[Dans]

The tup is in with our ewes and we're expecting lambs May/June.

Unfortunately my mother in law has booked a cabin in Finland for a month starting late June with an open invite to family and wants us all to come for at least a bit. It will cause a very big family upset if we don't go.

We are looking at going for just a long weekend, I've vetoed going for any longer. This is our first lambing and I've no idea if there is a better time, in terms of age of lambs, for us to be away?

Any ideas? I've thought about me staying home but my daughter hasn't been without me for more than a few hours and sending her to another country seems too much.

Thanks

Dans

[SallyintNorth]

A lot depends on who you will have looking after things while you are away.  If it's someone very experienced who can live in, then not such a problem.  If you don't have anyone like that you can call on... :/

I'd get the tup out now, so at least you know that lambing ends at the beginning of June.  So then the youngest lambs will be nearly 4 weeks old and past the early danger time, unlikely to get rejected. 

Then consider whether you might be bottle-rearing... personally I don't like to wean them before 6-7 weeks, although I know many wean at 5 weeks.  Personally, if I didn't have an experienced sitter, I wouldn't really want to be away for the couple of weeks after weaning, as I watch them closely to be sure they're doing ok on their non-milky diet.  Although I guess just being away for say 3 or 4 nights they couldn't come to too much harm... :/. Unless they overdo the grass or cake and get bloat, of course....  Many find that bloat is more of a risk before weaning, but given your timing you could get past that stage. 

Other things... when will you shear?  Will the sheep need an experienced person watching for and dealing with any flystrike?  It's Manxes you have, isn't it?  I've had at least one lamb every year get bothered by flies on the horn, especially if the lamb has managed to damage the horn.  You could decide to dag, worm and Crovect (horns as well as fleece) before you go, which should keep problems at bay for a week or so! 

What about orf?  If you have it on your farm you could Scabivax them all.  If you don't  know yet whether you have it, though, you probably won't want to use the vaccine as it will introduce the disease.

The other worries would be mastitis, and/or lambs starting to fail to thrive, getting diseases as their passive immunity wanes...  You could Ovivac the lambs at three weeks and again a month later, and do your trip towards the end of the month period.   (But then getting into more risk of strike, and/or the shearers coming...)

[GrannyAching]

I know this is really harsh but you could consider terminating the pregnancies - take the ram out now the vet in 10 days. It might be kinder than relying on an inexperienced sitter.

Then you could have a proper holiday before spelling out your needs to your family.

We didn't make my brother's wedding and still reap the fallout 20 some odd years later but there was no way we could not make hay and that needed all hands to the deck. Wouldn't be so bad but they are all in farming - October would have been so much easier!

[Marches Farmer]

Is there a local farmer's son or member of the Young Farmers who could take charge for a fee while you're away?  We would normally get the shearer in in mid May but 2016 was so cold and the grass so slow to get going we were still feeding hay then and the sheep were shorn in July, so we had several cases of flystrike on humid days. 

Not your fault the holiday was booked after the ram went in.  Finland in July - take lots of insect repellent - the mosquitoes are fierce.

[Fleecewife]

Hi Dans    Would it be possible for you and Sam to go separately?  Then there would always be one of you at home and the other could spend more than just a couple of days away, and enjoy yourselves.  Seems the simplest solution.  Apart from 5 days away together 16 years ago, we have never had a holiday together since we acquired livestock........

[Tim W]

The alternative view---

Few days away? Should be fine with just someone coming in to glance over the fence once a day
Sell orphans asap and you are free to go

I go away on these terms with 1000 ewes & their lambs spread over a large area --- not a problem

[SallyintNorth]

You are rubbing in that you have self-shearing sheep, and very little risk of flystrike, I think, Tim W!

But thinking about that... I presume that lambs don't shed in their first summer, so are they not as at risk as any other breed?

And on the 'check once a day' regime, you do have to be sure that the person has time and experience to deal with any issues that do arise.  I was once left to do a twice daily check and feed of a friends' mixed smallholding, and their sheep started to lamb unexpectedly.  I was working so couldn't be on hand all day, didn't have the experience to make things safe for the lambs..  it was awful.  Many lambs were lost, my confidence was shattered, the friendship was severely bruised (my anger at their leaving me and their sheep at that time, not they blaming me for the loss of the lambs) - it's left a deep impression on me.

