The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: ZaktheLad on April 07, 2014, 08:19:39 am
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First lambs born Saturday @ 4.30pm and then another set of twins yesterday at 10.30am. Both very civilised times. Both ewes lambed without any hassles and lambs were a great size and lively. The only issue was that the first ewe had an udder on her the size of a cow and teats to match. She had so much milk that it was just running out of her teats. The teats were so large that I milked off some in to a bottle and gave this to the lambs as they were finding it hard to latch on to the huge teats that were so low to the ground. Milking her out reduced the teat size and so the lambs were able to then latch on and are now well away. The lambs are very sweet, jumping around with 40 mins of being born and I do love the little black ram lamb with his very floppy ears :love:
Hope my others continue to lamb in this fashion :fc:
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Lovely :thumbsup: .
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:excited:
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Lovely lambies :sheep:
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Whose the Daddy? the lambs look almost like Hampshires
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Spot on Feldar, Daddy is indeed a Hampshire! This is his 2nd crop of lambs.
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Congratulations on a good start to lambing :thumbsup:
We used to get this 'cow teats' thing with some of the Swales. We'd mark them so we'd know to keep them indoors next time - firstly because their lambs might perish if they lambed in the night and it was a cold one; lambs rarely seem to be able to latch onto these humungous sausages on their own, secondly because we'd be able to milk a litre of colostrum off them for the freezer!, and thirdly because (useful as the colostrum was ;), we wouldn't keep any of their daughters on for breeding.
Here, these aging farmers (BH is 60 today :o) have had to decide that any ewe comes in or needs personal attention (apart from first timers just needing a bit of help to learn the job) is marked to not breed again. We need to reduce the amount of work, and especially the amount of catching ewes in the field, because we simply aren't getting any younger! And we're lambing with no help this year, which on reflection we haven't done for a while - there's been an 'apprentice' (wannabe vet or wannabe smallholder) or other bod about the last few years - and we're really noticing the work when there's no youngster about to do some of the running!
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Congratulations! :thumbsup:
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Congratulations on a good start to lambing :thumbsup:
Here, these aging farmers (BH is 60 today :o ) have had to decide that any ewe comes in or needs personal attention (apart from first timers just needing a bit of help to learn the job) is marked to not breed again. We need to reduce the amount of work, and especially the amount of catching ewes in the field, because we simply aren't getting any younger! And we're lambing with no help this year, which on reflection we haven't done for a while - there's been an 'apprentice' (wannabe vet or wannabe smallholder) or other bod about the last few years - and we're really noticing the work when there's no youngster about to do some of the running!
Theres an older couple I buy rams off occasionally who are well into their 70s and have Easycares for that very reason.
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You're slipping Steve, that took you 7hrs 20mins. My money was within 2 hours. :-J ;) :D
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Good stuff Zak, our grass is just beginning to come in nicely now so good time to have them.
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:roflanim: :roflanim: at Sallys comment!!
regarding easycares - My Romneys are easycares, quite what that is meant to mean i have no idea!! I still spend just as much time and money on them. Have to admit that i rarely have a problem lambing with anything put to my romney tup and the romney ewes are fab mum, never been near them lambing. So i am assuming thats what easycare is!!! :innocent:
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Congratulations. :excited:
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Love those little wrinkly coats waiting to be grown into :-*
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Lovely looking lambs, still waiting patiently for mine to lamb!
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regarding easycares - My Romneys are easycares, quite what that is meant to mean i have no idea!! I still spend just as much time and money on them. Have to admit that i rarely have a problem lambing with anything put to my romney tup and the romney ewes are fab mum, never been near them lambing. So i am assuming thats what easycare is!!! :innocent:
This made me smile. It just goes to show that context is all.
The Romney is an 'easycare' sheep in New Zealand, where compared to the strike-prone merino sheep it is easy care. On the merinos they actually shear off with modified sheep shears the loose folds of skin and fleece around the back end of the sheep, causing it to scar over, which renders the sheep a little less prone to flystrike. The process is called mulesing and is one of the reasons I rarely buy merino fibre or yarn.
Over here, a breed of sheep called Easycare has been developed, using Wiltshire Horn amongst other breeds in the mix. The breed is supposedly self-shearing and therefore highly resistant to fly strike (but not a lot of use to handspinners, lol), good feet, easy lambing, active lambs - all designed to make a sheep that needs less intervention and therefore less labour-intensive, but producing a good fat lamb.
People also use the term 'easy care' or 'easycare' to mean any sheep that have been bred with these factors in mind. I could call my ewe lambs that include Charollais and Shetland 'easy care' if I wanted - they certainly have the characteristics of easy lambing, good mothering, milkiness and active lambs, and a lot of them have the northern short-tail fluke-shaped short tail that doesn't need docking.
As to Romneys being 'easy care' in a British system - lol, I think not. Nothing with that much wool is going to be 'easy care' in our climate!!! (But jolly nice for handspinners ;) :excited: :spin:)
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This made me smile. It just goes to show that context is all.
