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Lambing 2018 About To Finish

Lambing is about over at Bearwood for another year. This year has been challenging to say the least; 6 inches of snow and temperatures down to -13 degrees!

Even with these cold temperatures, ewes lambed with no problems and lambs were “licked off” and up and sucking quickly, testament to the easy lambing and good maternal instincts of the Lleyn and Blue Texel breed.

I lamb the flock on my own, with the help from my neighbour for a couple of hours on my busiest days. 200 (out of 220) ewes lambed in 16 days which allowed me to adopt all triplet lambs onto singles, thereby having no orphan lambs to feed. The use of teasers (vasectomised) rams in the autumn really “tightens up” the lambing period.

I have been using a block feeding system for the past couple of years and do not feed concentrates. 8  weeks prior to lambing I introduce Rumenco Super Energy plus Fish Oil blocks to the ewes and then change to Lifeline Lamb and Ewe blocks from 4 weeks. Once the ewe and lambs are turned out they are fed Rumenco Graze DUP blocks.

I find block feeding  suits my system here at Bearwood for a number of reasons:

  1. Ease of management.
  2. Eliminates pushing and shunting that occurs when feeding concentrates prior to lambing which can lead to ewes loosing lambs early and proplapses.
  3. Eliminates over supply of milk at lambing due to over feeding. Lambs cannot “latch” on to large teats which can lead to lamb death and mastitis. I find that ewes milk to lambs demand on blocks.
  4. Eliminates young lambs loosing their mothers that can occur in the “cavalry charge” when you arrive at the field when concentrate feeding. With blocks, ewes and lambs are relaxed and it is easy to identify lambs that are not with their mothers and react accordingly.
  5. Concentrate feeding in the field is done once, possibly twice a day. With blocks ewes are able to obtain energy 24 hours a day and whenever they require it. This has been noticeable this year when we have had snow on the ground and very cold temperatures. Lambs have always had full bellies even when the weather has been dismal and I noticed that block consumption increased dramatically when snow was on the ground and ewes were unable to get to the grass.
  6. Lambs get the benefits of the blocks as they get older. I do not creep feed so when ewes milk supply starts to decrease and lambs begin to eat grass they get the benefit of the blocks also.

We now need some warm weather to make the grass grow and sunshine for the ewes and lambs.

Article on the simplified feeding system here at Bearwood published in March 2018 by Rumenco

New Stock Ram Purchased

Lluest Eccentric
Lluest Eccentric

A new stock ram was purchased at the Ross on Wye Lleyn Sale this autumn. The yearling, Lluest Eccentric is by Goldies Lochar Cosity out of a high performing Lluest ewe that has both Bronallt Big Daddy and Balliney Action Man bloodlines in her pedigree. Results for the past two years from the worm resistance project that I am part of have shown that lambs from these bloodlines have higher worm resistance EBVs than from other bloodlines in the flock. The ram also has good maternal and carcase figures and we will have to see how his lambs turn out next spring.

Lluest Eccentric
Lluest Eccentric

Lambing 2016

Lleyn Lambs
Lleyn Lambs

Lambing is coming to an end for another year. I had a lambing assistant from a non farming background helping me this year. It is nice to see a young person passionate about sheep and wanting to forge a career in the industry.

The weather was settled for the majority of March which allowed us to put ewes and lambs straight out to pasture 48hrs after birth. The storms over Easter were not pleasant, winds from the north and east with rain is a “lamb killer” on any lamb that is weak or looses it’s mother during the night. We luckily only lost a couple of lambs with the others looking pretty miserable but as I write this post, the sun is out and all lambs are jumping about.

Blue Texel Lamb
Blue Texel Lamb

The Blue Texels lambed well with 75% being ewe lambs, which is just what I wanted. This means I will have between 15 and 20 Blue Texel ewe lambs for sale this year. The Lleyn percentage of ewe to ram lambs is 50%, so there will be up to 200 ewe lambs available. All ewes lambed with little assistance and with plenty of milk and the lambs are doing well.

Bearwood Stock Ram Abracadabra Making Headlines

Neil and Debbie McGowan had a another successful sale of Lleyn and Texel rams at their “7th Working Genes Ram Sale” on 4th September.

