Thinking of changing to shedding sheep. Change my mind.

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
It's soul destroying, I spend my life trying to get better at it and every year there is something.

By May I will have forgotten about it all and think everything is rosy but decision made. Mules away and start again.

If that doesn't work just go all easycare depending on how they do this year and turn the lambing shed into something else.
You seem well and truly fed up with lambing, I haven’t started for another 2 weeks but by the end of doing 500 inside on my own (owner won’t pay for any staff) I’ve had enough. 450 outside of my own ewes is a dream and can roll with the problems much easier.
 

Kingcustard

Member
You seem well and truly fed up with lambing, I haven’t started for another 2 weeks but by the end of doing 500 inside on my own (owner won’t pay for any staff) I’ve had enough. 450 outside of my own ewes is a dream and can roll with the problems much easier.
It seems that triplets lambed outside do fine and rarely struggle, inside they are no end of problems.
 

Kingcustard

Member
IMG_20220304_132637.jpg
 

Kingcustard

Member
8 pets so far, another 2 definites and then there are probably 4 or 5 hungry triplets that will be in tonight.

They usually do amazingly well and then blow up and die with red gut or whatever it is.

At least they are getting milk
 

Kingcustard

Member
How old and is the milk warm ?
I will be honest some of them are nearer 8 weeks, I am bad at weaning them, usually do it after the first one dies. I have a not this year when they are 5 weeks old. Milk warm at the moment but turn the heater off when they are all drinking on their own
 
I will be honest some of them are nearer 8 weeks, I am bad at weaning them, usually do it after the first one dies. I have a not this year when they are 5 weeks old. Milk warm at the moment but turn the heater off when they are all drinking on their own
There is your problem then. We start on warm for first couple feeds, then cold and wean hard at five weeks on the dot. If they go older than that they start blowing up at a rate of knots and it’s a waste of money. If they are eating creep well, straight off cold milk at five weeks onto just creep and straw and they do fine and end up paying ok money. We have three pens - little uns, middle pen is cold milk abs straw and creep and third pen is straw and creep. Keep them moving up and now only lose the odd one.
 

Johngee

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Llandysul
It's soul destroying, I spend my life trying to get better at it and every year there is something.

By May I will have forgotten about it all and think everything is rosy but decision made. Mules away and start again.

If that doesn't work just go all easycare depending on how they do this year and turn the lambing shed into something else.
Another alternative would be to lamb some of the easycares to a terminal sire in the shed in March. I lamb a small bunch inside now. They’re a versatile ewe and they will adapt to most systems.
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Just buy in, I don't have the time or space to be breeding up and selecting traits and all that. I would never knock the people who do as they are the innovators that keep the industry moving forward, but they need to realise that not everyone can do it.

I am happy to buy in the results of someone else hard work and see how it goes for me.

Just put 9 sets of triplets out with no milk on to teh young grass that the cattle get and will pick up hungry lambs as I see them. My days of boasting of 200 percent lambing are behind me. Happily scan at 180 to 190 percent and have an easier time of it with less triplets.

Just need to find the breed that will give me that and be easy lambing and cut down on prolapses and bad udders and getting thin at lambing time, but can lamb indoors to give the grass a rest.

Any suggestions

Lleyns. If you decide you want the wool off them 2 crosses to an Exlana will have them shedding.
 

Kingcustard

Member
Another alternative would be to lamb some of the easycares to a terminal sire in the shed in March. I lamb a small bunch inside now. They’re a versatile ewe and they will adapt to most systems.
Have you lambed them indoors, how do they do, mine are wild. They also don't know what hard feed is, would they do on high energy tubs and silage, that's all they get outside
 

unlacedgecko

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Fife
Have you lambed them indoors, how do they do, mine are wild. They also don't know what hard feed is, would they do on high energy tubs and silage, that's all they get outside
I've said it before a few times, but "Easycare" is a very broad church. If you've got original flock ones bred from Welsh mountains, that may explain their temperament.

best thing to do would be to breed shedding replacements out of your mules.
 

Kingcustard

Member
The mules are gone.
I had considered using an easycare tup over some conventional ewes to see what happened. Neighbour who is older does it so he doesn't have to catch ewes to lamb them and he sells lambs at big weights in the market
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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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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