The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Buffy the eggs layer on November 06, 2015, 09:23:02 am
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I am struggling to be able to offer next years lambs clean pasture rested for 6 months and I'm doing a great job of beating myself up about it.
Despite fencing the holding off into mini paddocks this year, aquiring summer grazing and bringing a section of wooded area into use, my plans to give a section of the pasture 6 months rest have gone to pot thanks to another chaffer infestation this year.
The destruction caused by the chaffer is bad enough but the period of rest after the pasture has been sprayed meant that I had to move my sheep around. As a result I am only going to have rested it for 4 months at the max. I can put the pigs on some of it short term to limit the copper deposit and hope that they graze off some of the worm eggs.
I do a periparturiant worm in Feb / March and the ewes do go onto clean pasture from there but that grass runs out before the next area of pasture has been fully rested. My Autumn FECs have always come back with a commendation not to worm.
Any pearls of wisdom to let me off the hook please......?
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Hi !! To be honest I have limited land so can not rest anything for any length of time. I have had sheep here for 6 yrs and fingers crossed, no problems. I do however ,have regular FEC S done to be sure I keep on top of any worm problems. !! Don't know if that's a help and I hope I don't have any problems now in 2016. :relief:
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Wow. Wish I had enough land to rest for six months! Six minutes is more like it!
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So....not everyone aims for the clean pasture ???
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I don't see how you can. Also, unless you can make hay with it, the growth is then wasted.
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My spring lamb pasture is rested through autumn and winter (ideally) so there isnt much in the way of growth. But I' kind of feeling like its not as bad as I think it is...... :thinking:
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http://eap.mcgill.ca/agrobio/ab370-04e.htm (http://eap.mcgill.ca/agrobio/ab370-04e.htm)
Found this fascinating, as you will see it goes on about all sorts but there's some sections about pasture, interesting reading :)
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Fascinating article ..... But wondering where I graze my animals if I can't put them on wet pasture........ Think I would be housing all year round!
Oh and SIX months...... I doubt there is anyone who manages that!
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That is interesting.
Also a little contradictory in places and impractical in others. I think the salient point were,
sheep have worms,
Sheep need worms,
sheep need to develop tolerance / resistance to worms without the use of wormer.
Last year the lambs were left to develop their own resistance and only wormed after I spotted tapeworm sections and did a FEC. Perhaps that the best I can do..?
This wet warm weather is going to lead to a population explosion and the fact that the sheep will be grazing autumn grass down to the bone. :thinking:
I will speak to them about the essential oils .....[size=78%] :-J :eyelashes: [/size]
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I was always told that sheep shouldn't hear the church bells ring more than three times in the same field. Also that diversity of species kept the worm count down. Cattle first, followed by sheep, followed by horses, each eating grass containing the previous species worm larvae but taking no harm from them.
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My spring lamb pasture is rested through autumn and winter (ideally)
Are you using the same pasture for turnout each year then? I'd have thought that could pose a risk in itself, from buildup of nematodirus. It has a 12 month lifecycle, with the emergence of the infective stage synchronised to rising spring temperatures, i.e. just when your new lambs are starting to eat grass.
I'll be honest, this year it's been difficult to rest pasture for three weeks for footrot prevention, let alone 6 months - there have just been too many different small groups of animals who needed to be kept separate for one reason or another.
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yes I use the same area as it is closest to the laming shed. So I have a system of moving them closer to the shed as they get closer to lambing then turn them out post lambing to a field with a shelter.
Buying horses and cows in just to clean the pasture is a lovely idea but not really practical.
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I switch turnout pasture between two different fields - wish it could be three but the farm layout doesn't permit this.
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yes I use the same area as it is closest to the laming shed. So I have a system of moving them closer to the shed as they get closer to lambing then turn them out post lambing to a field with a shelter.
Buying horses and cows in just to clean the pasture is a lovely idea but not really practical.
But you could use a flock of geese to do the same thing
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Do you think Geese are better than my pigs, turkeys and chickens at cleaning pasture?
I can vary the post lambing turn out slightly but only have 4 fields to turn out to.
Just a quick reminder guys.....you are supposed to be making me feel better about this not adding to my concerns.......
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Well unlike the turkeys and chickens geese are grazers. It's the route I am going now I no longer have a horse to do it
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I am taking the cats in to the surgery for their jabs on Tues. I will have a chat with the vet about my worming program and pasture rotation. My commercial neighbour uses the same pasture for pre lambing folding and post lambing grazing...perhaps there is a way round it.
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I keep sheep on a variety of grazing systems
1) clean grazing where they go on to pasture that hasn't seen a sheep for at least a year
2) rotational grazing --where they go onto dirty grazing but get moved every 4 to 10 days (depending on grass growth)
3) lambing set stocked and grass that has sheep on for 10 months every year
Parasite wise its a complicated picture, if you lamb sheep on clean pasture you still have the ewes depositing lots of eggs post lambing (peri-parturient rise) and so the challenge to lambs is almost identical to the challenge to those born on dirty grazing after 8/10 weeks. Having said that it is nice to start on a clean system as it does give the lambs a good start and allows them to build up a resistance to worms slowly
On rotational grazing I find that the egg count rises slower than on dirty grazing but once it does start rising it can do so rapidly, this I think is compensated for by better growth in the lambs?
But all the above is very dependant on environmental factors like temperature, moisture, mineral status etc
The rate at which ewes deposit eggs is also very relevant---by breeding for worm resistance we have reduced the egg output of ewes during the peri-parturient rise by 50% in recent years
So my answer to your question is ----don't worry too much about clean grazing. It's great if you can do it but there are other tools in the box to aid in controlling worms
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You don't need to buy cattle to graze between sheep; you could offer a month's grazing to a local cattle farmer. ;)