The Romney is an 'easycare' sheep in New Zealand, where compared to the strike-prone merino sheep it is easy care. On the merinos they actually shear off with modified sheep shears the loose folds of skin and fleece around the back end of the sheep, causing it to scar over, which renders the sheep a little less prone to flystrike. The process is called mulesing and is one of the reasons I rarely buy merino fibre or yarn.
Over here, a breed of sheep called Easycare has been developed, using Wiltshire Horn amongst other breeds in the mix. The breed is supposedly self-shearing and therefore highly resistant to fly strike (but not a lot of use to handspinners, lol), good feet, easy lambing, active lambs - all designed to make a sheep that needs less intervention and therefore less labour-intensive, but producing a good fat lamb.
People also use the term 'easy care' or 'easycare' to mean any sheep that have been bred with these factors in mind. I could call my ewe lambs that include Charollais and Shetland 'easy care' if I wanted - they certainly have the characteristics of easy lambing, good mothering, milkiness and active lambs, and a lot of them have the northern short-tail fluke-shaped short tail that doesn't need docking.
As to Romneys being 'easy care' in a British system - lol, I think not. Nothing with that much wool is going to be 'easy care' in our climate!!! (But jolly nice for handspinners ;) :excited: :spin: )
I'm not a Romney fan, and I'm no expert on them (although I have sat through a lengthy presentation on their genetics by the guy that runs Wairere UK), but they are supposedly easycare even with all that wool - they have done a lot of work on worm resistance etc and cull for animals that get cast (apparently it is to do with body shape), but I suppose they will have to have fly treatment, but the idea is that all that wool means that the woolcrop actually pays....
I don't like them because a) I think they are too big b)150% is too modest a target at lambing c) wool! I hate flystrike and I cannot shear, so I'd have to pay a shearer and I'd really rather not - I have other things to do with my time, but I would be the first to say that they do their job very well.
Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ though - I don't imagine they suited the climate, just as they dont here - mulesing is an Aussie thing as far as I am aware.
As for "easycares" the breed - there are a lot of types about - there is an official breed, developed by Iolo Willams on Anglesey using Welsh Mountains and Wilts, but I don't think the breed soc is very stringent about anything other than they have to be a polled, shedding sheep to be sold as one (I might be wrong).
Mine are mostly sourced from the "Exlana" group of breeders (of which TimW is one), who started with Lleyns, Poll Dorsets, Wilts and Easycares, but have used all kinds of things along the way, including Frieslands and Khatadins...
What makes them 'easycare' is that they are bred to lamb outside, with no assistance, shed their wool and so in most cases should not need fly treatment (although I do treat on watermeadows and so on, but I use a fraction of the product a 'normal' sheep would have), dont get cast (no heavy fleece helps), are culled for feet ( i have trimmed about 2 feet in the past 2 years) and are now being selected for natural worm resistance to cut down on chemical use (as are a lot of breeds, including some terminals). They can be bred to suit most systems (see 'chevease' for a man lambing 3000 of them outside on some of Scotlands hardest hills). Like all maternal breeds, they seem not to achieve the better grades when bred pure. Since I am trying to make a go of this commercially, I realise it will be a while before anybody wants to buy breeding ewes from me, as reputations are not built overnight, so I chose to put them to the right terminal sire to produce fat lambs.
I lamb in April, have most away fat by christmas - the terminal cross woolshedders make similar money to mule x terminals but have only cost me £15-20 to produce. I kept a few stragglers (triplets etc) over winter this year because I had some extra grass and topped a very busy Salisbury market last week with some standardweight woolshedder x SufTex, netting me £79/head (av weight 34kg)....
I will admit, easycares are 'marmite', but I really cannot understand what is not to like about sheep that give you less heartache and a very healthy margin....
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Why do we love black sheep so much? OH says he' worked it out :innocent:
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Fascinating reading Steve! Thanks for that x
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I honestly dont think any sheep are "easycare"!! My romneys are good in that i have never had to touch their feet, never had to help lambing and all lamb outside. The Romney tup has been fantastic crossing with other ewes and lambing is a doddle. However, regarding getting cast, both my romney ewes constantly get cast in their last 3 weeks of pregnancy. Seriously annoying!! Havent ever had a problem with flystrike as a crovect in April to protect all my sheep until shearing and then click them all. Lambs have crovect again when click is wearing off. I know i constantly plug the Romneys but they are very easy sheep, not too big, I am 5'2" and handle them all with ease, even my ram.
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I honestly dont think any sheep are "easycare"!! My romneys are good in that i have never had to touch their feet, never had to help lambing and all lamb outside. The Romney tup has been fantastic crossing with other ewes and lambing is a doddle. However, regarding getting cast, both my romney ewes constantly get cast in their last 3 weeks of pregnancy. Seriously annoying!! Havent ever had a problem with flystrike as a crovect in April to protect all my sheep until shearing and then click them all. Lambs have crovect again when click is wearing off. I know i constantly plug the Romneys but they are very easy sheep, not too big, I am 5'2" and handle them all with ease, even my ram.
