I like your videos that show how your sheep farming works. It is a lot different than we do in Iceland. We breed ones every year. We live in north Iceland and we dont breed until late in desember and it starts often about 20 desember, but farmers who lives in south starts earlier in first days of desember. Every year we have 140 juniors ewe , 620 adult ewe and about 30-35 rams. The juniors have about 1-1,5 lamb per ewe. And adult ewe are about 2,0 per ewe, but the avarge in Iceland is 0,8 by juniors and 1,84 per adult ewe. We do a lot same like you in farming, we shear twice a year, november and mars. We scan the ewe in mars and about 10-14 every years is empty in adult group. In may lambing session starts. Like you do, we let the ewe be alone with there lambs in first 24 ours then they go 4-6 together in groups then 8-12 together and then 10-12 days after birth we let them out to the fields with there lambs if the weather is ok and the fields not all full of snow. In end of june we release them to our highlands and they stay there the hole summer and then we herd them and gather together on horses in september. In september and oktober we slaughter. And then next season starts with sheep shearing in november and breeding in desember.
I don't even have sheep and have learned a lot. Sandi your name should be Professor Sandi. I love the way you teach people, no big secrets you just throw it out there. For what you have done and what you have built up, people need to remember that. When I was an apprentice at blade smithing my mentor never kept anything from me...i have to respect that.
Yess I love your videos. My name is Gabrielle Fertello I am 13, Your videos have made me realize that I want to be a commercial sheep farmer, I have done 4-H for two years now and I have learned that I love sheep and livestock as a whole when I am a sheep farmer, I hope to be as organized as you. I have gotten 2 out of 3, of my lambs from a commercial farmer like you, I get to go and help lamb in February there and I am so excited. Keep up the good work sandi, love watching ya.❤️🐑
Gabbie Fertello gabbie you should also watch Greg Judy for a good look at a different method of sheep (and cattle) farming. I have been finding both his methods and Sandi’s provide valuable information. And I really enjoy both 🙂
I am an office worker but help at a friend’s sheep farm here in Scotland. I love my two week ‘holiday’ each lateMarch. Scottish Blackface sheep live ‘wild’ on the hills all year until late January when the pregnant ewes are brough to fields near the farm house. At lambing time most give birth outside, but there is a shed for the weak ones. Most do fine outside unless it is very wet/cold. It is hard work and brings low profit, but the lifestyle is what my friends moved out of the engineering/catering jobs each had when first married. They have brought up 2 kids,and now have downsized to a small smaller herd as they plan retirement. You have a great channel here, keep going. I wish I could visit you at lambing time, a nonpaid working holiday. Just feed me !! I need lots of cake.
I'm thinking about getting into sheep on a small scale as a side hobby since I thoroughly enjoyed having my little lamb for almost a year and wanted more and more. I thrive on your nutrition system and crop videos because that's what is super important and watching how you do data is staggering. I'm not organized so I can't imagine the stress that causes but the relief you get when you see everything laid out infront of you. Thank you for making informed videos with the worst parts and the best parts. Thank you for being honest with us. If it was always smiles and always good, then everyone would be doing it. Thank you for teaching me that this isn't easy and I'll probably get it wrong so many times before something works out. A lot of us need to hear that kind of thing. You're a true superwoman!
Oh Amanda! Thank you so much. I try hard to not glamourize this job. It can be so hard... I guess I just want people to see the process, and progress and that results take time (especially if you have no previous experience).
Sandi, thank you so much for all the information you have put out for free for us! I have laughed with you, and cried with you, and been introduced into a whole new amazing world. You are an incredible person and have inspired me so much! Thank you for all your hard work and sharing your life with us!
I'm quite glad I am a human and not a sheep. I don't think I would like just six weeks off before going for another child! I work with equines, but watching your videos is very informative and also relaxing (most of the time). You are a very hard worker and deserve every success you have.
Absolutely fascinating Sandi. I really get a sense of the big picture when you review the entire program like this. Thank you (and your family!) for all the hard work and for your time and effort in putting together this video. Cheers! :-)
I love to watch your videos, especially the sheep. Down here in Florida I think raising sheep would be hard and maybe even cruel to the animals. Beyond that I am 70 years old and arthritic, so I will just enjoy watching you.
We're based in Ireland, we put about 550 ewes to the ram every year. (Rams are going out on Friday!) We are mainly grass based, but the ewes are housed from December until lambing in march. They are fed a grass silage based ration in the shed on slats. But come to the home farm to lamb on straw bed 1 week before lambing. We would have 95% lambed 6 weeks after lambing starts. The ewes and lambs are out to grass within 2-3 days weather permitting
Another great video - really interesting. Not a sheep farmer, never will be but watching your videos is really cool and interesting. I always learn something new. Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to see the next group of babies. Love the birthing videos - birth is so amazing! Life is amazing! God bless! 😁🐑❣️
We are in North East Scotland and lamb annually. We have the Dorsets lambing in January and the mixed breeds in March to May. One thing I noticed, over here no Shearer will shear a ewe when pregnant. It is said to be detrimental to the lambs. Having seen how much work, research, time, effort, money etc to getting the best results and seeing that you routinely shear not long before lambing makes me think it cant be detrimental or you would have picked it up and changed things! This is why I love learning about farming practices in other countries where things are done differently!
I have so enjoyed watching your videos on the new babies entering your flock. I watch more about your operation then I do on regular tv! Thank you for sharing I am from South Central Oklahoma and I used to work at a pig farm and I got to work with the pigglets!
We’re trying to do 3 lambings a year so they lamb 3 times in two years. This way we only have two groups. The spring breeding for fall lambing is the hardest. We’re using polypays, which I think are a lot like your rideaus
Am still looking at Accelerated breeding but from what I have researched it is lambing 2 times a year. Really taking advantage of the 6 month down time and making it more profitable.
I am in the UK. I breed once a year to lamb in March. This year I have used CIDRs for the first time thanks to your videos and have a teeny group of 7 due on the 11th of February. The other 21 are all natural bred and due 15th of March to 5th of April. Tempted to use more CIDRs next year if I have enough ram power! 🤣
We breed annually. Only due to logistics so it doesn’t cross over with the grain operation. Breeding for the stud merino is in Nov/Dec for 6 weeks around 500 ewes. The commercial cross breeds in Jan for 6 weeks around 800 ewes and the ewe lambs in Feb/March for 6 weeks around 200 ewes. It does mean little sleep for 3 months of lambing but it works for us.
