Very early or very late?!

[hendrebc]

there is no grass from October onwards though, not here anyway lol

There isn't here most years either

 

[firther]

There isn't here most years either

oh well it'll soon be spring

 

[andybk]

I keep thinking about it as a way to get better margin out of dairy tack land.

thats how we got into sheep , dorsets x chars lambed sept /oct weaned feb and away , works well BUT you need plenty of grass in front of them , no wormers no maggots ,used to hit peak trade , summer doing other things

 

[unlacedgecko]

thats how we got into sheep , dorsets x chars lambed sept /oct weaned feb and away , works well BUT you need plenty of grass in front of them , no wormers no maggots ,used to hit peak trade , summer doing other things

As ever, post Christmas feeding would be the issue...

 

[andybk]

As ever, post Christmas feeding would be the issue...

one of the batches we only had keep till jan , earlier lambers , weaned early and onto creep in shed , bit higher cop but still cheaper than later lambing , though lambs ready bit to early , trouble nowadays , you dont know when peak trade is anymore .

 

[Al R]

Pretty straight forward really but I’ve not said much on here until we got to grips with it.

Starting with a Dorset base, and hoping to breed up our own composite, currently lambing Dorset Hoggs all to Charmoise rams. Ewe lambs will be retained and go from there.

Ewes have not seen any hard feed and are being Lambed out, currently on hay / haylage ground. At about three - four weeks of age lambs and ewes will go into oats / vetch cover crops to be rotationally grazed through winter. Lambs will hopefully be finished through winter and into early spring.

Ewes will dry off, be tupped in April and then run on the available permanent pasture while dry before repeating.

Hopefully makes better use of available land and staffing and avoids such issues as worms, fly strike etc.

We shall see, it’s been a total punt in the dark but we spent a lot of time sourcing the right genetics to start so that’s helped. Like they say, watch this space, it’s currently all theory!

It’s something I’ve always wanted to try but the missus said she’d leave if I lambed 365.

Are you going to lamb them once a year this time of year or every 8 months so 3 crops in 24 months?

I remember reading a piece in Beef & Sheep farmer about a sheep system in the US where they had 10,000 lambing every 8 months so effectively they lambed 3 big groups, sounded a good system but a lot of costs with indoor lambing and indoor rearing.

 

[unlacedgecko]

It’s something I’ve always wanted to try but the missus said she’d leave if I lambed 365.

Are you going to lamb them once a year this time of year or every 8 months so 3 crops in 24 months?

I remember reading a piece in Beef & Sheep farmer about a sheep system in the US where they had 10,000 lambing every 8 months so effectively they lambed 3 big groups, sounded a good system but a lot of costs with indoor lambing and indoor rearing.

Google “Cornel Star Lambing”

 

[Al R]

Google “Cornel Star Lambing”

I’ve read about the cornel star system before

 

[hendrebc]

It’s something I’ve always wanted to try but the missus said she’d leave if I lambed 365.

Are you going to lamb them once a year this time of year or every 8 months so 3 crops in 24 months?

I remember reading a piece in Beef & Sheep farmer about a sheep system in the US where they had 10,000 lambing every 8 months so effectively they lambed 3 big groups, sounded a good system but a lot of costs with indoor lambing and indoor rearing.

Lambing in September might even be better than spring lambing for you. Less fly pressure and your magic tropical grass grows well in winter. You could put your ewes tigyt over summer and maybe sell silage to next door dairy farms in a good year. In a hot dry year like this one you would be glad of not having to feed the lambs over summer. Hit a decent trade-in spring with your lambs every year if your lucky. Worth thinking about.

 

[primmiemoo]

When I told the my Senior Skool Head that our ewes were lambing in October/November and were able to lamb 3 times in 2 years, Head was astounded, and wittered about Ancient Greek story of Jason and the Golden Fleece. A mythical breed of sheep that had that capability featured in the story, which had been dismissed by scholars when the Head had been at Oxbridge.

Returning to topic, getting/selecting from within the flock the right genetics for frequent lambing and hanging onto them in the flock can be a challenge. Frequent lambing isn't done here at the moment (nothing to do with farming factors), and the last "out of season" batch that were mistakes (somebody else's ram hoggs either broke in or were found straying and let in by an ignoramus) weren't a success.
The weather was too wet for outdoors, grass covered in mud so trouble with grazing copious grass meant heavy reliance on nuts, and made a dent in haylage stocks for the main flocks.

There'll be some years that are brilliant, and others when October lambs are overtaken by February ones.

 

[CopperBeech]

Interesting reading people’s thoughts. The key for us is the winter cover crops which provide good winter feed.

 

[neilo]

I've always thought that there was potential in the UK for a highly fecund accelerated lambing flock, something like the flock run at Cornell university.

Harper Adams had a flock doing 3 times in 2 years back in the eighties. I remember seeing them first when I had my interview (1985/6?), and they were still operating it while I was there but stopped soon after. Tbh the sheep looked dreadful, never having had a decent chance to recover between weaning and tupping, and the feed costs for the 2 lambing periods away from Spring grass growth were ridiculous.

They changed to a Spring lambing Lleyn flock in the early nineties IIRC.

 

[Martyn]

 

[Martyn]

Just finishing lambing now weather been great. Enjoying there forage rape.

 

[CopperBeech]

Just finishing lambing now weather been great. Enjoying there forage rape.

Where abouts are you?

 

[Martyn]

Where abouts are you?

Cornwall why?

 

[CopperBeech]

Cornwall why?

Just curious!

 

[neilo]

Cornwall why?

There are a couple of NZ members that 'll be along in a minute, saying how you have an unfair advantage because the grass grows all year round. @Kiwi Pete

 

[NZDan]

Harper Adams had a flock doing 3 times in 2 years back in the eighties. I remember seeing them first when I had my interview (1985/6?), and they were still operating it while I was there but stopped soon after. Tbh the sheep looked dreadful, never having had a decent chance to recover between weaning and tupping, and the feed costs for the 2 lambing periods away from Spring grass growth were ridiculous.

They changed to a Spring lambing Lleyn flock in the early nineties IIRC.

Ive looked at it here, but the feed costs rule it out. Cornell make large use of off farm/off season grazing on cropping and park land. They keep the ewes really well fed and wean lambs young which solves the problem of poor ewes. I follow a few farms who lamb every 6 months but they are in tropical areas using non-seasonal hair breeds.

Inassumed since a lot of folk lamb out of season in UK anyways there would be options avaliable.

 

[Al R]

Just curious!

Have you managed to get on 1 of those new season all season contracts where the lambs are under 20 weeks old all year round etc so basically a spring lamb any time of the year? I read in a paper somewhere of a few farms had contracts for it and seemed a good idea!