[Tim W]

Not really the shedding thing that defines whether you can go away or not but rather the overall selection process over the years (if it needs attention = cull it)
The other main factor is the worry issue --- if you want to try and imagine every possible bad thing that could happen you would never leave your livestock unattended for an hour

I just like to have a social life as well as a work life ---and I strongly believe that in many cases the more you interfere with sheep the more problems you cause

[Fleecewife]

Not really the shedding thing that defines whether you can go away or not but rather the overall selection process over the years (if it needs attention = cull it)
The other main factor is the worry issue --- if you want to try and imagine every possible bad thing that could happen you would never leave your livestock unattended for an hour

I just like to have a social life as well as a work life ---and I strongly believe that in many cases the more you interfere with sheep the more problems you cause

This is Dans' first lambing, so she has no idea how her little flock will perform.
When you have 1000 sheep and come home to find you only have 999, then you aren't perhaps going to lose any sleep over it.  When you have maybe half a dozen, one dead is a big deal.

[Old Shep]

Personally I wouldn't go at all!  But all my family know me well enough not to book anywhere expecting me to go without consulting me first!  Last year me and my husband went away for one week in May after lambing, leaving everything to my son (who's sheep they are and who is more experienced than me anyway).  I couldn't relax for worrying so there was no point in going!!

[pharnorth]

Hmm well given I am currently some 300 miles away from my smallholding I am more in Tim Ws line of thought. My sheep, goats etc are being cared for by several people but overseen by an agricultural graduate who has just come back from a year in Australia.  She has more experience than me so maybe I should stay away! But after a career in management I guess I'm well versed in delegation and the critical thing is to delegate to people who are competent rather than just convenient and make it as simple and low risk as you can. If you opt for the end of the period they should be lambed and sheared which reduces complexity. Also if you can time it to when the agri colleges finish for the summer you may be able to get someone who wants a bit of additional experience on their CV to help. To be frank I don't worry when I go away except if the don't think I have got it well sorted.

[bazzais]

Ouch - must be really hard having family that doesn't understand your predicament.

Perhaps you need to explain why you really need to be at home to finish the years work and begin the next.

[Dans]

Thank you all, you have certainly given me a lot to think about, which is why I posted the question here. I figured you all would have more experience and be able to point out the pit falls to me.

It's been a bit of a disaster year, we had been planning to tup late September but my step father died whilst on holiday and everything went to hell. Maybe at that point we should have just said to leave it for this year, but a few people said it wouldn't be too late and the grass would at least be good so we went for it. *Sigh*

The ewes were shorn late May last year and I've been reading about shearing them a month before lambing. Anyone have experience with this? If I get booked in with the shearer when his diary opens I should be able to get him for then.

I'm not expecting orf to be a problem. The land hasn't been grazed by anything for 11 years before our sheep came. I'm hoping that any orf that was here would be long gone in that time but I'll check with my vet friend.

We can't go to Finland separately as I no longer get on very well with my MIL and need Sam there as a buffer. It's him and Chi (my daughter) that she wants there, so having just Sam and then just me and Chi probably won't work for her anyway.

Being in South Lincs there don't seem to be many sheep farmers about (just smallholdings really and of course all about the arable). We don't even seem to have a local Agri college (I keep looking for courses).

The tup has now covered 5 of our 6 girls, although 3 of them he has covered twice (two different cycles). If we do go on the holiday we will take him out tomorrow, although that is another headache as the people we hired him from said he would be fine in with the ewes until just before lambing when they will come and collect him. We had anticipated taking him out so now if he is out he will be on his own. The holding is only 2.5 acres, about 1.5 acres of that is for the sheep, so wherever he is he will still be able to see and smell the girls. I just hope we don't get broken fences if he decides he has to be in with them.

I think our options are:

1) Don't go, try and make it up to MIL by going to stay at hers for a long weekend or even a week at another point in the year when we can get a novice sitter in (any suggestions on the best time of year to be away from a smallholding???)

2) Pay a professional smallholding sitter who has experience and then limit it to a couple of days at the very end of the cabin booking

3) Get our usual sitter (good friend who helps out on the holding occasionally but only livestock experience is through us) to come, and have our friends dad on call (lives 20 mins away and used to be a shepherd but was in traction a few years ago so no longer very mobile) and the vets number written everywhere.

I'm leaning on #1 as I really don't want to run the risk of anything going wrong and having any bad blood between friends if we go for #3, but things have been very strained with the MIL and we didn't visit her at all in 2016 (Although she did book a house for her birthday so we went there for a weekend), and we spent nearly a month at my mum's when my step father died (and a big bill for twice a day drop ins by some sitters).

It's all a bit of a huge headache, and I'm very much looking forward to when my daughter can travel with out me as then I can stay here and we can still meet family obligations.

Dans

[Backinwellies]

How old is daughter?  Couldn't Sam take her for an adventure?   Sounds a long way and expensive to go for a weekend.   What does Sam think?

[DavidandCollette]

We have the same situation. Mil is 80 in April but fortunately had come to realise that livestock are full time so Collette will go. We are in north lincs so will have a head scratch about who migjt be around in the south