I am retired and have a started a small 7 animal Hobby flock in Hawaii here on the Big Island, with a single ram, 4 ewes of breeding age, two lambs ready for sale. All natural breeding, no scannings done but believe all 4 ewes are pregnant this go (due late Aug 2022). We are trying to get an accelerated breeding program set up and going for our farm and I am loving this break down with timings by weeks and events. All lambs born to these F1 ewes will either be 'shipped' for meat processing for our farm or offered up for live sale though there are no livestock auctions that I have found on island as yet. Thanks for the great info.
Ok so you are my idol. We have a flock of 17 katahdin hair sheep. My husband and i have learned so much from your videos. We bought 8 bred ewes due for may lambing 1 month before they were due. You channel taught me so much! We now have 7 mature ewes and 7 mature ewe lambs and 2 rams. We did a natural breed the end of sept. Planning on a feb lambing. We are in wadena Minnesota. Your flock is amazing and you are doing an amazing job!
I find your videos so useful to me. I have sheep for fibre, not for meat, but the hard line decisions you make on breeding and critical eye on problems (lumps in the udder etc) has helped me make this years decisions on who to breed. For instance, I was asked to take on a ewe to live out her days. She had been bred twice by her previous owner/breeder. First time she did not take. Second time she has stillborn lambs. Originally I was going to breed her this year, but since finding your channel I find I am more critical over my own sheep. I may not be breeding for meat, but I dont want to have to put in a lot of extra work and possibly money on one specific ewe for what has a high chance of getting no gain. I have Fibromyalgia which can make things very difficult so I have to take that into consideration. With this in mind, I wondered if you would breed this ewe of she were in your flock? She is a cracking specimen of her breed, but one fail to take, then the next year stillborn lambs... is she one you would ship or try again with? She is only 3.5 years old. I wouldn't ship her, she would just go out on the hill to be a grazer and fleece only rather than be in the breeding stock.
Honestly, she may be worth a shot in YOUR system. You really don't know what happened to cause the stillborns. That could have been management, health, or just bad luck. You really have nothing invested in her yet to try. At 3.5 years old, she may have lots of lambs to give you. If it was me, I'd give it a go. Keep me posted!!
@tm2bee we decided to give it a go breeding her, and she has had lambs every year with us! This year was her last year. She has given us some cracking lambs. One of her male lambs we kept entire and he has gone off to another home to be a breeding ram. All her lambs have had wonderful temperaments and all have been quality lambs. She has done us proud and this year became a grandmother too 💖
I'm 28 years old and I lamb about 500 head of ewes in ND, USA. my ewes lamb starting January 1 and continue until April 15. I keep my rams in for 3 weeks then pull for 2 week and then back in for 3 weeks and then pull for 2 weeks and then keep them in the rest of the breeding cycle. We use the breeding harnesses and a different colored chalk for each breeding group so I know which sheep bred when. That way I can save space in the lambing barn and not have them all sheared at one time. In 2020 I plan on trying to lamb each ewe 3 times in 2 years. I'm hoping that works well!!
Because of the climate in Ireland we lamb annually. We started tupping or breeding as you say last week and it's all natural. Ive got a young ram which i use for teasing 😆, sounds bad but it helps a little. Were lucky in our area were the grass is good but we still have to use nutrients prior and during breeding. As yourself the ewes are immunized 2 weeks before breeding and i normally wait 70 days for the scan.
@@mavriksbt the thing with Ireland it's a small country and there are quite a lot of sheep farmers. A lot comes down to the market and the price per kilo for sheep, new Zealand produces a huge amount of lamb much cheaper than we can so intensive farming may be an option but you would loose out on nearly pure grass fed sheep. In winter hay and hayledge, sheep nuts ect but keeping them on grass is cheaper and there's a better quality of meat. Natural preditors only around lambing, foxes maybe badgers at night for the really young Lamb's and hooded crows, they try to peck at them during birth. That's why we try and get them into a lambing shed for a couple of days, after that it's not to bad.
Ms.Sandi, I don't have sleep but I very much enjoy your videos. When you do videos on the lambing is my favorite. Seeing the sweet little lambs. I just want to hold one of them myself because their so cute. Please keep up the great job of your vlob. May God Bless, Judi Sheppard Shaw
I live in south central Missouri and raise katahdins ina mostly grass based system. I have been lambing a group in the spring ( mid April to end of may) and a group in November/December. I have a hoop house for this group and bonding pens for the spring group. In 2020 I plan on using all terminal sires and dividing ewes into two flocks and lamb each one every eight to nine months like you do. Lambing fewer ewes more often hopefully will give me a more steady supply of feeders for the market. I always synchronized my jerseys, so it won't be something totally new. We shall see!! I really enjoy your vlogs....they are very encouraging!!
Good information! Fun video. I have three ewes this year so they had all better be pregnant this year. I'm in Idaho and I'll be putting the Rams in with the ewes in about a week or so. Wish me luck 👍
We farm outside Bethlehem in the Free State, South Africa. We try lamb every 8 months with natural breeding. Our hear is a mixed breed but moving over to a pure Dohne Merino breed. To try sheer more wool from our heard with a good meat production and a higher fertility rate. Hope your harvest season went well. We are still harvesting Soybeans, Sorghum and Corn in Colby Kansas. Working in America on a H2A and hope to see your system in person one day. Have a good day and thanks for showing people how a good sheep farm is ran.
I will start off by saying we have a small hobby farm setup and have used cidrs for out of season lambing just once this year. That being said we lamb both in the fall Sept and in March. I looked at our numbers and the fall bred ewes all lambed during the month of March. When I look at the two groups bred for fall lambing 66% birth rate were naturally bred( no cidrs), and 50 % for the group that had cidrs. I do see some improvements we could make in the out of season breeding groups to increase our chances, and will be pursuing that next year. Also all the out of season lambs born to the natural breeding were singles. The bulk of lambs born from the cidred group were mixed singles and twins. Nearly all the fall bred ewes had twins or triplets in March. Thanks for your videos, they are both informative and thought provoking.
What do I do ?? Well... I could tell ya ... but then I'd hafta kill ya 🙄😂😂😂 Sandi ... Great detailed vlog & I'm impressed with your transparency re. your operation. Your success is deserved & doesn't surprise me , given the logical way you go about things & the total commitment by you.. Thanks for taking the not-insignificant amount of time to put these vids up, I, like so many others, really do appreciate your efforts ... 😎👍☘🍺
In Australia's temperate areas, our winters are so mild that our ewes will naturally breed much of tbe year. There is no need for shedded sheep here unless they are growing ultra fine wool to be protected from the elements. Of course every farmer does things differently but generally our sheep live, breed and lamb in the paddocks, usually dropping lambs from march (beginning of autumn) right thru our mild winter and up towards end of spring in october depending on when the farmer leaves the rams in. Most shearing goes on between september to march. Summer is the harsh season for aussie sheep with high temps, low grazing and ration paddock feeding. Ewes are joined for lambing be timed well before october as the heat and dry starts in november.
