The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bionic on April 10, 2012, 03:19:18 pm
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I intend to get 3 or 4 sheep, to keep the grass down initially, but once I am a bit more experienced was thinking of breeding as I would love some lambs and be able to see them grow up.
However, I have been reading so many horror stories on here at lambing time i.e. fox getting the lambs, still born and deformed lambs, lambs who die for no apparant reason, that I am wondering if its more trouble than its worth (not talking about monetary worth).
Can some of you experienced sheep people out there persuade me otherwise?
Sally
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you only gota look at a lamb bouncing in the field ;D
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What kanisha said. Just to watch them charging round the field like they are on acid makes it all worth it.
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What you have to realise is that lambing time on a forum is like those awful chrones who tell horror stories about birth to newly pregnant women.
You mainly hear about the problems here, because the uneventful, get-on-with-it-on-their-own lambings are just that - delightfully uneventful. And despite the impression you might pick up here, the uneventful, works-like-it-should lambings are the vast majority.
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That's true Jaykay. It's a bit like watching the news - you only hear about the grim things. But we all keep having lambs so it can't be that bad!
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Thankyou all for setting my mind at rest. Still, lambing is for another year, when hopefully it will be like water of a ducks back for me ;D
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We've had seven ewes lamb ten lambs, two to go (another three lambs) - we've had a C section and the vet out another twice for awkward lambings. But we've seven healthy ewes and 10 cracking lambs bounding about the field - and hopefully the others will be fine too. Fabulous feeling :) (not that I wasn't a tad stressed about the C section ::))
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So far six ewes have lambed with a count of eight live lambs and one dead. The dead one was born live but was small and weak and the ewe didn't want to know him. The enormous Wilts (see my thread) was a problem to start with but now everything seems to be fine. The rest have just lambed and got on with it. I think whatever livestock you have, whether it's fish or elephants, you need to be prepared for things to go wrong occasionally. Obviously the more animals you have, statistically more things go wrong. I'm just glad I'm not trying to breed Pandas, them things don't even want to mate!
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Bionic, as others have said, what you read on here is not typical of lambing, it's more the problem page. Some of the common problems I've noticed are people who buy in ewes just before they are due to lamb - they don't know the sheep, the sheep don't know them, they have been stressed by the move and have probably not had the best care as the previous owner was intending to sell them (or had to). So buying your first sheep just before they lamb is asking for trouble. Another predisposing factor is keeping animals when you can't really afford to give them the best feed or medical treatment - things are ok when it's all sunny, but suddenly they are ill and you can't afford to treat them, or delay it hoping they will get better on their own. Another factor is getting the animals before you know anything about them - go on a course, help out a neighbour, or buy some wethers to put through the whole process - well, except lambing of course ;D - so you know what you are about before your first lambing. Buying your breeding ewes as lambs is a good idea too, so you have a year and a half to get to know them and for them to settle in to your regime. Buy the best stock you can afford, from a breeder who pays attention to the health of his flock, and don't start breeding from orphan lambs. Finally choose a breed noted for its ease of lambing and particularly avoid those know for multiple births and lambing difficulties.
I'm sure there are other things to make your future lambing easier which others can highlight. Then it's a doddle :thumbsup: :sheep: :sheep:
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Just to make you feel better we have lambed 170 ewes, and only lost 4 lambs.
A couple of assisted lambings, but nothing major and no serious problems. As said before, on forums, people tend to post about thier problems, rather than concentrating on the positives.
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Why not get someone to cut the fields for hay/haylage this summer - and you can check the quality and quantity you are likely to get each year. Spend the summer visiting shows and getting to see what breeds of sheep are local (ie suit your area) and, most importantly, which breeds you like. :-\ It is some much nicer caring for something you actually like, especially in the pouring rain /freezing cold/middle of the night. And we all like different things :)
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About 5% of lambs are lost in the national flock - rather less in small flocks. So if you have 4 ewes you'd be very unlucky to have much trouble. But it can happen - just be realistic and be ready to shrug your shoulders and move on if you do lose one. The statistics are on your side - do it and enjoy it!
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This is only my second year lambing, I started on goats and got to grips with that (sort off). Last year we had 3 jacob ewes lamb 8 lambs - we lost one on the only day we had out the whole year at 2 months old but the Jacob ram was too big for me to handle so I now have shetlands and Castlemilks - 90% bought as lambs so they get used to me and won't lamb till next year but we have 2 of each breed to lamb this year - so far 2 healthy lambs from a shetland she virtually popped them out, hardly a mutter of discomfort - she had done it before though - lets see how the Castlemilk gimmers go :) :)
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This is my 6th year of lambing and the worst one! In previous years the ewes just got on with it, had no casualties, only had to help pull one rather large one out last year from a first timer. The things you read on here are when people have problems they haven't encountered before, and it's not typical!
Good luck if you decide to go ahead, it is very rewarding ;D :sheep: :sheep:
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I was really worried about lambing my ewes for the first time this year and although the 5 of them seemed to take forever to have them all (nearly three weeks for all 8 lambs to be born ::)) I can honestly say that to see them all running around in the field and seeing the ewes all healthy more than makes up for the 3 weeks of sleepless nights and worry. We had 8 healthy live lambs and one who unfortunately was dead when I found it. All the ewes did it themselves with very little help from me. The first one was the only one who had a problem and that was as she was still out in the field and I wasn't expecting her to lamb so early so wasn't doing my 4 hourly checks (obviously rather taken with the tup and took on the first day!). I can thoroughly recommend the whole experience. We kept the ewes for a year and a half before we lambed them and this allowed us to get good experience of them and also build up knowledge before embarking on the lambs :thumbsup:
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When I was pregnant with my eldest I was a gynae sister and as such ran a clinic for women who had bleeding in pregnancy - to me, nearly every pregnant woman had a miscarriage and I because a nervous wreck for 4 months! On here you will hear some of the complications as we seek help and support with our worries so I guess its coming across that lots can go wrong but really is disproportionate.