I believe one man and his dog ought to be able to shepherd a 3500 head rom flock, or so they say.
http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/livestock/livestock-features/a-little-bit-of-new-zealand-on-the-west-sussex-downs/30599.article (http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/livestock/livestock-features/a-little-bit-of-new-zealand-on-the-west-sussex-downs/30599.article)
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I'll be impressed only when the dog can do it on his own. :dog:
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Ah now i believe one girl and her 3 gundogs ought to be able to shepherd a 30 head flock! Obviously not as skilled as you are Steve!!
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If they can fire a gun they can work a flock train them better Trish!
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Havent ever had a problem with flystrike as a crovect in April to protect all my sheep until shearing and then click them all. Lambs have crovect again when click is wearing off.
Just a note to say - if you were ever thinking of selling fleeces to handspinners, please make sure you tell them that the sheep had been crovected before shearing. It's very nasty stuff, Crovect, and the long hours of very close interaction that a handspinner has in the course of processing a fleece could give rise to nasty side effects. And some people (I am one) are hypersensitive to Crovect. I think I may well need paramedics if I shut myself up in a warm room with a crovected fleece! :o
I believe that the fleece would be safe for handspinning so long as the spinner gives it a very thorough very hot very soapy wash. And no, they wouldn't necessarily do that if you don't tell them about the crovect; a lot of spinners (I am one) like to spin 'in the grease' and will only give the fleece the minimum of washing it needs to make it spinnable - often no more than a 24-hour soak in cold water and good few rinses is enough.
It would be kind to mention the crovect to your shearer too - although each sheep only takes a few minutes, the exposure builds up over an entire flock. And some shearers have also become hypersensitive, like me.
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I am a bit back to front with my dogs, gundogs go in front, sheep follow!! It works!!
Re crovect. my shearer always recommends i crovect. can get very warm down south here in Hampshire, march april may. i think he is happier that they are covered incase we have a wet spell and he cant shear, or any other problem that delays shearing. He only shears small flocks and his phone doesnt stop in may with his customers panicing that they might get fly strike! The small amounts of fleece that i have given to spinners have always had the date of crovecting and the date of shearing passed on to the spinner.
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Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ though - I don't imagine they suited the climate, just as they dont here - mulesing is an Aussie thing as far as I am aware.
It's true that mulesing is more prevalent in Oz, yes, and that they are working to eradicate the practise in NZ. However as far as I know it does still occur in NZ.
And the merino is still regarded as the quintessential New Zealand sheep, so I am not sure what you mean by "Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ"???. I think they make up about 2 million of the national flock of 30 million.
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:innocent: I have to say this is my first year lambing BWMs and they have to be the most easy care i know, i haven't touched one yet!! they just lamb and run off
Got to catch soon so we can tag the b***ers. the newborns can run as fast as their mothers.
Never needed a trained dog before but we may have to invest inone for these!
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Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ though - I don't imagine they suited the climate, just as they dont here - mulesing is an Aussie thing as far as I am aware.
It's true that mulesing is more prevalent in Oz, yes, and that they are working to eradicate the practise in NZ. However as far as I know it does still occur in NZ.
And the merino is still regarded as the quintessential New Zealand sheep, so I am not sure what you mean by "Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ"???. I think they make up about 2 million of the national flock of 30 million.
My sister has lived in South Island NZ for the last 25 years and runs a sheep station in the centre of the island, 4,500 Merinos. (and no, one man and his dog cant manage them, they have about 20 hunterways)
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Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ though - I don't imagine they suited the climate, just as they dont here - mulesing is an Aussie thing as far as I am aware.
It's true that mulesing is more prevalent in Oz, yes, and that they are working to eradicate the practise in NZ. However as far as I know it does still occur in NZ.
And the merino is still regarded as the quintessential New Zealand sheep, so I am not sure what you mean by "Not sure how long Merinos lasted in NZ" ??? . I think they make up about 2 million of the national flock of 30 million.
My sister has lived in South Island NZ for the last 25 years and runs a sheep station in the centre of the island, 4,500 Merinos. (and no, one man and his dog cant manage them, they have about 20 hunterways)
But how many staff? ;D
I don't know if Merinos are run the same way as Roms, and apols about not knowing how many there were in NZ, the kiwis I speak to seem to talk about them in the past tense - maybe there used to be a lot more?
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:innocent: I have to say this is my first year lambing BWMs and they have to be the most easy care i know, i haven't touched one yet!! they just lamb and run off
Got to catch soon so we can tag the b***ers. the newborns can run as fast as their mothers.
Never needed a trained dog before but we may have to invest inone for these!
I reckon if one of my lambs is 48hrs old, I haven't got a hope in hell of catching it, and I'm still quick enough to play on the wing of my local Rugby team. I will be trying with a dog this year, see how it goes.
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Merinos are purely wool sheep, crossed with a meat tup they produce meat lambs. the price of wool has dramatically dropped over the years which means less merinos are farmed. However they are still the only sheep run on high country stations in NZ. Staff wise, there is my sister and her husband, one full time shepherd and countless woofers throughout the year. they also run 250 head of beef cattle and 1500 head of deer for velvet.
They have shearing gang in for shearing, and neighbours all help each other out for mustering, dipping, velveting etc.