A lot of very complicated work- planning out the entire year. Your computing system is impressive, but only as good as the lady entering the figures. Congratulations on a great year!
Hello Mrs.Brock. How are you today? I own a 100 head feedlot here in Colorado. But one of my good friends as a 5000 head operation and he breeds every October. Then he lambs outside in may and when he is done lambing about 15 days after that last lamb hits the ground.He trials the ewes and lambs up to our local National Park to graze them for the summer. Then in September, he will trial off the mountain and wean his lambs. Then ship the lambs to a feedlot in Kansas. And then he breeds the ewes and give 4 shots to the ewes. And then he pull the rams off and trial the ewes to New Mexico for the winter and trial the ewes back in March.
we are novice sheep farmers in Oklahoma, running a pasture based commercial Katahdin/ Dorper cross ewes. we bred annually currently but have split the flock into 2 flocks. one lambing in the spring and one lambing in the fall. I am looking into possibly moving my flock from pasture based to a indoor flock. we battle parasites and predators.
UK system is usually pregnant 5 months lactation 4 months recovery 3 months with seasonal breeding from August to December to lamb January to May. A lot of farms will have 2 lambing groups early and late to target the higher prices at either end of the season.
from the economical side of it, do you think you have increased your equity (since you started till now) ? or is it a hobby that kinda balances up the pleasure you get from it, to the costs of it ? Awsome content anyway... luv your dedication and precision... ocd a bit maybe :) Best of luck always...
I know this is a late comment but I've only been following you for a little while I went all the way to where you started I think your amazing and your sheep and lambs are to cute your name are clean everything you do is clean there is just one thing your Gallagher screen pls write it haha sorry but I see everything else you do and your super clean is just that screen I kind of have sought of a little ocd which isn't your concern but the screen lol your amazing it's great to see women in agriculture live stock and fields (planting and cutting etc) you go girl is amazing and I've left it until now to send you my condolences on regards to Amy truck truths were fun to watch so I'm ever so sorry I lost my best friend 2 years ago so I know what is like to not have them there anymore waiting for those texts and calls at anytime you still keep waiting and crying and I still struggle with that but I'm thinking of you going through that the hope doesn't go away we just learn to cope better over time and you still have that forever you just copied better so I am sorry for your your loss once again and condolences to Amy's family and other friends also I live in Australia I just love your vlogs you say your not an expert but you are very knowledgeable with everything and the things you do to help the little babies legs is amazing which I seem works for most except the little one with the bent bones and you tried everything but that was out of your control you have it your best shot but she wasn't meant to be and that isn't your fault Cheers
When you were examining the utters & you found the lumps. Did you think they were cancerous? Great video thanks for explaining the process. Was that a special laptop or machine that you were using to keep track of the sheep ?
I like your program. I dont have sheep but do have beef cows. They must carry and nurse at the same time to get 1 calf per year every year. Sheep are very different than that. Good job on keeping up with it.
We only lamb seasonally. Turn rams in last week of november. Typically rams are kept separate. We dont give any feed. We pasture and move sheep everyday following cattle. We're in Missouri.
It’s always so interesting watching your lamb videos. I of course love the baby lambs, cause who doesn’t?! Have you considered having them on same size pens out on some green grass? I don’t know much about lamb farming but I’m curious if it would bring down the cost of feed while giving them some grass to munch on. I guess on the other hand that it might increase operating costs since you are set up in the barn for your different tasks. Anyways, thanks putting out the content.
The whole area around the brightspan barn she uses is cropland, and idk if she tried in the past or learned from her neighbors, but the area is riddled with coyotes. I'd love to see the lambs on grass two, but not if it means they might get killed by a predator
Thanks Krista! This continues to be my most asked question. We are a grain operation, with a sheep barn built on it... So to take more land out of crop production, completely changes what we can cost flow on the grain side... All our debt is supported by so many acres of cropland... so thats the boring business reason. The other is I am just not educated on that side of sheep farming yet. It is a science to put animals out on grass. It doesn't look like it, but I assure you, for proper management on grass takes time and education before doing. Grass stages, rotational grazing, grass species, fencing, working dogs, and parasites are just the first things I don't know anything about. The last reason is predators. We are surrounded by woodlot, and have a heavy coyote population. So not comfortable with that. I hope this explanation helps!
We lamb annually, in a paddock. We have been trying to lamb near winter, but not the peak of winter, gives the lambs some growing before the heat kicks in. We try shear the ewes before they lamb, that way in the cold they don't wander as far away from their lamb and the lamb doesn't get as cold. We had a bad drought this last year, still recovering, much luckier than people north of us who have had drought for years now. The lack of feed meant we had to heavily supplement feed, rather than let them graze (because there wasn't much to graze) and in our last lambing group of this year we had a lot of lamb losses. We have had good wool prices so we aren't 100% reliant on just meat price alone, and that has helped. I would like to build a shed to lamb our ewes in containment and then after lambing use it as a feed lot. But if that ever happens it is a while off. Victoria, Australia.
@@SandiBrock I saw some of it late last year and it wasn't pretty. We have had a below average rainfall by quite a bit but we have grass, others don't have anything. Wool was the best it has been in a long time, but has come back now. Lamb has been up around record prices regularly for the last year, but there is also lots of stock being sold because nobody can afford to feed them.
Central table lands, NSW, Australia Most of the other farmers lamb annual any were from April- September but we are on a system similar to u we have 3 mobs and each mob lambs 3 times in two years Merino x boarder Leicester ewes with a Poll Dorset sired lambs Scan at 85-95% pregnant And at 145-165% foetuses of ewes in lamb Lambed out side and stay out side all year round. If ewes have problems at lambing or lambs haven’t fed they get brought back to the shed and put in small pens and then let back out 2500 ewe operation
Campbell do you think there could be a place for this type of lambing in Australia? I’ve been watching Sandi with interest and am curious as to whether this type of agriculture would be viable for us. The crippling drought and animals being on dry barren land have damaged so much of the environment, could this be the way if the future???
Yes definitely with so much variation in the whether we looking at putting a barn in as our winters are unpredictable as it can kill a fair few lambs in one night and foxes don’t help either one night last year we lost 45 lambs due to weather We would only lamb our twins and triplets in it as the singles do fine in the weather and the let out side when they are a few days old But I think over it would be only economical if u produced you own feed as it would be like running a feed lot same cost in feed but only getting half the returns as u have to feed the ewes as well if u kept them in 24/7
Good video 😊 We need to change our girls diet at weaning, thanks for the tip. We lamb once a year in Spring. Natural matings, our leased ram goes in on 30th March.
