Livestock |
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| We used to have a flock of about 300 breeding ewes, mainly mules
bred from the Swaledale and a few cross Suffolks left over from
a time when we had an early lambing flock. During the foot &
mouth epidemic of 2001, we felt we were taken for a ride by the
buyers of our lambs, being inundated by bureaucracy and were not
making a fair reward for the work involved, so we sold most of the
flock in early 2002. I have left this page in place for anyone wishing
to see how we used to do it. We have kept all the equipment and
it is possible we may return to livestock in the future. We currently look after sheep and cattle for neighbours to utilise the grassland. |
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| The ewes are put to the tups on October 1st for a lambing beginning
in early March. They are fed silage from November onwards until
they are housed in early January when some bought in rations are
fed as well. At this time they are ultrasonically scanned to forecast
the number of lambs each ewe is carrying. An average scanning would
be 30 singles, 210 twins, 60 triplets and 7 not carrying lambs.
The sheep are segregated into lots of about 30 to 40 so that sheep
requiring similar amounts of feed are kept together. (e.g. Triplets
are given extra feeding and singles slightly less than twins) The
amount of feeding is increased weekly to closely match the ewes
requirements so that the lambs grow well but ewes do do gain excessive
fat which may cause problems at lambing. |
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| The ewes are allowed to lamb in their pens and we try to interfere
as little as possible but probably 1 in 5 multiple births require
some assistance. If possible the ewes and lambs are left together
for a while to bond and for the lambs to get some colostrum. However
some other ewes may try to 'steal' lambs or the lambs may wander
off. The ewe and lambs are moved to small pens about 5 feet square,
and at this time the lambs' navels are sprayed with iodine to
prevent infection and they are given a small dose of oral antibiotic
to prevent 'watery mout' (an e.coli infection of the gut). They
will remain here for about 24 hours to increase the bonding and
where we can watch out for possible problems. If the weather is
good (unlikely) and there is a flush of grass in the fields (rare)
they are moved out to the fields if we think the lambs are strong
enough. If not, they are moved on to some larger pens in an open
shed where lots of 10 ewes plus lambs can be kept for a few days
until the lambs are considered strong enough to be put out to the
fields. |
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| The ewes are trough fed and given silage until there is sufficient
grass growth to maintain them; generally early May. The lambs are
offered 'creep' feed from special feeders which prevent their mothers
from devouring every scrap. |
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| The biggest problem we have with sheep is maintaining their feet
in good condition, and all year round we are treating the whole
flock by foot bathing and more serious cases by catching, trimming
and treatment. Intestinal worms can be a problem in some years as
ewes pass the eggs on to the pasture and the larvae are picked up
by lambs. Dipping is required at least once per year to rid the
sheep of mites etc and to prevent flies from laying eggs in dirty
wool at the rear of sheep which hatch into maggots. (Horrible) |
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| The first lambs are generally sold in early June, when they reach
40 kilograms weight. some are sent to local marts and some direct
to abattoirs. By the end of July, when harvest starts, we generally
hope to have less than 100 lambs left to sell. These are then removed
from their mothers (to give the ewes a chance to recover and regain
condition) and put on some young grass which was earlier used for
a crop of silage. After harvest, about mid September another 'draw'
is made and by November we only have the poorer lambs left. These
are given extra feed to try to 'finish' them for market. |
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