Just prior to my nanny kidding, the lady I bought her from and who owned the billy goat stud lost twins (stillborn) and had a very hard birth with the next nanny, again I was scared! but all went well and I can honestly say I loved every minute of Puffins labour as she just knew what to do :)
You don't have to go into lambing right from the start - we've had bottle lambs 2 years running and now have a mini flock of 5. we are learning the ropes with dagging, worming, vaccines etc and so far (touch wood) all straight forward and fun!
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Echo all above...but still pose letting land as an option! If you want to see the land used well and to see lambs in the spring - that would still be my recomendation for a few years (a great way of learning the ropes without the responsibilty). However if you want a time consuming and potentially expensive hobby - go for it! Especially agree with fleecwife.... we bought in ewe lambs in september from auction (not ideal but no local options at that time) and its been VERY expensive, probably because we are novices and have had to use the vet a lot, rather than self diagnosing. I am loving them but they are WAY more of a worry and time commitment than I had imagined (much more so that the chickens and pigs).
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Our Soay have been a pleasure. Bought as lambs and did not lamb in their first year. Think it helped just to take time getting used to handling sheep and picking up as much information from people as possible.All animals are a commitment but have found the sheep no more difficult than anything else. Just my inexperience that worries me at times / worried about missing something important. A good experienced neighbour I have found to be one of the most useful things. My neighbour grazed my land before we got our girls. He told me to keep an eye on them and shout if I spotted anything amiss. He told us when he was worming them, shearing, etc. and we went to watch. Helped us to gain experience and also time to think whether we really wanted sheep.
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Read my 'Feel So Proud' posting! You should get sheep!!!!
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Just read it Pedwardine. It sounds as if they had a great experience.
I hope, when the time comes, my girls can manage as easily.
thanks
Sally
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As said, more problems are posted than the 'good news' stories. If you want to keep sheep, I have found it is a case of taking the good with the bad.
Yes, it really is heartbreaking at times, we all have to learn and we don't all have the option of 'doing a course' or 'asking a neighbour with sheep'. In such circumstances - and who knows what problem will be thrown at us out of the blue - we can only do our best.
This year the problems I've had to deal with include abortion, stillborn, rejected, a struggling triplet and a two day old which I took on. And that's just the lambing side of it.
It's good to read what others have had to deal with, and how they've gone about it. The issues that come up may well happen to some of us reading the post and it's helpful to have possible solutions available or have that knowledge under our belt 'just in case'.
I wouldn't be without my sheep, although sometimes it seems I might as well just bed them down on paper money (it all adds up: field shelters, fencing, first aid/other essential kit, milk, shearing, vet etc etc) ::)
But here is just one reason why I do it. Bless:
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Yes - get sheep. They are wonderful, intelligent and observing their behaviour is a real joy - to say nothing of the lambs!!
This is our second year of lambing and so far no unplanned deaths or problems. I feel reluctant to post the good news too much when others are posting up here in difficulties.
Maybe we should have a separate are for good news stories!
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I started with 15 and lambed them all my first year, although I had helped an ex-neighbour with his. I agree that people often post their problems on forms - but thats their nature, its nice to have an online 'support network' when you have problems, so its a positive thing, even though it might not seem like it.
This year I have 102 ewes to lamb, so I obviously enjoy it!
So far: 10 ewes have lambed, 23 lambs on the ground, all mothered up. Only slight hiccup was my quad-bearing ewe, I fostered one onto a twin-bearing ewe as I didn't have any singles lambing at the time. No assisted births, all lambed outside.
I also think your choice of breed helps - if you are nervous, don't get breeds that need a lot if help as a matter of course. Try Lleyns, although I started with Wilts Horns because I didn't want to take on getting them sheared too. I'd be happy to recommend those breeds to anyone. If you do get easy to manage breeds, dont then manage them intensively as it defeats the object. I would start with full-mouthed ewes from an outdoor flock with a good culling policy. You know then that they have had numerous lambs, outside with no intervention, and should do the same for you. Equally, if you have just spent x thousand pounds on sheep, don't be afraid to ring the vendor for after-sales care. Most shepherds I know are only too happy to natter at length about sheep anyway.
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<<< If you do get easy to manage breeds, dont then manage them intensively as it defeats the object>>>
That's a very good point SteveHants :sheep:
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Lambing is always eventful and exciting but we had no losses or real problems this year, so there wasn't really anything to talk about. Ours are about a month old and still pronking round the meadow.
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Thank you for all these posts, we've been thinking about a couple of sheep to join us and following our first kidding this year (one goat had one kid :thumbsup:no problems) we are on a high and a farming friend has offered us a couple of year old Southdown ewes so this thread is very well timed and OH has agreed to the girls joining us. We are going to choose them tomorrow :)
Thank you for a brilliant forum.
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Also go chat to your local sheep keepers.
I learned quickly as I had 10 sheep given to me, and sod all experience. I went and found my local shetland breeder and knocked on her door asking if I could help. She thought all her christmases had come at once, I learned far more with a flock of 300 than ever I would with my own 10 I had at the time. In the end my girls were moved to her farm and we shared lambing watch, I used her medicines and a good friendship was forged!
I even showed her Balwen rams at the Royal Bath & West Show a couple of times ;D
In fact, It was due to that knock on the door all those years ago that I now have my current sheep, She gave them to me as her neighbors Castlemilk Moorit ram got in with her shetland ewes, but she didn't want to have to send the resulting x bred ewe lambs to slaughter. I was going to buy some older ewes from her, but got these ones for free cos I was doing her a favour :D