Lleyn Ram - 619:1100993
Abracadabra

There was keen competition for sons of their hombred ram Balintore. Balintore’s sire is ABRACADABRA (619:1100993); a stock ram at Bearwood. He was hired by Neil and Debbie as a ram lamb and I bought him privately off his breeder, Marcus Bullock as a 2 year old.

What a good decision this was, as yearlings by Balintore sold for 3200 gns (top and record price), 2400 (2nd top price), 1600 gns and 1500 gns.

I have very nice ram lambs by ABRACADABRA with good performance figures behind them which will be sold as yearlings next year and also  semen stored at Innovis. This is a new bloodline that is producing high performing sheep.

Please contact me if you require more information.

Blue Texel x Lleyn Lambs

Blue Texel x Lleyn Ewe Lambs 1

I put my Blue Texel Tups to some Lleyn ewes last Autum and have been very pleased with the lambs that have been produced; all with good skins and great carcases. Many of the males have already been sold fat at Hereford market where they made premium prices.Blue Texel x Lleyn Ewe Lamb 2

I have kept the ewe lambs and if they are not sold this Autumn they will be sold as yearlings next year. Again the ewe lambs have great skins and good length and shape.

Blue Texel x Lleyn Ewe Lambs 3

Lambing Over

Lambing is almost over with just two ewes left to lamb. We were luckily not affected by the Schmallenberg virus and the weather, although cold was not too severe. We had snow but luckily a couple of inches and not a couple of feet like in some areas.

The ewes and lambs have survived well. I do not creep the lambs but I am still feeding concentrate to the ewes to help them produce milk until the grass grows.

The majority of Lleyns and Blue Texels lambed on their own in the lambing shed and ewes and lambs were put out onto grass within three days of being born. Even in the snow and rain lamb losses were minimal. Both breeds of sheep are excellent mothers and have plenty of milk.

The camera in the sheep shed that sends images to my computer was yet again a great asset. I lambed the ewes on my own and only get help when I transport ewes and lambs from the shed to the field.

The lambs will be drenched shortly with a wormer that covers Nematodirus and a multi vitamin.

We now need sunshine and warm weather to get the grass to grow and to help the lambs get a good start in life.

Things Calm Down As Ewes Go To The Tup

We have had a busy autumn selling breeding stock. Over 250 females and 30 rams have been sold privately or through Breed Society Sales. Many customers return to buy breeding animals off the farm and therefore it is important that I  have different bloodlines for them to choose from and that my records are accurate. Electronic identification and a good livestock management computer program is essential. I am fed up with taking bits of paper out to the field; which disintegrate and become unreadable, to answer customers questions on pedigree, performance figures, lambing history etc; that next year I will have a tablet computer with all the information to hand in one box.

The rams have been out with the ewes for the past month and ewe lambs are being tupped at the moment. The rams will be pulled out of the ewes next week and will be left in with the ewe lambs for another 16 days. 70% of the ewe lambs have gone to the ram already.

I have sold 90% of the fat lambs off grass. Usually I sell deadweight, however, in August/September when they should have graded at 40 – 44kg, they were that weight but did not have the flesh on them due to the wet summer. Consequently they have graded in the last 6 weeks at 45 – 55kgs. The deadweight only pays for carcases to 21kg deadweight (44kg live weight) and so I have been selling these lambs through the market. The higher weights mean I have been getting an acceptable price for the year and I have not had the extra cost of feeding expensive concentrate.

For the next couple of months I will be busy going around the grass fields repairing fences so that everything is ready for ewes and lambs next spring and catching up with paperwork during wet days.

Kelpie Puppies Growing Fast

Kelpie Puppies at Bearwood
Kelpie Puppies at Bearwood

The Kelpie puppies are now 10 days old and growing fast. There are 5 black and tan boys and 2 fawn and 1 black and tan girls. Tirri is doing them well; they are strong and growing fast and their eyes are beginning to open. The pups will be ready to leave the farm by the middle of October so if you are interested please contact me. As both Tirri and Max are registered with the Kelpie Council of Australia, these puppies are eligible to be registered.