Sheep
Lambing box
Tuesday 22 March, 2011
My chum Carol had a bad lambing yesterday - nine hours and vet intervention - fortunately, the ewe and her twins seem to be OK. I read this on Facebook last night and woke at 4am this morning fretting about a) not bringing the ewes in last night and b) not having sorted my lambing box.
Needless to say, both are done tonight except calcium and some plastic cups for navel dipping, which I'll pick up tomorrow. Jinx is starting to show a bit of udder; Lyra I can't get near, so I'm not hassling her. Sam and I bedded the three individual pens tonight - Sam tried them all and said they were nice and warm and comfy, so that's good.
Lambing shed
Sunday 20 March, 2011
While John was finishing the field shelter, Dan and I were preparing the lambing shed. I like to bring the ewes in at night at lambing time to make it easier to check them. The barn has good lighting now, so we built a large pen using the pallets that have been piled up since we got here and baler twine. It looks OK, I think. The floor is sand but I'll put some straw down too.
One week to lambing
Saturday 19 March, 2011
We're due to start 25th March, so getting the lambing box together and building pens tomorrow. Jinx and Lyra are due on the first day - it will be Jinx's third time and Lyra's first.
Hope the weather stays dry and sunny.
Three weeks to lambing
Sunday 6 March, 2011
It's now less than three weeks until we start lambing. I've upped the ewes' feed and they're now being fed twice a day; they still have a lick as well. Their hay consumption is down but that might be because the grass is coming in now. The tups are eating less now too.
I've got out the lambing box to check the contents. With all the incidents of twin lamb disease on TAS forums, I've bought a bottle of Lucozade and some black treacle, just in case but I will get some Calciject as well. As long as the weather stays OK, we sould be fine, hopefully.
The power of the oatcake
Sunday 20 February, 2011
We were given boxes of slightly out of date oatcakes a few months ago. Only recently, have I discovered the power of the oatcake.
Of our three original ewes, Jura is by far and away the least friendly. While Jinx and Juno were happy to be hand fed, Jura never came close. Until the oatcakes. Now she's first in line if she thinks I have anything in my pocket - but furthermore, when Dan was holding her today to have her jab and her feet done, she went to sleep, leaning against him. Incredible!
Sheepy tasks
Sunday 20 February, 2011
Dan and I injected all the sheep with Heptavac P Plus today. We also took the opportunity to do a bit of hoof-trimming. We don't turn the sheep but do them the same way as a farrier would trim a horse, so I'm happy to do it when they are in lamb.
I have to say it was the best session of this that we've done - must be experience paying off at last! It was all very calm - even Dan and I didn't grump at each other. If we don't rush, we're fine.
Since the ewes had been shut in a small pen, I picked up some fresh poo (no end to the delights of smallholding) to go off for a worm egg count. I didn't get samples from all the sheep, but hopefully it was representative. I'll post tomorrow and should get the results by email on Thursday. Westgate are very good.
First feed
Friday 11 February, 2011
Fed the ewes for the first time today - they are due to start lambing in six weeks. They're on 250g of Farmgate All-stock pencils, once a day. Since I don't know if they are carrying singles or multiples, I won't be increasing it much, trying to avoid big singles.
They are still munching hay and they have access to a mollassed mineral block from 5pm until 9am - then I have to lift it or the ponies eat it.
Lonely Leo
Tuesday 18 January, 2011
Although he has Dickie, our wether, for company, Leo, our tup, looks a bit lonesome. Our six in-lamb ewes and three ewe lambs are running together, so I wondered if I culd put Leo and Dickie in with them without a) the ewes being upset and b) the lambs being tupped.
Having asked the vet, the TAS forum and the RFBS, the consensus is "No". So Leo will just have to make do with Dickie until any tup lambs are weaned in the summer.
I did move the two of them to a nicer, drier paddock today so hopefully, he'll cheer up a bit.
Well done, Leo
Wednesday 5 January, 2011
Well, Leo seems to have done his stuff. All six ewes have scanned in lamb, although the vet couldn't see if they were singles or multiples. He did say that a "proper" scanner would be able to, which made me smile.
He advised me to give them a salt lick as well as the molassed vitamin / mineral lick that they are currently getting. They'll also get a bit of hard feed in the run up to lambing, although he suggested keeping it low and increasing it after they lamb, to bring milk on.
A freezer full of lamb
Wednesday 1 December, 2010
We got our two tup lambs back from the butcher last Friday. The butcher was extremely encouraging and helpful. He said that their conformation was very good but that they were a bit fat over the shoulder and the loin. I was feeding them a bit of cake, which I won't do next year, and they were just over seven months old, when I intended to have them away at six months.
Still, it's a learning process and hopefully we'll do better next year. Looking forward to our first roast lamb - maybe for Christmas!