When i was working on a sheep farm the cidr ewe where bred out of hand. Witch means you have your Rams in smal pens and the ewes in a group, you let one ram go to do its job with a ewe and after that you put the ram back in its pen for a rest and the ewe out of the group. You now when your done all ewes have being bred.
Great video Sandi so much information. When you talked about placing the ewes with rams you rotate so dads/sons and daughters dont mix. Maybe a video on how you keep that all in check. How do you prevent inter breeding on ewe you have had awhile, or do you ship after a certain time.thanks still trying to get out to the farm to meet you!
Hi Sandy, my name is Deb. I just come cross your channel a couple days ago and have become addicted. Sheep are one of my favorite animals and when I saw your channel being all about sheep I couldn't resist. Talk about organization wow you have such a system there there is no way in God's green Earth I could ever come close to matching. How-do-you-do it lol. I bet it's a very hard job but also very rewarding getting to watch those gorgeous little babies come into the world. The only part I don't like is them going to freezer camp. I have never ate lamb before to me that would be like eating Bambi lol . I don't put any body down that doesn't joy it is just not for me. If we get is raise them for the rest of their life that would be good if they all have the ability to serve a long term purpose on the farm and I mean long term as in till death do them part. But then you can't make money and as I have seen in your videos how expensive it is to have a sheep sheared keeping them for just that purpose alone would never make you the money you needed in order to even feed them. Thank you for posting these wonderful videos they are very informative and just about every emotion you can have good possibly pop out at any moment lol. I have laughed I have cried I've been mad I've been happy I've been sad while watching videos about these sheep. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as when the one little Lamb had the black bucket on his head. Did you set that up or did you walk in on that? Either way it was adorable. Thanks again Sandy take care and God-bless Deb
Awe! Thanks so much! and no... I never have to set up anything with sheep... They are their own source of entertainment! I just have to make sure I have a camera on me at all times! LOL
I am considering changing from lambing outside to lambing more in a controlled environment. Our ewes lamb in the fields and twins lamb on green pasture if we have. Once a year for us because we don’t have fields for lambing ewes multiple times a year without damaging growth to the natural grass. Shearing every 8 months on Merinos. We are in a dry area and get results that vary between 80-95% weaning. We are at 91%laming currently, it’s been very tough out here this year though. Lots of ewes that don’t take their lambs due to the drought and it makes our lives much more complicated. We lamb about 2000 at one time and have been working on getting our duration of lambing shorter. Selection is key and so is nutrition. In a system like yours I would be not allow skips🥺sadly they prolong your aim for a more fertile flock considerably. - forgive me for being forward, we haven’t even met. I greatly respect the way that you run your operation and will use a lot of the things on your channel when our future intensive lambing leg will realize. Kind regards from southern Freestate rsa
Hey Sandi! So I was wondering how do you choose your replacement ewes? how long do they take to have their first breeding chance? and do you choose any replacement Rams for your flock from your lambs as well? Thanks!
Great questions! My earliest bred ewe lambs are around 10 months of age. I do not keep any rams back for replacements... I like to bring in new rams to keep the genetics clean.
Do you send ewes that reject babies off to market too? Because that would be very frustrating to experience after so much time effort and money put into it.
I like your videos that show how your sheep farming works. It is a lot different than we do in Iceland. We breed ones every year. We live in north Iceland and we dont breed until late in desember and it starts often about 20 desember, but farmers who lives in south starts earlier in first days of desember. Every year we have 140 juniors ewe , 620 adult ewe and about 30-35 rams. The juniors have about 1-1,5 lamb per ewe. And adult ewe are about 2,0 per ewe, but the avarge in Iceland is 0,8 by juniors and 1,84 per adult ewe. We do a lot same like you in farming, we shear twice a year, november and mars. We scan the ewe in mars and about 10-14 every years is empty in adult group. In may lambing session starts. Like you do, we let the ewe be alone with there lambs in first 24 ours then they go 4-6 together in groups then 8-12 together and then 10-12 days after birth we let them out to the fields with there lambs if the weather is ok and the fields not all full of snow. In end of june we release them to our highlands and they stay there the hole summer and then we herd them and gather together on horses in september. In september and oktober we slaughter. And then next season starts with sheep shearing in november and breeding in desember.
Here's what I do: I watch your vlog intently and take joy in seeing you succeed.
Yes me too, but a few other things.
I don't even have sheep and have learned a lot. Sandi your name should be Professor Sandi. I love the way you teach people, no big secrets you just throw it out there. For what you have done and what you have built up, people need to remember that. When I was an apprentice at blade smithing my mentor never kept anything from me...i have to respect that.
Thanks so much Todd!
I never realised how complicated it is. Props to you for being so organised
Thanks Sarah!
Sandi Brock when you say: I just ship them. Where do you ship them? I’m just curious to know.
Ahh ❗she is good.
@@ANB433 they go market for sale.
Yess I love your videos. My name is Gabrielle Fertello I am 13, Your videos have made me realize that I want to be a commercial sheep farmer, I have done 4-H for two years now and I have learned that I love sheep and livestock as a whole when I am a sheep farmer, I hope to be as organized as you. I have gotten 2 out of 3, of my lambs from a commercial farmer like you, I get to go and help lamb in February there and I am so excited. Keep up the good work sandi, love watching ya.❤️🐑
Gabbie Fertello gabbie you should also watch Greg Judy for a good look at a different method of sheep (and cattle) farming. I have been finding both his methods and Sandi’s provide valuable information. And I really enjoy both 🙂
So awesome Gabbie!! That is great you are going to go help lamb... that is where you'll gain so much hands-on knowledge!! Good for you!!!
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I am an office worker but help at a friend’s sheep farm here in Scotland. I love my two week ‘holiday’ each lateMarch. Scottish Blackface sheep live ‘wild’ on the hills all year until late January when the pregnant ewes are brough to fields near the farm house. At lambing time most give birth outside, but there is a shed for the weak ones. Most do fine outside unless it is very wet/cold. It is hard work and brings low profit, but the lifestyle is what my friends moved out of the engineering/catering jobs each had when first married. They have brought up 2 kids,and now have downsized to a small smaller herd as they plan retirement. You have a great channel here, keep going. I wish I could visit you at lambing time, a nonpaid working holiday. Just feed me !! I need lots of cake.
