The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Rosemary on January 14, 2015, 07:59:03 pm
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We put 15 ewes to the tup this year - well, eight ewes and seven gimmers. The seven gimmers are expecting six sets of twins and one single; the eight ewes are expecting four sets of twins and four sets of triplets. Thirty three lambs :o
I've only had one set of triplets before - last year. She raised all three herself and she's expecting twins this year; her twin sister, who had twins last year is going for triplets this year, along with a mother and daughter.
I feel a bit like someone's told me *I'm* expecting triplets ;D
It's good though - gives me soemthing to worry about ::)
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Good Luck with all of them !! Hope all goes well. :fc: :knit:
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Good luck for when the time comes!!
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:excited: good luck!! you will have your hands full! At least you know what to expect, I am still at the guessing stage as to who is in lamb. Don't get mine scanned so I am gently feeling tummys and udders to see who might be expecting late Feb!
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Wow!
You'll better get some bottles and some goatsmilk! ;D
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Gosh, good luck with that!
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Wow, best of luck with all 33 of them!
:fc:
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I'm feeling a bit gobsmacked. Last year we had 22 lambs scanned from 13 to the tup, including one barren. We lost one lamb at birth so 21 from 13 so 161% - that was our best %.
Of course, the next trick now is to get them out safe and sound :)
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Hope your scanner is better than ours last year our neighbour was due 5 sets of triplets and only one turned out to be a triplet! Needless to say he didn't use him again and he made lots more errors like that!! Just hope
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Good luck! That is a lot of lambs, exciting times!
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Book a week away Rosemary for after lambing time - your going to need it :tired:
Its great news though. :excited: :fc:
Got plenty grass?
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:wave: brilliant :thumbsup: . ma maths not that good whats that about 215% :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :sheep: :trophy:
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Well done! (I think... :-\)
It's quite common for a ewe to scan for triplets but only produce two. She'll reabsorb one sometimes. But it's useful to know you may be looking for a third lamb when they do come to lambing - don't give her the usual amount of time to get on with it herself, once you can see she's started, get 'em all out pronto if she doesn't make good progress on her own.
On your ground and with your care, your older girls should be able to rear three, I'd have thought. Especially as none of the ones scanned for three had triplets last year (or are gimmers.)
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I agree with Sally. Triples tend to lamb early as everything runs out of room and can also get pretty tangled. As soon as they show signs of lambing down I get 'em out quick. Once had a lambing where one lamb was parked against the entrance to the birth canal with the other two behind it being rammed into it with every contraction. Vet arrived in 15 minutes but still lost all the lambs.
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Thanks for the advice - keep it coming. I had the vet to the one set of trips we had last year - first born fine; second not coming. I couldn't feel anything I recognised and, with a third lamb behind it, I didn't want to guddle about. Turned out it was the shoulder! Anyway, vet got it out and the third one and they were fine.
We've used the same scanner - this is our seventh year with her and she's never been wrong :fc:
Here's a question. One single; a gimmer. Do I put her away with the hoggs and the two retirees with just hay or leave her with the twins, who'll be getting fed? My feeling is the former and hopefully, they'll all be too pregnant to notice her coming back into the flock for lambing.
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Great numbers Rosemary best of luck, can I ask who your scanner is as the one I had last year got it wrong more times than acceptable to me.
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Wow Rosemary, you are gonna have your hands full :thumbsup:
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we didnt scan this year with just 5 girls in to tup, but next year with 9 it will be more important i guess...
2 questions,
how much does scanning cost ? pm if not for open forum, its not somethingi have included in my costs planning and should budget for it i think.
how many weeks after tupping are they scanned at?
ps wow thats going to be a lt of baby ewoks for you to look after rosemary!!!
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Is the reason you have got many triplets and twins due to them being in really good condition? As my ewes went to the tup quit fat but not too fat. I don't scan but should I worry about having lots of twins and possible triplets due to them being in very good condition when going to the tup?
Any advice would be great!
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Rosemary, with your gimmer-with-single, assuming she's a shearling not a hogg then yes, I would not be giving her cake; too much risk of an overlarge lamb.
When she comes back to the flock at lambing, if she has a particular friend in the hoggs, you could let the hogg, (or three) come across with her too to help her settle back in? Some folks let their hoggs run with the lambing ewes to get used to what wee lambies are like for when it's their turn ;) But your Ryelands are probably so laid back it wouldn't be a problem bringing her back on her own, anyway - it's not like it's to sheep she's never met before.
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Is the reason you have got many triplets and twins due to them being in really good condition? As my ewes went to the tup quit fat but not too fat. I don't scan but should I worry about having lots of twins and possible triplets due to them being in very good condition when going to the tup?
