That is the first lamb dead since first thing Thursday morning. In that time 70-80 ewes will have lambed between 120-150 lambs.

 

[Nithsdale]

Another absolute belter here. Clear blue skies all morning.

Not much happening in the fields... nothing in the TexX ewes and nothing in the commercials.

6 pairs and 4 singles in the hill ewes. Had to lamb 2 of the singles, 1 was well stuck (big lamb) and the other was trying to pinch new born twins so i lambed her to stop that carry on.

1 lamb was running about last night, no rubber bands but a full belly but no mummy in sight, looking for it the size of a decent twin so i guess (hope!) they have gotten separated. I left it where it was in the hope it would be back with mum this morning, but no luck. So it's in the pet pen, with the other 11

One of the Suffolk lambs born on Friday, i wasn't happy with mid afternoon yesterday. It was very lethargic, and away from its mother and brother, but it's belly felt full. Fetched the outfit in to watch. Tea time its mouth was getting cold so went back to the start with it, tubed it colostrum and put it in the heatbox. It had responded well by 9pm... wouldn't suck the bottle, though, so tubed it some milk and gave it a jag of Pen&Strep incase it was a bug it had and put it in with the ewe for the night. Dead this morning

Also found a 1-2 day old 'pet' laid out in the pen blown up like a balloon last night. Not sure if it gorged itself on the Shepherdess or what, but it died soon after.

I guess the good run had to come to an end

 

[spark_28]

Another absolute belter here. Clear blue skies all morning.

Not much happening in the fields... nothing in the TexX ewes and nothing in the commercials.

6 pairs and 4 singles in the hill ewes. Had to lamb 2 of the singles, 1 was well stuck (big lamb) and the other was trying to pinch new born twins so i lambed her to stop that carry on.

1 lamb was running about last night, no rubber bands but a full belly but no mummy in sight, looking for it the size of a decent twin so i guess (hope!) they have gotten separated. I left it where it was in the hope it would be back with mum this morning, but no luck. So it's in the pet pen, with the other 11

One of the Suffolk lambs born on Friday, i wasn't happy with mid afternoon yesterday. It was very lethargic, and away from its mother and brother, but it's belly felt full. Fetched the outfit in to watch. Tea time its mouth was getting cold so went back to the start with it, tubed it colostrum and put it in the heatbox. It had responded well by 9pm... wouldn't suck the bottle, though, so tubed it some milk and gave it a jag of Pen&Strep incase it was a bug it had and put it in with the ewe for the night. Dead this morning

Also found a 1-2 day old 'pet' laid out in the pen blown up like a balloon last night. Not sure if it gorged itself on the Shepherdess or what, but it died soon after.

I guess the good run had to come to an end

glorious here too, lets just hope this weather holds out for another 3 weeks!

how long after birth do you wait to ring them?

 

[Nithsdale]

glorious here too, lets just hope this weather holds out for another 3 weeks!

how long after birth do you wait to ring them?

Aye, it's a braw spell.

Banded when they've sucked and are dry (i do the odd damp/wet one that's sucked when I'm very busy - but i don't like it, they take smells off your leggings and you run the risk of a ewe rejecting one). I go round the ewes x3 a day, the ones fresh born when i was round earlier will be banded when i go at 1pm... and ones born then will be done when i go before dark.