That's awesome Jimmy!! LOL. I'd have to pay you as I'm a terrible cook. hahaha
@@SandiBrock I would love to come! and I can cook! :D
I'm thinking about getting into sheep on a small scale as a side hobby since I thoroughly enjoyed having my little lamb for almost a year and wanted more and more. I thrive on your nutrition system and crop videos because that's what is super important and watching how you do data is staggering. I'm not organized so I can't imagine the stress that causes but the relief you get when you see everything laid out infront of you. Thank you for making informed videos with the worst parts and the best parts. Thank you for being honest with us. If it was always smiles and always good, then everyone would be doing it. Thank you for teaching me that this isn't easy and I'll probably get it wrong so many times before something works out. A lot of us need to hear that kind of thing. You're a true superwoman!
Oh Amanda! Thank you so much. I try hard to not glamourize this job. It can be so hard... I guess I just want people to see the process, and progress and that results take time (especially if you have no previous experience).
What an outstanding presentation! You are now a teacher with data to back it up! Keep up the great work,
LOL... well school of hard knocks... but THANKS!!!
Would also be interesting to see how many lambs you end up bringing to market. Love your videos Sandi, keep up the great work!
Oh! I should do that at the end of the year!
Not gonna wait the whole video to finish before I give you guys a thumbs up ...... Love you Sandi Brock
Awe, thanks so much Joshua!
This is such an informative and awesome system you run!!! I hope your last lambing group will be a success!!🙏🏽🤗❤️
Thanks so much!
Sandi Brock you’re very welcome!! Keep up the great work!!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
86% seems like a home run. Well done.
I agree! Very happy!
Sandi, thank you so much for all the information you have put out for free for us! I have laughed with you, and cried with you, and been introduced into a whole new amazing world. You are an incredible person and have inspired me so much! Thank you for all your hard work and sharing your life with us!
Awe! thanks Megan! So so much!
I'm quite glad I am a human and not a sheep. I don't think I would like just six weeks off before going for another child! I work with equines, but watching your videos is very informative and also relaxing (most of the time). You are a very hard worker and deserve every success you have.
Absolutely fascinating Sandi. I really get a sense of the big picture when you review the entire program like this. Thank you (and your family!) for all the hard work and for your time and effort in putting together this video. Cheers! :-)
Thanks so much for watching!!
I love to watch your videos, especially the sheep. Down here in Florida I think raising sheep would be hard and maybe even cruel to the animals. Beyond that I am 70 years old and arthritic, so I will just enjoy watching you.
Thanks for explaining step by step. You are one organised farm woman . Sheep /cash crop, wife and mother. You should very proud of your self.
Thanks so much!
Sandi
Thank You very much for walking us pilgrims through how sheep farming works.
We're based in Ireland, we put about 550 ewes to the ram every year. (Rams are going out on Friday!)
We are mainly grass based, but the ewes are housed from December until lambing in march.
They are fed a grass silage based ration in the shed on slats. But come to the home farm to lamb on straw bed 1 week before lambing.
We would have 95% lambed 6 weeks after lambing starts. The ewes and lambs are out to grass within 2-3 days weather permitting
Another great video - really interesting. Not a sheep farmer, never will be but watching your videos is really cool and interesting. I always learn something new. Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to see the next group of babies. Love the birthing videos - birth is so amazing! Life is amazing! God bless! 😁🐑❣️
We are in North East Scotland and lamb annually. We have the Dorsets lambing in January and the mixed breeds in March to May.
One thing I noticed, over here no Shearer will shear a ewe when pregnant. It is said to be detrimental to the lambs. Having seen how much work, research, time, effort, money etc to getting the best results and seeing that you routinely shear not long before lambing makes me think it cant be detrimental or you would have picked it up and changed things!
This is why I love learning about farming practices in other countries where things are done differently!
Totally! I learn so much from others also! And now, with this channel, talking to people around the world has been mind-blowing!
Sandi Brock , I am so glad I stumbled on to your channel I live watching all the sheep , babies I live in Utah . Thanks for sharing your life
So great! Thanks for watching Becky!!!
Becky Litster I’m in Utah too! (:
I have so enjoyed watching your videos on the new babies entering your flock. I watch more about your operation then I do on regular tv! Thank you for sharing I am from South Central Oklahoma and I used to work at a pig farm and I got to work with the pigglets!
We’re trying to do 3 lambings a year so they lamb 3 times in two years. This way we only have two groups. The spring breeding for fall lambing is the hardest. We’re using polypays, which I think are a lot like your rideaus
Am still looking at Accelerated breeding but from what I have researched it is lambing 2 times a year. Really taking advantage of the 6 month down time and making it more profitable.
I am in the UK. I breed once a year to lamb in March. This year I have used CIDRs for the first time thanks to your videos and have a teeny group of 7 due on the 11th of February. The other 21 are all natural bred and due 15th of March to 5th of April. Tempted to use more CIDRs next year if I have enough ram power! 🤣
You put so much work into this. I admire your dedication to your sheep and your lambs
I hope they help!
We breed annually. Only due to logistics so it doesn’t cross over with the grain operation. Breeding for the stud merino is in Nov/Dec for 6 weeks around 500 ewes. The commercial cross breeds in Jan for 6 weeks around 800 ewes and the ewe lambs in Feb/March for 6 weeks around 200 ewes. It does mean little sleep for 3 months of lambing but it works for us.
That sounds like a great system! Very similar in theory to how I have to plan mine. Around the grain operation...
I am retired and have a started a small 7 animal Hobby flock in Hawaii here on the Big Island, with a single ram, 4 ewes of breeding age, two lambs ready for sale. All natural breeding, no scannings done but believe all 4 ewes are pregnant this go (due late Aug 2022). We are trying to get an accelerated breeding program set up and going for our farm and I am loving this break down with timings by weeks and events. All lambs born to these F1 ewes will either be 'shipped' for meat processing for our farm or offered up for live sale though there are no livestock auctions that I have found on island as yet. Thanks for the great info.
Ok so you are my idol. We have a flock of 17 katahdin hair sheep. My husband and i have learned so much from your videos. We bought 8 bred ewes due for may lambing 1 month before they were due. You channel taught me so much! We now have 7 mature ewes and 7 mature ewe lambs and 2 rams. We did a natural breed the end of sept. Planning on a feb lambing. We are in wadena Minnesota. Your flock is amazing and you are doing an amazing job!
This was so informative and interesting. Can you imagine not having computers and having to keep track of all the info you record by hand?
I find your videos so useful to me. I have sheep for fibre, not for meat, but the hard line decisions you make on breeding and critical eye on problems (lumps in the udder etc) has helped me make this years decisions on who to breed.
