The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: juliem on April 21, 2017, 11:13:29 pm
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My tenant has now lost 2 very large lambs (both singles) in the past 2 weeks after they were moved to new grazing..
Large lambs have been a bit of a problem for him this year.
He doesn't usually vacinate. (Usually non interventionist)Anyway he has come to the conclusion it must be pulpy kidney.....he is going to vaccinate tomorrow.The grass must be 60 years old....never had any fertiliser on and I have never considered it to be particularly good grazing...just a history of cattle /horses and sheep grazing.
How could I prevent my field from being so lush in April.....or is it up to my tenant to vaccinate.
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It is up to your tenant to vaccinate. He can see what condition the grass is in and the weather has as much influence as anything. At 60 years old the grass should be composed of a variety of species which mature at different times, unless someone has recently put a more modern type of grass seed onto the ground.
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Could it be that because the weather has been so dry..... (driest spring in Shropshire for many years) the grass is richer.....the grass has every species ..only control the thistles/nettles/ragwort and docks.
3 years ago I tried to rent it to a farmer for sheep and he turned his nose up at it saying pasture was poor.
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Very dry Spring here too and reports of higher than usual levels of joint ill and coccidiosis on lambs that've been out a pasture for around two weeks - so presumably high levels of bacteria on the pasture. If your ground has been grazed hard by horses it's likely, since they are such selective grazers, that undesirables such as buttercups, thistles, docks and nettles have spread. Old meadow that's been grazed by cattle and sheep should have a wide variety of native grasses and deep-rooted plants such as sheep's sorrel and yarrow that will withstand dry weather much better than a modern Italian rye grass and white clover ley.
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Pulpy kidney is caused by a bacteria that lives in the intestines , which normally is ok . A change of diet from poor to good grass or increasing hard feed when the lamb is thriving can cause problems . Your tenant does know he needs 2 vaccinations 4-6 wks apart to effect control , maybe his lambs will be ready to sell by then
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My tenant normally sells them as hoggets...he had a new tup last year so perhaps that has compounded the large lamb problem.
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Sorry slightly confused these are big lambs (how old ) already and yet he doesn't sell until next year , they must be enormous by then ? Lambs of between 1& 3 months of age or weaned autumn , are affected by pulpy kidney but in your recent post about badgers you say you tenant is lambing now ?
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the lambing has finished now.....he had about 30 and stretched out over past 4 weeks.The lambs will stay with the ewes till the Autumn and then seperated.....kept in a seperate field over winter then sold as hoggets the following year..when they reach the right weight. (Would that be about 40kg?) Mainly grass fed.
I suspect he doesn't really like to see them go off to the auction....he never has any idea of prices and with no access to internet.
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The 2 lambs he lost this week were about 4 wks old....the biggest lambs in the flock.Sudden death.Just the ewe standing next to the dead lamb bawling her head off.As the field is next to the house..we get tuned in to the ewes when they are making a noise and raising the alarm.
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Heard of a large flock of January lambers in Essex this year where a high percentage of lambs just dropped dead at around six weeks old. Failure of ewes' booster vaccine or vaccine associated disease ....?