[Pasture Farm]

Hi again
I thought i would give an update on this years lambs having followed Jg's suppliment advise.
 
As discussed last years bure bred lleyns (lambs) would not grow, all stayed very small with little weight.(our freezer)
After giving JG's suppliment to all of our Flock(following the advise of Johnathan) we have retained 5 of our best lleyn ewes for next years breeding program. Although we still have yet to get our land tested (something i just keep putting off)the pures have finished to a good weight and conformation and fetched good prices at market.
Although im sure it would not work for everyone it has in our case shown a vast improvement.

[SallyintNorth]

Glad to hear you are so happy with the supplement.

In our neck of the woods, no farmer would dream of not giving his flock at least one mineral supplement throughout the year, most give two or three and some give them minerals every time they worm or fluke them.  We find the chelated minerals have a longer-lasting effect than the cheaper-to-buy drenches, so we feel they are better value overall.

[SteveHants]

The thing that I can't get my head around is how they work. I can see the benefits of giving mins if they are lacking, but as far as I am aware, if an animal consumes more vitamins and minerals than they need in at any given time, they are simply excreted, so I would have thought giving a steady supply of them in blocks/licks/boluses would have a much better effect.

[SallyintNorth]

Absorption and retention, and use, is all very complex - that much I know.  So I think most of us feel that the more ways you can offer them, the better the chances of getting them enough of what they need when they need it!

Even that is fraught, though, as some mins interfere with the uptake of others...  chap who makes our chelated mineral supplement has a degree (might even be a PhD) in it all.  When he explains things to me I understand it but as soon as I start to try to remember and regurgitate it, it's all muddled in my head again 

I trust his stuff, though - not only can you see the effect on sheep that haven't had it before, but Carrs changed their Ovithrive drench until the spec was a gnat's whisker off Paul's Northumberland one 

[SteveHants]

Many Thanx for the brilliant replies and information.

The reason for my original question was we crossed Pure Lleyn with Hampshire Down tup and produced a brilliant carcass 40+kg at 4 mths with no hard feed  (The sheep have only been on this grazing since beginning of March.)
We also put 8 pure bred Lleyn to a pure tup the results of which are less than poor, very low weight poor wool etc.
I am taking 6 of the Lleyn lambs to the vet for blood samples.
The sheep farmer that i go to for Dog training who runs 500 Ewes did say "copper" after his experience of keeping Lleyn Ewes, he also added that the part of Lincolnshire we live in is renound for low copper content, but i am reluctant to give anything until i know the reasons.
Strange how affectded different breeds and cross breeds are

A lot of "lleyns" have Texel in them, which would explain the need for copper.

[SallyintNorth]

A lot of "lleyns" have Texel in them, which would explain the need for copper.

Confused.  Texel is one of the breeds that should not be given copper.

We do use a chelated drench containing copper on ours, but (a) none of them are pure Texel, although some could be 3/4, (b) our ground is just about as copper, cobalt and selenium-deficient as it's possible to get; the vet says almost anything would need additional copper here and (c) we use the drench infrequently on the more pure-Texel members of the flock; it seems to be the Swaley Mules and Texel- and Beltex-crosses therefrom who need the drench regularly, the rest seem to cope with it once or at most twice a year.

[Pasture Farm]

I to am confused about Texel/copper..... after much reading on the subject Texels are a no no for copper!!

[SteveHants]

Shows how much I know - I thought they needed it.


I dont give mine anything specific anyway.


oops.