For instance, I was asked to take on a ewe to live out her days. She had been bred twice by her previous owner/breeder. First time she did not take. Second time she has stillborn lambs. Originally I was going to breed her this year, but since finding your channel I find I am more critical over my own sheep.
I may not be breeding for meat, but I dont want to have to put in a lot of extra work and possibly money on one specific ewe for what has a high chance of getting no gain. I have Fibromyalgia which can make things very difficult so I have to take that into consideration.
With this in mind, I wondered if you would breed this ewe of she were in your flock? She is a cracking specimen of her breed, but one fail to take, then the next year stillborn lambs... is she one you would ship or try again with? She is only 3.5 years old.
I wouldn't ship her, she would just go out on the hill to be a grazer and fleece only rather than be in the breeding stock.
Honestly, she may be worth a shot in YOUR system. You really don't know what happened to cause the stillborns. That could have been management, health, or just bad luck. You really have nothing invested in her yet to try. At 3.5 years old, she may have lots of lambs to give you. If it was me, I'd give it a go. Keep me posted!!
I'd love to know what has happened with your sheep!
@tm2bee we decided to give it a go breeding her, and she has had lambs every year with us! This year was her last year. She has given us some cracking lambs. One of her male lambs we kept entire and he has gone off to another home to be a breeding ram. All her lambs have had wonderful temperaments and all have been quality lambs. She has done us proud and this year became a grandmother too 💖
your videos and marks have become my first go to videos. their just great to watch.
Thanks Bob!
I'm 28 years old and I lamb about 500 head of ewes in ND, USA. my ewes lamb starting January 1 and continue until April 15. I keep my rams in for 3 weeks then pull for 2 week and then back in for 3 weeks and then pull for 2 weeks and then keep them in the rest of the breeding cycle. We use the breeding harnesses and a different colored chalk for each breeding group so I know which sheep bred when. That way I can save space in the lambing barn and not have them all sheared at one time. In 2020 I plan on trying to lamb each ewe 3 times in 2 years. I'm hoping that works well!!
Sounds like an amazing system! Thanks for sharing it!!
Jason, are you or will you be documenting your journey? Would be fun to tag along with you...
@@clint4472 I'm currently not, but in the future I plan on trying it out!
That's a lot of work to do what you do, my hat is off too you. Best to you and your family.
Thanks for the video Sandi, I really enjoyed watching it and always look forward to seeing yours.
Thanks so much for watching!
Lots of hard work. Very busy lady
It can be for sure! Thanks Larry!
Very informative. Thank you Sandi for sharing this detailed information. A lot of work for sure and you do a great job.
I only breed 25ish ewes, naturally in November. Katahdin crosses. Love watching your videos, thanks for for sharing!
Well done Sandi that is some really good results - you certainly have learnt from trial and error over the last few years
Really trying to!
@@SandiBrock you did it and the results show it - pat yourself on the back
Very informative video. Lots of hard work and application of technology. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks Donna!
Thank you, that was a quick, informative and fascinating explanation.
You’re doing great, Love you Sandi Brock
Thanks so much!
Because of the climate in Ireland we lamb annually. We started tupping or breeding as you say last week and it's all natural.
Ive got a young ram which i use for teasing 😆, sounds bad but it helps a little.
Were lucky in our area were the grass is good but we still have to use nutrients prior and during breeding. As yourself the ewes are immunized 2 weeks before breeding and i normally wait 70 days for the scan.
Awesome! thanks for sharing!
Paul do you think there is a place in Ireland for “high density “ sheep farming? Or are there fewer predators etc?
@@mavriksbt the thing with Ireland it's a small country and there are quite a lot of sheep farmers. A lot comes down to the market and the price per kilo for sheep, new Zealand produces a huge amount of lamb much cheaper than we can so intensive farming may be an option but you would loose out on nearly pure grass fed sheep. In winter hay and hayledge, sheep nuts ect but keeping them on grass is cheaper and there's a better quality of meat.
Natural preditors only around lambing, foxes maybe badgers at night for the really young Lamb's and hooded crows, they try to peck at them during birth.
That's why we try and get them into a lambing shed for a couple of days, after that it's not to bad.
Ms.Sandi,
I don't have sleep but I very much enjoy your videos.
When you do videos on the lambing is my favorite.
Seeing the sweet little lambs. I just want to hold one of them myself because their so cute.
Please keep up the great job of your vlob.
May God Bless,
Judi Sheppard Shaw
Thanks. I am way to old. One thing when lambs step on you is does hurt. You getting really professional. Great job.
Very interesting, quite involved, cool seeing all the processes, thanks for sharing, and explaining
Thanks for watching!
I live in south central Missouri and raise katahdins ina mostly grass based system. I have been lambing a group in the spring ( mid April to end of may) and a group in November/December. I have a hoop house for this group and bonding pens for the spring group. In 2020 I plan on using all terminal sires and dividing ewes into two flocks and lamb each one every eight to nine months like you do. Lambing fewer ewes more often hopefully will give me a more steady supply of feeders for the market. I always synchronized my jerseys, so it won't be something totally new. We shall see!! I really enjoy your vlogs....they are very encouraging!!
Good information! Fun video. I have three ewes this year so they had all better be pregnant this year. I'm in Idaho and I'll be putting the Rams in with the ewes in about a week or so. Wish me luck 👍
TIming is good! You should do great!!
I love to find out the how and why of breeding stock. This was awesome.
Well at last your hard work is paying off wonderful job an keep it going
Thanks Richard!
We farm outside Bethlehem in the Free State, South Africa. We try lamb every 8 months with natural breeding. Our hear is a mixed breed but moving over to a pure Dohne Merino breed. To try sheer more wool from our heard with a good meat production and a higher fertility rate.
Hope your harvest season went well. We are still harvesting Soybeans, Sorghum and Corn in Colby Kansas. Working in America on a H2A and hope to see your system in person one day. Have a good day and thanks for showing people how a good sheep farm is ran.
Thanks Ruben!! Sounds like a great system!!
I will start off by saying we have a small hobby farm setup and have used cidrs for out of season lambing just once this year. That being said we lamb both in the fall Sept and in March. I looked at our numbers and the fall bred ewes all lambed during the month of March. When I look at the two groups bred for fall lambing 66% birth rate were naturally bred( no cidrs), and 50 % for the group that had cidrs. I do see some improvements we could make in the out of season breeding groups to increase our chances, and will be pursuing that next year. Also all the out of season lambs born to the natural breeding were singles. The bulk of lambs born from the cidred group were mixed singles and twins. Nearly all the fall bred ewes had twins or triplets in March. Thanks for your videos, they are both informative and thought provoking.
