Which Ewes to Cull

I think this approach has a lot to recommend it. Culling a ewe for a relatively minor fault seems harsh and so you may be less inclined to do it. Having the option to relegate her instead to the B flock makes it easier.
This approach also has the advantage of keeping your ewe depreciation cost down. Culling may seem attractive on today’s cull market but we won’t really know the replacement cost until the autumn.
 

Green farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Bad feet
Bad bags
Shitty arses
Bad mothering
No milk
Prolapsing
Ceaser
Bad doers
Any that look at me the wrong way

Add anything that jumps to that and you have a good list. Years ago I realised my job = any job the sheep is meant to do, but doesnt. This realisation stopped me being a busy fool. Anything that stands out from the flock for any reason is culled. Simple and makes farming less stressful.
 

SteveHants

Member
Livestock Farmer
I think this approach has a lot to recommend it. Culling a ewe for a relatively minor fault seems harsh and so you may be less inclined to do it. Having the option to relegate her instead to the B flock makes it easier.

If you breed replacements, you can think of it as looking to give a chance to as much of your newest genetics as possible.
Culling doesn't have to be looked at in a negative light.
 

Green farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
first lesson i learnt with sheep , dealer neighbour told me to stand other side of hedge when they got out and shoot the first two through , i didnt do that but i marked then culled them , guess what no more getting out , done it ever since

Soo true. Once they get the taste for breaking they never stop. Sometimes hard to identify the ringleaders though.
 

Estate fencing.

Member
Livestock Farmer
If you breed replacements, you can think of it as looking to give a chance to as much of your newest genetics as possible.
Culling doesn't have to be looked at in a negative light.
Home bred sheep aren’t expensive to cull either. Most culls I get are worth the same as a store lamb. So just keep more ewe lambs and cull more ewes. I’m just starting out being hard on culling after running mules where they are expensive to cull and you might end up buying a worse sheep than you had before
 

Green farmer

Member
Livestock Farmer
Constant jumpers want culling no questions, they just unsettle all the rest an getting out becomes normal practice! Trouble makers just need to die, life’s to short, it’s a sheep not your granny, get it gone!!🪓

Had one a week or two ago. Escaped by herself through a weak spot ìn fence. I fixed and put her back in. Next day she was out again and brought another two with her. Sporting a nice pretty red tag now for a bus pass later in the season.
 

Becs

Member
Location
Wiltshire
Actually I whole heartedly agree that escapees have to go. I bought 8 herdwickes on a whim and couldn’t keep the buggers in any field on the farm. No one told me that the woolly, dumpy, teddy bear-faced things could jump like kangaroos. Three phone calls from three different neighbours on three consecutive days asking us to remove them from their gardens was enough to give them a one way ticket. I think they were hefted to somewhere far north of Wiltshire and were hell bent on getting back to their mountai!
 

DartmoorEwe

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Yelverton, UK
I have a Houdini who escaped the cull field, then jumped in with the ram and produced a super pair of lambs. We now have an agreement - she only jumps out when the grass is low so its up to me to move her flock regularly. I'd say she he led the way to rotational grazing.

She's a special case and I manage her as she is perfect in all other ways. Otherwise, having had a good clear out for all the reasons mentioned above (including cashflow and just keeping the numbers down) I'm lambing outside and doing OK so far.

No plan is perfect though; scanning empty is a move to the cull field but because of withdrawal times my empties are still here and one just had a lamb.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 79 42.0%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 35.1%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 16.0%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

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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