Sheep Flashcards
How many acres?
How many of forestry?
How many sheep?
-720 acres
-125 forestry
-900 sheep
Breeds and numbers on Glyn’s farm:
-Cheviot hill cross (700)
-Purebred Scottish blackface ewes (160)
-40 mule ewe lambs in lamb to beltex ram
-22 rams (Texal, Cheviot, Scottish blackface)
Why cheviot cross?
-Suited well to thrive in demanding conditions
-Hardy lambs
-Easily handled
-Good mothering ability
What breeds is Glyn looking to focus on?
and why?
-Texel cross
-Mule ewe lambs
Early maturing, ease of lambing, vigor, hardiness
Production system:
-Mid-season lambing
17th march-28th April
-6 weeks
-70% in first 4 weeks
-24/7 monitoring of ewes
Breeds first then:
Breeding policy:
Natural Breeding!
-Cheviots with 4/5 star Texel Rams.
-Cheviots with Cheviot rams for replacements - 150
-Purebred Scottish blackface
-Mule ewe lambs this year on beltex ram
-Brought down from the mountain 4-6 weeks before breeding
-BCS of 3-3.5 at breeding
Cheviout hill crosses:
-6 Texel ram at end of October
estrous cycle 17 days they stay with ram in lowland fields for 6 weeks to ensure 2 full estrous cycles.
-Raddle used
purebred cheviots same thing same time^
-1 week later SBF brought down and left with 3 rams.
This year mule ewe lambs and hopefully more kept for replacements next year
-Go up mountain, scanned in January
Why Texel crossed?
-Quality meat
Why Scottish blackface?
-String maternal traits
-Hardiness
-Thrive in mountainous areas
-Resilient
What is a mule ewe lamb?
-Scottish blackface ewe and a blue faced leister ram
Sheep Ireland trial:
2 groups:
100 5 star
100 4 star
textal rams
Aimed to enhance the genetic merit of sheep flock
3 farmers in country
ABP , Sheep Ireland , Irish Country Meats
Comparing the Progeny of 2 5-star texel rams with glyns 4-star texel rams
selected 100 cheviout hill ewes to breed woth 2 5 star and 100 more to breed with 2 4 star
Blue and red spray
Records were kept of:
-Ewes mating with rams
-Scanning rates
-Lambs birn per ewe
-Tagging of lambs
-Weights at birth, weaning
-At 30kg onwards lambs weights monitored monthly until slaughter
Aim: Gather data on animals performance on farm + assess carcass quality at time of the lambs processing
1-Hopeful kill out %
2-Hopeful Carcass quality
1- 45-55%
2- 20-24kg
Scanning rates:
Singles
Twins
Triplets
Empty
16%
69%
9%
6%
Numbers of scanning :
-Out of 900:
-148 singles
-620 twins
-80 triplets
-52 empty
All go back up mountain when scanned apart from the triplets they stay in lambing shed
Why doesn’t Glyn want triplets?
Due to having to adopt or keep as pets as ewes struggle to get enough quality forage up on mountains compared to lowland farms
Nutritional resources aren’t enough to support ewes milk production for more than 2 lambs
Cant produce enough mil for all 3 of them to survive
Big difference between hill and lowland farmers:
-Prolificy rates due to nutritional constraints
-Genetics of the flock.
Insufficient nutrition on mountains to support triplets
Genetics adapted to hill conditions naturally result in fewer lambs due to environmental pressures and selection criteria that favour lamb viability and ewe health
Lambing :
-Cheviouts down first,
-Scottish Black face 1 week later
-Mule ewe lambs 2 weeks after them
It was staggered
-95 a day peak lambing
Lambing sings :
-Corner of pen
-Scraping ground
-Lying down
-Straining head up
-Enlarged udders
-Slacking around vulva area
-Water bag presence
Lambing how to lamb them talk about it :
-Pens
-Tray
-Gloves
-Assist all lambing’s
-Acralube
-Sometimes 20ml of calcium to let down milk or to help with lambing contractions
-Flordine 10- disinfected
-Pruex stabliser-beneficial bacteria with enzymes that multiply when sprayed
-Aqualamb- microorgasims
Lamb feeding after lambing:
- milk ewe
make sure working properly
-Stomach subed 200ml
-50ml for every kg of body weight
Why is colostrum important?
Providing passive immunity , rich in immunoglobulins to the lamb
Newborn lambs cant produce there own antibodies immediately- helps in safeguarding lamb from potential diseases
Full of vit, minerals, protein, fat
Whats average weight of twins?
4kg
Whats average weight of singles?
5-6kg
what’s average weight of triplets?
3kg
Talk about adoptions
What did weak lambs or scour lambs recieve?