Love the intro 😍 It's so cute
Thanks Kym!
great video. great results from that amount of ewes. would lovevto see the auction house process and the lambs being sold.
Thanks!!
Great numbers, Sandi! Should be very proud of that.
Really proud!!
Hi Sandi great video have a nice weekend don't work to hard just get it done lol🤣🤣🤣
LOL! thanks Tony!
Wonderful job explaining your complete management program.
Thanks!
What do I do ??
Well... I could tell ya ... but then I'd hafta kill ya 🙄😂😂😂
Sandi ... Great detailed vlog & I'm impressed with your transparency re. your operation.
Your success is deserved & doesn't surprise me , given the logical way you go about things & the total commitment by you..
Thanks for taking the not-insignificant amount of time to put these vids up, I, like so many others, really do appreciate your efforts ...
😎👍☘🍺
In Australia's temperate areas, our winters are so mild that our ewes will naturally breed much of tbe year. There is no need for shedded sheep here unless they are growing ultra fine wool to be protected from the elements. Of course every farmer does things differently but generally our sheep live, breed and lamb in the paddocks, usually dropping lambs from march (beginning of autumn) right thru our mild winter and up towards end of spring in october depending on when the farmer leaves the rams in. Most shearing goes on between september to march. Summer is the harsh season for aussie sheep with high temps, low grazing and ration paddock feeding. Ewes are joined for lambing be timed well before october as the heat and dry starts in november.
Fantastically thorough. 🎉 appreciate the effort
A lot of very complicated work- planning out the entire year. Your computing system is impressive, but only as good as the lady entering the figures. Congratulations on a great year!
I watch you lamb.. :) Thanks for the complete overview. Very educational.
Thanks for watching!
Hello Mrs.Brock. How are you today? I own a 100 head feedlot here in Colorado. But one of my good friends as a 5000 head operation and he breeds every October. Then he lambs outside in may and when he is done lambing about 15 days after that last lamb hits the ground.He trials the ewes and lambs up to our local National Park to graze them for the summer. Then in September, he will trial off the mountain and wean his lambs. Then ship the lambs to a feedlot in Kansas. And then he breeds the ewes and give 4 shots to the ewes. And then he pull the rams off and trial the ewes to New Mexico for the winter and trial the ewes back in March.
I've learnt so much from your videos, thank you for sharing. I hope to get my own small flock next year. 🤞
we are novice sheep farmers in Oklahoma, running a pasture based commercial Katahdin/ Dorper cross ewes. we bred annually currently but have split the flock into 2 flocks. one lambing in the spring and one lambing in the fall. I am looking into possibly moving my flock from pasture based to a indoor flock. we battle parasites and predators.
Yes all the work you put into this operation is worth it 👏👏 good job.
Thanks Elly!
UK system is usually pregnant 5 months lactation 4 months recovery 3 months with seasonal breeding from August to December to lamb January to May. A lot of farms will have 2 lambing groups early and late to target the higher prices at either end of the season.
Who else loves her organization!
from the economical side of it, do you think you have increased your equity (since you started till now) ? or is it a hobby that kinda balances up the pleasure you get from it, to the costs of it ?
Awsome content anyway... luv your dedication and precision... ocd a bit maybe :)
Best of luck always...
I know this is a late comment but I've only been following you for a little while I went all the way to where you started I think your amazing and your sheep and lambs are to cute your name are clean everything you do is clean there is just one thing your Gallagher screen pls write it haha sorry but I see everything else you do and your super clean is just that screen I kind of have sought of a little ocd which isn't your concern but the screen lol your amazing it's great to see women in agriculture live stock and fields (planting and cutting etc) you go girl is amazing and I've left it until now to send you my condolences on regards to Amy truck truths were fun to watch so I'm ever so sorry I lost my best friend 2 years ago so I know what is like to not have them there anymore waiting for those texts and calls at anytime you still keep waiting and crying and I still struggle with that but I'm thinking of you going through that the hope doesn't go away we just learn to cope better over time and you still have that forever you just copied better so I am sorry for your your loss once again and condolences to Amy's family and other friends also I live in Australia I just love your vlogs you say your not an expert but you are very knowledgeable with everything and the things you do to help the little babies legs is amazing which I seem works for most except the little one with the bent bones and you tried everything but that was out of your control you have it your best shot but she wasn't meant to be and that isn't your fault Cheers
We run annually starting in November. By mid-April, the real fun begins!
HAHAH! no kidding!!
great new video Sandi keep up the great work👍
Thank you!!!
Well done Sandi!!! 😁 from NC
Thanks Wendy!
When you were examining the utters & you found the lumps. Did you think they were cancerous? Great video thanks for explaining the process. Was that a special laptop or machine that you were using to keep track of the sheep ?
I like your program. I dont have sheep but do have beef cows. They must carry and nurse at the same time to get 1 calf per year every year. Sheep are very different than that. Good job on keeping up with it.
The best way to a successful business is a good diary. Nice video.
Thanks Wayne!
We only lamb seasonally. Turn rams in last week of november. Typically rams are kept separate. We dont give any feed. We pasture and move sheep everyday following cattle. We're in Missouri.
We run goats in Michigan and get lots of great information from you.
Really enjoyed this vid and it’s very informative as I’m watching your videos all a different times..
Sitting here listening as she is clearly talking to fellow sheep breeders and I've never even seen a sheep in my life lol
Make a session on equipment you use in sheep fam and agriculture fields
It’s always so interesting watching your lamb videos. I of course love the baby lambs, cause who doesn’t?! Have you considered having them on same size pens out on some green grass? I don’t know much about lamb farming but I’m curious if it would bring down the cost of feed while giving them some grass to munch on. I guess on the other hand that it might increase operating costs since you are set up in the barn for your different tasks. Anyways, thanks putting out the content.
The whole area around the brightspan barn she uses is cropland, and idk if she tried in the past or learned from her neighbors, but the area is riddled with coyotes. I'd love to see the lambs on grass two, but not if it means they might get killed by a predator
Thanks Krista! This continues to be my most asked question. We are a grain operation, with a sheep barn built on it... So to take more land out of crop production, completely changes what we can cost flow on the grain side... All our debt is supported by so many acres of cropland... so thats the boring business reason. The other is I am just not educated on that side of sheep farming yet. It is a science to put animals out on grass. It doesn't look like it, but I assure you, for proper management on grass takes time and education before doing. Grass stages, rotational grazing, grass species, fencing, working dogs, and parasites are just the first things I don't know anything about. The last reason is predators. We are surrounded by woodlot, and have a heavy coyote population. So not comfortable with that. I hope this explanation helps!
