The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ThomasR on September 06, 2015, 11:45:34 am
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Hi I have been told by everybody I know who sponges to inject the sheep with PMSG and by the looks of it all the documents online say so as well. However my vet has told not to inject my ewes PSMG when I pull the sponges out in two weeks, why wouldn't I do this. Sory if this is a stupid question but I am knew to sponging.
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some people say if your doing it within the natural breeding time of year don't use it as they are cycling and ovulating. I use it and I'm lambing march time and I use it as an insurance policy. I'm even doing ewe lambs this year and will give them a small dose.
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If you have a prolific breed like Zwartbles I think there can be a worry that you end up with LOTS of lambs if you give too much PMSG! I have sponged for a few years now and having had triplets from sponged ewes without using PMSG the first couple of times, vet advised that it was unnecessary to use it for that reason. I think if you're lambing earlier it can help them to hold. Last year I used 2ml at sponge withdrawal as the year before they didn't all hold first time (earlier lambing) and all had twins bar one with triplets. I think it will depend on the breed and their natural time for starting to cycle.
With working full time wouldn't contemplate not sponging now - all timing done for lambing in the middle of a week off work and fingers crossed all take first time.
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It affects numbers of eggs shed but to my knowledge does nothing to help them "hold". Possibly even the opposite if they attempt to conceive 8 lambs!
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I have used sponges now for the last two years, but later in autumn, November time, in order to have a tight lambing period. Never used PMSG on the sheep - just the normal twins, some singles and no triplets (which is what I want) over just a few (very busy!) days.
Only used PMSG on the goats for laprascopic AI.
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I have removed sponges out of the Hebs and it has now been over 48hrs since they have been removed. the Tup went in after 12hrs with a raddle on him and so far he has not mated any of the ewes. He is interested and curling his upper lip and sniffing the ewes but not jumping. Have i done something wrong as I have been told that the cycling usually starts in the first 24hrs.
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If they were not cycling before the sponge went in then they would not be served. Also if already pregnant and possibly if the ram was lame etc
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When are the Hebs normally cycling?
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they normally cycle in end of October begging of November but I had a long discussion with the vet and they said that it would be ok and that I didn't need PMSG.
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If they were not cycling (they went in at the very beginning of October) then that may well be the problem
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Nicked from MSD:
Do I need to use PMSG injections?
If you intend to advance the breeding/lambing
period for your flock, then PMSG-Intervet
injections at sponge removal are essential
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that is what I told them but they insisted that I didn't. I will give the ewes until tomorrow and then the vet will be getting a phone call.
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Oh dear. Did they know they were primitive type things?
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Oh yes. They even came and sponged them for me and I said atlas 5 times before and they have been called out for sheep before.
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Ok.... well they could all be covered in raddle in the morning! Also, some raddle shows up really badly (mums Herdwicks were strangely not being served, I got them in and on close inspection (2cm!) a red tinge could be seen on the fleece (lambs produced). Just check before you get the vet out to avoid looking silly!
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Here's hoping! I will double check but yellow/bright orange should show up pretty well on black.
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My understanding is that once the sponge is removed it is 48 hours after that you put the tup in. I would say you didn't wait long enough at 12 hours but if the tup has now been in 48 hours he might well be having a busy night.
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>:( >:( >:( >:( :o the feeling when you go down to field and there are no yellow bums and on the walk back thinking of all the words you can't say to the vet because you might need them to screw up again (this is not the first Time!)
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Oh dear. Did they know they were primitive type things?
You can take the sheep out of the mountains but you can't take the mountains out of the sheep ...?
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I know some people who don't inject and others who do and some people take the sponges out at 12 days and some 13 and 14. I can't see that the vet can not have inserted the sponges properly, it's not that difficult is it. I suppose the sponges might be dodgy but then you say your tup was interested but not mounting. Maybe you need to look at your tup.
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It was the raddel. Went down just there and had a we look at the sheep for about 10 minutes and the top is jumping, the ewes are cycling and the raddel is not working. Getting some raddel powder later on today and I will be able to see what is really happening.
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It was the raddel. Went down just there and had a we look at the sheep for about 10 minutes and the top is jumping, the ewes are cycling and the raddel is not working. Getting some raddel powder later on today and I will be able to see what is really happening.
Close one then ;) :relief:
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Ah good news :relief:
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Yeh I was very lucky I saw that was loosing hope and about to go up. He is now sporting half a machines tup of raddel on he's Chet and stomach just to make sure.
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The tup has sort of lost interest does this mean that they have all been mated? He is not curling his lip as often. People have told me that they have seen the ewes stand for him as they drive by so sounds good. The raddel paste is not working, is there any raddel that works on hebs?
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White paint or similar/oil mix? There are white powdery paints for children (meant to be mixed with water)
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Will keep an eye out
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If he has tupped them all it will be a quiet two weeks or so (cycle is 17 days) and to see if any repeat (or he is firing blanks) it would be advisable to put some more (diff colour) raddle paste on him (or whatever shows up) in two weeks time (counted from the day he was let in to the girls).
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The only problem is that by the 29th he has to be out as then the lambs will be born outside of my holiday so I will instead have to leave it to the last weekend in October and have them scanned and re tup those that are not in lamb to have an April lambing which is when I will next be off.
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Sounds feasible. But why the scanning so early? You could always take the tup out now (or before his 1st cycle is up) and then re-introduce (without scanning) with fresh raddle paste when you have calculated you can lamb again. Any that are empty will still cycle in November and be covered by him then. Only problem is if he is firing blanks you may end up with no lambs, as getting hold of a new tup in November may be tricky.. (ask me how I know...).
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Last year I very nearly ended up with no tup but then at the last minute I has several offers. I might not use a second raddel colour because this time I will need something that works to tell me if they have been mated and so far the raddel has not worked in the slightest.