Author Topic: Scanned (Read 11269 times)

YoungRasher · « **Reply #15 on:** January 27, 2014, 09:39:28 am »

I see what your saying and the only thing I know is they were scanned late last year so he commented on how big they were. This year he came earlier and could see a lot clearer. I looked on the scanner last year and could clearly see the bones of each lamb, this year I could hardly tell what I was looking at but he said it made it much clearer. so I can only presume that the extra lambs last year were hiding behind the others.

Does that make sense?

shep53 · « **Reply #16 on:** January 27, 2014, 06:01:46 pm »

Makes total sense

have to see what happens this year ?

YoungRasher · « **Reply #17 on:** March 29, 2014, 09:06:07 pm »

14 more days to go and then we should see how accurate he was.

YoungRasher · « **Reply #18 on:** April 16, 2014, 02:10:38 pm »

update. all the 1 and 3 were right but were getting a hell of a lot of triplets from the ones that scanned for 2. more than we can handle really. any that had 1 have had an extra adopted on. were only halfway through 106 ewes and its starting to look like a problem.

shep53 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 16, 2014, 05:52:17 pm »

so far maybe 300 lambed and only 1wrong scanned 2 had 3 and to be fair the third lamb was half the size , so I think next year you need a new scanner

YoungRasher · « **Reply #20 on:** April 16, 2014, 07:22:20 pm »

The scanner we use is the only one we know local enough to do ours. The problem isn't really the miss scanning. (at this minute anyway) its what to do with so many triplets. we only had a handful scanned for singles and as soon as one of those lambs it gets another adopted on when we can. up to now we must of had 15 triplets that weren't scanned for 3 as well as 5 that were and there is still more than 50 ewes to lamb. we separated the singles 6 week ago for feeding reasons and left the ones scanned for 2 and 3 together and fed them according to condition scores.

jaykay · « **Reply #21 on:** April 16, 2014, 07:50:47 pm »

Invest in a Shepherdess feeder?

YoungRasher · « **Reply #22 on:** April 16, 2014, 07:53:31 pm »

A friend of mine just has. He's ended up with 18 cades. Its costing him a fortune.

jaykay · « **Reply #23 on:** April 16, 2014, 08:00:50 pm »

Yep, cades aren't a cheap business. But what else to do? Losing ewes who fail to feed three, or losing lambs who don't drink enough, or having lambs who fail to thrive and who need keeping, and feeding, for longer to make weight, isn't a good business either.

The 'farm over the hill' where I acquired an extra cade (we call them 'pet' lambs up here) lambs thousands and expects to have in the region of 100 pet lambs by the end. They have pens of ages, each with their own Shepherdess, and just regard it as part of the job.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #24 on:** April 17, 2014, 08:46:20 am »

The other thing you can do is sell your cades to people who rear lambs, and to other local farmers who lamb later than you and need spare lambs for bereaved ewes when they start.

As to scanning for triplets, the two very good scanners I've worked with both say that they'll stand by the geld, single and twin scans but that it's harder to get all the triplets, especially if scanning at a reasonable pace. It's also especially hard if the timing isn't exactly right - too soon or too late makes it harder to identify the individual lambs. So with a big flock, tupped on a tight time frame, the scanner will tell you when they're coming and is likely to get most of the triplets (and all the geld, single and twins correct.) But on a smaller flock, when the scanner is fitting you in around other larger clients, and especially if tupping hasn't been tight, then it is all much more difficult to get the accuracy and to pick out all the triplets.

However, all that said, you have a reasonable size flock by the sound of it, and you also said that your scanner was pleased with what s/he could see, so the timing presumeably was optimal. In which case, I'd discuss it with your scanner and if not satisfied (for instance, s/he may say that s/he needs more time to get all the triplets, so would charge 60p/sheep rather than 55p, or whatever, and you may be happy with that) - but if not happy, then change your scanner.

YoungRasher · « **Reply #25 on:** April 17, 2014, 05:37:06 pm »

knowing if the extra were triplets wouldn't really change anything the way we do things. it just seems like more than any other year we've had loads of triplets. at the minute we are managing with adopting onto the singles and have a few on the bottle.

From the date you put your tups in how long before you would normally scan? we have mules. (BFL and Swaledale) if that makes any difference.
Thanks.

jaykay · « **Reply #26 on:** April 17, 2014, 06:35:49 pm »

I generally put my tups in on 5th Nov and the scanner wants to do them mid Jan.

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #27 on:** April 17, 2014, 07:56:01 pm »

I think it varies according to the equipment the scanner uses.

On the moorland farm (with an incredibly accurate and incredibly fast scanner), we tupped from 6th Nov and she scanned on 6th Feb. When we split the flock and tupped the mules from end Oct, the Swales from 17th Nov, she split her scan accordingly - end Jan the mules, 17th Feb the Swales.

Our scanner here, with more up-to-date equipment (I guess, since he's bought it more recently) is happy to come earlier. Later and he can only tell us geld/not geld; it gets harder to distinguish numbers.