Sandi Brock thanks! That’s very informative and makes a lot of sense.
We lamb annually, in a paddock. We have been trying to lamb near winter, but not the peak of winter, gives the lambs some growing before the heat kicks in. We try shear the ewes before they lamb, that way in the cold they don't wander as far away from their lamb and the lamb doesn't get as cold. We had a bad drought this last year, still recovering, much luckier than people north of us who have had drought for years now. The lack of feed meant we had to heavily supplement feed, rather than let them graze (because there wasn't much to graze) and in our last lambing group of this year we had a lot of lamb losses. We have had good wool prices so we aren't 100% reliant on just meat price alone, and that has helped. I would like to build a shed to lamb our ewes in containment and then after lambing use it as a feed lot. But if that ever happens it is a while off.
Victoria, Australia.
I've heard the drought is awful over there... It affects everything I'm sure! Good to hear your wool prices are strong... ours is not good here...
@@SandiBrock I saw some of it late last year and it wasn't pretty. We have had a below average rainfall by quite a bit but we have grass, others don't have anything. Wool was the best it has been in a long time, but has come back now. Lamb has been up around record prices regularly for the last year, but there is also lots of stock being sold because nobody can afford to feed them.
Central table lands, NSW, Australia
Most of the other farmers lamb annual any were from April- September but we are on a system similar to u we have 3 mobs and each mob lambs 3 times in two years
Merino x boarder Leicester ewes with a Poll Dorset sired lambs
Scan at 85-95% pregnant
And at 145-165% foetuses of ewes in lamb
Lambed out side and stay out side all year round. If ewes have problems at lambing or lambs haven’t fed they get brought back to the shed and put in small pens and then let back out
2500 ewe operation
WOW!!! I love this!!
Thanks if there’s anything’s else you would like to know let me know
Campbell do you think there could be a place for this type of lambing in Australia? I’ve been watching Sandi with interest and am curious as to whether this type of agriculture would be viable for us. The crippling drought and animals being on dry barren land have damaged so much of the environment, could this be the way if the future???
Yes definitely with so much variation in the whether we looking at putting a barn in as our winters are unpredictable as it can kill a fair few lambs in one night and foxes don’t help either one night last year we lost 45 lambs due to weather
We would only lamb our twins and triplets in it as the singles do fine in the weather and the let out side when they are a few days old
But I think over it would be only economical if u produced you own feed as it would be like running a feed lot same cost in feed but only getting half the returns as u have to feed the ewes as well if u kept them in 24/7
This takes my mind of off the Covid-19 virus 🦠 here in the UK 🇬🇧.
Hi sandy
You doing such a brilliant job
Good video 😊 We need to change our girls diet at weaning, thanks for the tip. We lamb once a year in Spring. Natural matings, our leased ram goes in on 30th March.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
When i was working on a sheep farm the cidr ewe where bred out of hand.
Witch means you have your Rams in smal pens and the ewes in a group, you let one ram go to do its job with a ewe and after that you put the ram back in its pen for a rest and the ewe out of the group.
You now when your done all ewes have being bred.
Great video Sandi so much information. When you talked about placing the ewes with rams you rotate so dads/sons and daughters dont mix. Maybe a video on how you keep that all in check. How do you prevent inter breeding on ewe you have had awhile, or do you ship after a certain time.thanks still trying to get out to the farm to meet you!
Hi Sandy, my name is Deb. I just come cross your channel a couple days ago and have become addicted. Sheep are one of my favorite animals and when I saw your channel being all about sheep I couldn't resist. Talk about organization wow you have such a system there there is no way in God's green Earth I could ever come close to matching. How-do-you-do it lol. I bet it's a very hard job but also very rewarding getting to watch those gorgeous little babies come into the world. The only part I don't like is them going to freezer camp. I have never ate lamb before to me that would be like eating Bambi lol . I don't put any body down that doesn't joy it is just not for me. If we get is raise them for the rest of their life that would be good if they all have the ability to serve a long term purpose on the farm and I mean long term as in till death do them part. But then you can't make money and as I have seen in your videos how expensive it is to have a sheep sheared keeping them for just that purpose alone would never make you the money you needed in order to even feed them. Thank you for posting these wonderful videos they are very informative and just about every emotion you can have good possibly pop out at any moment lol. I have laughed I have cried I've been mad I've been happy I've been sad while watching videos about these sheep. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard as when the one little Lamb had the black bucket on his head. Did you set that up or did you walk in on that? Either way it was adorable. Thanks again Sandy take care and God-bless Deb
Awe! Thanks so much! and no... I never have to set up anything with sheep... They are their own source of entertainment! I just have to make sure I have a camera on me at all times! LOL
I am considering changing from lambing outside to lambing more in a controlled environment. Our ewes lamb in the fields and twins lamb on green pasture if we have. Once a year for us because we don’t have fields for lambing ewes multiple times a year without damaging growth to the natural grass. Shearing every 8 months on Merinos. We are in a dry area and get results that vary between 80-95% weaning. We are at 91%laming currently, it’s been very tough out here this year though. Lots of ewes that don’t take their lambs due to the drought and it makes our lives much more complicated. We lamb about 2000 at one time and have been working on getting our duration of lambing shorter. Selection is key and so is nutrition. In a system like yours I would be not allow skips🥺sadly they prolong your aim for a more fertile flock considerably. - forgive me for being forward, we haven’t even met. I greatly respect the way that you run your operation and will use a lot of the things on your channel when our future intensive lambing leg will realize. Kind regards from southern Freestate rsa
I agree! More and more, i wonder if I'm doing myself a diservice keeping the skips for a second chance... I totally get it!
It’s kinda cool to think that every lamb born in a group is related
Hopefully not too closely related
Half-siblings
Hey Sandi! So I was wondering how do you choose your replacement ewes? how long do they take to have their first breeding chance? and do you choose any replacement Rams for your flock from your lambs as well? Thanks!
Great questions! My earliest bred ewe lambs are around 10 months of age. I do not keep any rams back for replacements... I like to bring in new rams to keep the genetics clean.
Your Canadian accent is really fun to listen to 😉
So much talking in this one! LOL
Good job 👍
Thank you!
I love your videos and Instagram, your information is so interesting! No lambing here on my farm maybe one day
Thanks so much!!!
Hi from NB, I had the chance to visit a state of the art dairy farm east of ottawa, loved it. Love your channel also thanks for all the great video.
Do you send ewes that reject babies off to market too? Because that would be very frustrating to experience after so much time effort and money put into it.
very good video. so informative. You are something else. great person, love it.