The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: GeorgieB82 on August 02, 2014, 08:27:05 pm
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Hi all,
We've sorted our lambs out today and I've selected the lambs I'm keeping for going to slaughter for ourselves.
I'm left with 14 lambs that are weighing 20 - 30kg, I think they have some growing room left but they don't seem to be fulfilling their potential on our land.
How do I know if I should put them in the market as light fat lambs or as store lambs?
Does anyone have any tips on kick=starting the growth cycle; I'd rather keep them a while longer if I can get them growing again?
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Id sell as stores, they are too light for fat lambs IMO.
Remember there is normally a grass growth spurt in September which helps to finish them off too :)
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shearing can give them a little boost!
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Hi there, you are just down the road from me and would be selling in NCE or Crymych would you? Either way the lads there would sort it out for you and at that weight especially with nearly all fat lambs headed for Dunbia around here circa 40 kg I would imagine they would be sold as stores.
What breed are they?
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Hi there, you are just down the road from me and would be selling in NCE or Crymych would you? Either way the lads there would sort it out for you and at that weight especially with nearly all fat lambs headed for Dunbia around here circa 40 kg I would imagine they would be sold as stores.
What breed are they?
Hi Me,
I normally take them to NCE, I read Dai's report from last Thursday and they did have a pen of stores there for the first time this year, they were 20kg and made £32.50 each.
All of my flock are Heinz '57's I have a Vendéen Ram and a White Welsh Mountain Ram and my ewes are a mix of Welsh breed, Beulah's, White's and Black's.
I would rather keep them until they are fat, but they seem to have stopped growing; is there any feed they would thrive on?
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first two causes of slow growth are;
1) Lack of suitable feed
2) Internal parasites
Do they need worming?
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Worming is something our friendly farmers have told us not to do as a routine as the flock becomes imune but I will get dad to take a FEC sample to the vets this week.
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Shortage of some minerals can also cause lambs to stall
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Shortage of some minerals can also cause lambs to stall
Is that often/usually sorted out by a red bucket of generic lick..... Or only by soil testing and specific drenches?
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Worming is something our friendly farmers have told us not to do as a routine as the flock becomes imune but I will get dad to take a FEC sample to the vets this week.
If you worm preventatively, they never get exposed and never develop natural immunity. What our vets like us to do is to let the lambs get some worms and cope with them for a wee while, then worm them.
Your local farmers will be keen to ensure that you don't dose but underdose and cause resistance. So from their point of view, it's better if you don't dose at all ;)
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Thank you Sally, that makes sense.
At what age should I start to worm lambs?
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I would just be careful about not worming- ours tend to develop mucky back ends around May time and we do them then, but more for the liver fluke side of things than anything... don't want to send off lambs and then have their livers condemned because of fluke, also they don't 'do' as well with it for obvious reasons.
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That's the main reason I haven't wormed as out of 30 lambs only one has had a mucky bum so I didn't worry.
Going to get a FEC done anyway now.
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Depends then if you're in a flukey area. We are, a few years ago OH's sister sent 2 lambs off who were never wormed and they had awful liver fluke, since then we have always wormed ours with combinex in May (same time as we worm/fluke the cows).
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Thank you Sally, that makes sense.
At what age should I start to worm lambs?
It does of course depend on where you are, when you lamb, the year, the weather, all kinds of things.
And keep an eye on the NADIS forecasts, too.
We try to get most of our 'earlies' (born February / early March) away with no treatments at all. The rest of the flock lamb later in March and through April, and if we haven't needed to worm lambs before, we will worm them when we shear their mums, which for us is end June/early July.
We also get indication as batches go away through our slaughterhouse reports if there is anything amiss - fluke, lungworm, tapeworm, etc. But if you're not selling batches deadweight, or slaughtering for yourself, you don't get that info.
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Shortage of some minerals can also cause lambs to stall
Is that often/usually sorted out by a red bucket of generic lick..... Or only by soil testing and specific drenches?
Normally blood test or any hay /silage grown on farm tested , speak to your vet they should be able to tell you if you are in an area with specific problems , your neighbouring farmers SHOULD also know, often cobolt / copper shortage can be a problem . A bucket or lick if no specific problem is just excreted !! If you buy in hay from a different area with no shortages then you are bringing in mins and vits .
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With the numbers you are talking about it is difficult to justify the extra cost for mineral analysis etc, FEC is of course cheap and probably good to do, not sure of you would get an idea about fluke - you need adults laying eggs for that. Also some flukicides have really long withdrawal times, so you need to make sure you can treat and then send them away when you need to.
Up here we have an annual "light lambs sale" in early December, that's when I send any off that are between 30 and 40kgs. Usually make ok money on a per kg liveweight basis. Unless you can justify the extra spend on winter feed in increased money you get when selling as fat hogs in the spring, it is best to get them away as either stores or as lightweight if their weights are ok.
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Simple question seem to have gone amis, have you grass left for them? If no you won't do yourself any favors keeping them on.
Perhaps over sow some red clover to increase growth next year.
For worming, lambs get panacure when the ewes get shorn, a hefty dose will do no harm if you don't have a weigh crate or a good eye for it. Fluke, well your address sounds like Wales so is think yes, do you have ground that becomes wet easily? If so fasinex quarterly, again don't scrimp, up here we have to double the dose as we have some resistance. Yes it has withdrawal period but at that size they are not going straight into the FC, so just declare it at the sale.
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I started giving them a mineral drench I and I have found that worked.
Some put a mineral bucket for the lambs.
I think I read that vitamin B12 promotes growth.
Anyway I have lots of grass and clover so its mineral drench again.
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B12 stimulates appetite
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Quick update:
Vet says nothing abnormal in the poo, no need to medicate.
I've put a Crystalyx bucket in with them and they can help themselves to that.
Local marts are starting to see store lambs so I'll watch the prices and see if it's worth taking them.