Sheep Flashcards by Emily Cassells

How many acres?
How many of forestry?
How many sheep?

-720 acres
-125 forestry
-900 sheep

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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)

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Why cheviot cross?

-Suited well to thrive in demanding conditions
-Hardy lambs
-Easily handled
-Good mothering ability

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What breeds is Glyn looking to focus on?
and why?

-Texel cross
-Mule ewe lambs
Early maturing, ease of lambing, vigor, hardiness

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Production system:

-Mid-season lambing
17th march-28th April
-6 weeks
-70% in first 4 weeks
-24/7 monitoring of ewes

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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

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Why Texel crossed?

-Quality meat

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Why Scottish blackface?

-String maternal traits
-Hardiness
-Thrive in mountainous areas
-Resilient

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What is a mule ewe lamb?

-Scottish blackface ewe and a blue faced leister ram

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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

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1-Hopeful kill out %
2-Hopeful Carcass quality

1- 45-55%
2- 20-24kg

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Scanning rates:
Singles
Twins
Triplets
Empty

16%
69%
9%
6%

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Lambing sings :

-Corner of pen
-Scraping ground
-Lying down
-Straining head up
-Enlarged udders
-Slacking around vulva area
-Water bag presence

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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

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Lamb feeding after lambing:

milk ewe
make sure working properly
-Stomach subed 200ml
-50ml for every kg of body weight

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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

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Whats average weight of twins?

4kg

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Whats average weight of singles?

5-6kg

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what’s average weight of triplets?

3kg

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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