What the books say is that it's about 'a rising plane of nutrition', ie., giving them a lift - new pasture, or feed, or some such - just as they come to the tup, rather than their underlying condition. So people working to get maximum scan rates keep them on the lowish side after weaning, then 'flush' them - on fresh ground, usually - a couple of weeks before putting the tup in.
It's also important how they are cared for during and in the weeks after tupping - any shocks, or degradation in feed supply, can cause them to not implant and/or to lose early foetuses.
On our farm we expressly don't want triplets and like to get lots of healthy singles that will grow well and hit the early market at top prices, so we do the opposite of flushing, and run them on the same ground with no feed while they're tupped, then give them mineral licks or a drench after the tup comes out, and make sure they have plenty of forage (so move them if the ground they are on is tired) so that they implant and keep whatever eggs have been fertilised.
Last year we'd had no option but to run one group of 'earlies' on fresh grass, and they all had twins or triplets, which defeated the purpose of their being early, really, as less of their lambs finished early, being twins and triples. ::)
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Okay thank you.
I have white faced welsh mountain ewes which will start lambing from 24 March. However their is not much grass in the paddock they are in at the moment. They had clean pasture when they were put into the tup but I can't move them as I rely on people lending me fields. They are getting through a bale a day of hay and have got a mineral lick and are still nibbling at the grass quite a lot of the time. I normally don't feed them till just after 6 weeks before lambing as I don't want lambs to be too big.
I am going to get them in this week end and condition score them roughly to see what they are like. But do you think I should start feeding earlier? They went into the tup in very good condition and don't look weak of very thin when i check them.
Any advice would be great!
Thank you.
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It's also important how they are cared for during and in the weeks after tupping - any shocks, or degradation in feed supply, can cause them to not implant and/or to lose early foetuses.
yeah, it's the first 40 days after mating that you have to worry about, after that day the embryos are implanted and are "safe". I always make a note of the last mating date and count 40 days onto that, and make sure I don't handle or stress out the sheep during that time.
I've not had mine scanned (didn't get around to finding a scanner :)), but some are looking awfully wide already, and they aren't due until mid-march. eeek!
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Our scanner is a girl called Gillian Travers, bigchicken. Her business is called Booscan. She does sheep and cattle; based in Dollar / Biggar but does all over now, even Fife ;D If you want her contact details, let me know. As I say this is our seventh year using her and she's never been wrong yet.
bloomer, Gillian charges £30 plus VAT minimum charge then so much per ewe. We pay the minimum, but I don't know at what number the minimum stops.
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Condition scoring is the best check, of course. Assuming they've been kept up to date with worm and fluke meds (especially if on tight ground), if you're feeding them plenty of hay then they should be fine.
How many are there? A bale a day should keep 20-30 very happy at this stage.
It's normal for pregnant ewes to drop a little condition over the winter months, so unless they are less than CS2, for a hill breed I wouldn't be concerned.
When you do condition score them, if they are all, as a group, a little too thin, then they probably do need more feed (and/or fluking/worming.) If a few are thinner than the others, likely they are carrying more lambs and maybe would benefit from extra feed - but if you can't separate them into two groups you won't be able to feed some and not others, I assume.
In the last 6-8 weeks, the lambs start to (a) take up a lot more room, and (b) make more demands on the ewe's system, so a ewe with a bellyful of lambs may not have the physical room in her rumen for the amount of forage she really needs to grow the lambs, set in her milk stores, and keep her own condition, hence why it can be important to give more hard feed to the multiple-bearers.
The ewe needs a lot of sugars in the last 6-8 weeks too, so it's a time when the sugary block of minerals works better than the mineral-only licks.
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Again, I agree with Sally. I'd much rather a first-timer had a good single than scrappy twins and much rather a ewe had twins than triplets which means I have to try and get one adopted or bottle feed. I think the ewe should do the work, not me!
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I think you're right. No feed is better than feeding for twins.
I have not used a scanner before this year and have fed the ewes assuming twins - not that mad since the majority are Jacobs and Lleyns and have actually had twins previously. But a Badger Face was carrying a single and I had to help her deliver a big single lamb. This happened two years running, so this year they have been scanned. The Badger is carrying twins! So I have 5 twins and a different Badger with a single. I don't plan on feeding her much more than hay.
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Wow thats a high %! specially for ryelands!
My scanner hasnt been yet and its already 8 weeks till lambing time! cant wait for lambing!
I have lots of ewe lambs this year so that will bring my percentage down, they are however as big as the shearlings already, so may be fine :thinking:
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:wave: i have used gillian for the last 2 years, she has not been yet but txt me tonight to say she would be in touch soon . she is the third scanner i have used and is the best by far :thumbsup: