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