[OhLaLa]

Can anyone please advise: I now have a mixture of new mums with lamb at foot, about to lamb ewes, and shearlings. Lambs a couple of weeks old.

What do you do with your 'mixtures' - do they all graze in one field or separately? If separately, which with which?

Asking as mums to be (and shearlings) always hanging around dividing fence to be near the newborns/mums and it's time for all to swap fields.....

Another probably obvious answer to question but how will they behave if all in next field together?

 

[Rosemary]

I have my in lamb ewes and gimmers and last year's ewe lambs all running together. As the ewes and gimmers lamb, they'll be going on to a new field (with some grass hopefully); the ewe lambs will move through probably at the end of lambing (to keep our one late lamber company).

Last year, they all ran together all the time with no problems.

[woollyval]

If you worm and Clik and sort feet etc etc at lambing and then turn onto clean pasture you have less chance of your lambs, let alone your ewes needing worming very soon because the ground they are going on to is 'clean' ie free of worm eggs.

If you turn them out with the others i.e. back into the paddock they were in before the lambs especially being young and vulnerable will soon pick up anything lurking. It is very important to rotate and rest your ground to keep parasite burdens down and therefore use of medications at a minimum and health of your sheep good.

[Rosemary]

I've just done faecal worm counts on mine and no eggs showed; I am planning to fluke them before they move to clean grass. There's been no sheep on it since October and it wasn't heavily stocked then - also the horses have been on it to clean it up. I've just been reading this week's Scottish Farmer and there are loads of adverts for chemicals that kill all known germs dead, or just about. It's easy to get panicked about it - well, I do anyway.

[lachlanandmarcus]

it always makes me wince when you look at some of the sheep calendars some of those companies produce. If you did all the jabs and drenches and pills they suggest, the sheep would be rattling and the meat would probably stay undecayed for rather a long time with a nuclear active half life :-)))

I too put the mums and new lambies onto clean pasture (ie not grazed by sheep for 6 months plus and has had horses rotated on it in between too). Also has more grass for hungry mums. The field they are lambing in hasnt been used for lambing before, thats also a help to minimise risks of disease. Clearly you run out of fields in that respect and have to go back to one used before, but its still good not to use last years  if poss.

[OhLaLa]

Thanks all. My seemingly silly question has thrown up some very valid aspects I hadn't thought of, so I'm glad I asked (even tho I might appear a bit dim when it comes to my overcautiousness with my new flock).

Before seeing all the replies I'd put them all together, into the field which I had separated the new mums and lambs (2 weeks old) into (just one ewe left to lamb). Hope I've done the right thing...........

I have a v small flock (all meds, [and feet] up to date and none due for attention yet).

As usual, all advice greatfully received.