FirstAid
Milk replacer for pets:
3-4 times daily
1:4 parts milk replacer to water
Whats the trees names that glyn planted ?
-Larch
-Oak
-Ash
-Sitka spruce
Routine measures lambing:
-Pens
-Cleaning pens
-Sprayed on her side
Water pump in shed:
-Watery mouth and joint ill in recent years issue
-Tested by taking swabs of water troughs and pipes
-Presence of bacteria such as -Streptococcus spp in water pipes
-Installed new water pump
-Periodically dispenses Pruex stabiliser through the drinking troughs to combat the harmful bacteria.
-Stabiliser contains beneficial bacteria that help in fighting the harmful bacteria found in the water supply
-Mist sprayers
-Spray bottles
-Good investment
What did you use to clean the pens?
InterPhar drybed
Dip in glyns shed :
Virophor
Disinfectant that eliminates all bacteria
Lambs out to grass:
-Transported by quad
-Get spotinor and OrlDen- repel foxes
-Ewes feet checked for lameness and feed were pared and amimedazon spary applied
Culling Policy:
What % is culled?
-Maststis
-Enlarged Udders
-Ringwomb
-Lameness
Red paint on ewes
-20-25%
What is ringwomb
-Cause?
Incomplete cervical dilation
-Genetic predisposition in ewes
-Hormonal imbalance
-Poor nutrition, mineral deficiencies (calcium) so calcium is given to help with muscle contractions
Feeding regime :
At breeding
BCS
Weight
Lowland fields before and after breeding, they receive crystalex lick buckets and no conc. BSC at breeding is 3-3.5
Range from 40-50kg
-Protein % in hill fields is roughly 6-8%
-Lower fields is 8-12%
Composition of lick buckets:
CP- 15%
CF- 8%
CALC- 4%
Include trace elements like:
Zinc, Copper, Manganese, Selenium, Iodine
Dry period breeding nutrition:
-Fed lick buckets
-Up on the mountain 1-2kg of grass eat per day.
-No conc
-Below 70% DMD Silage bales every 2-3 days depending.
Before lambing after scanning feed :
-Triplets stay in the shed after scanning and receive 0.5kg of conc per ewe per day 8 weeks before lambing.
-Increased to 1kg per ewe per day 4 weeks before lambing
-Increased to 1.5kg 2 weeks before lambing per ewe per day.
-Crystalex all the time!
-18% crude protein nut
Singles and twins stay on mountain until 2/3 days before lambing.
-6 weeks before lambing they get 0.5kg meal per ewe per day
-Increased to 1kg per ewe per day 4 weeks before lambing
During lambing how many kg a day?
1kg/ewe/day
Whats the BCS of a ewe in dry period?
2.5-3
How much does a lamb consume at weaning of grass?
0.5-1kg of dry matter from grass per day
How much dry matter content is in grass?
15-20%
What weight are lambs sold for slaughter at?
42-45kg
Price for lambs in factory?
-Per kg
-and full price
-Kill out %?
-Carcass weight?
-€7-7.30 per kg
-€315-330
Kill out % ranging from 42-44%
Carcass weight 18-20kg
Whats the ration composition of the meal?
Crude protein- 18%
Crude oils and fat- 3.5%
Whats the protein composition of the ewes feed?
Soyabean hulls
Whats the protein % of soyabean hulls?
10-12%
Grassland management:
-Slurry
-Lower land 8 acres (silage ground)
-12 tankers fulls (18,000 gallons) of pig slurry in feb and may
-Spread at rate of 4,500 gallons per acre
Grassland management:
-Fertliser
When spread?
How much on each paddocks?
-6 tonne fert of pasture sward
-End of January and 6 again in may
-50kg per acre
-120 acres on each application
Whats the composition of pasture sward ?
N 27%
P 2.5%
K 5%
Grassland management:
Reseeding
-September 2020
-8 acres silage ground
-80% perennial ryegrass
-20% Timothy
Grassland management:
Silage
-8 acres
-8th July silage bales
-80 bales
-DMD of roughly 65-70%
Routine measures of vaccinations:
Covexin- Clostridia and foot rot
Heptvac P Plus- Pasturella and clostridia
Ivomec- Ticks, lice, external parasites
Tribex 5%- Internal parasites
Drenching:
Cobalt drenching
3x year
contains nutrients:
vit b 12 , potassium iodine, cobalt, selenium
Footbath:
Footrot issue and scald
4x year
3-4 mins
Pour on:
Clikzin
Prevent flystrike
Shoulders and down to lower tail
July
Dagging:
Start of june
Reduce risk of flystrike
Sheering:
August
Prevents parasites and improves mobility
