You did really well with presentation Alistair 👏 show help people to understand everything better and the whole process farmers need to go through. I hope you had something strong in that cup trying to present that chart.
Always find your video’s interesting Alistair. You are always looking to try new ways of doing things. I was bought up in an area where this is how we have always done it so why change
Thanks for explainning all that there is a very lot of people that are not aware of all the facts and planing that goes into farming sheep during the winter months. Well done.
Interesting video with similar issues with lambing dates that we have farming hill farm in North Wales 🏴.Biggest difference is we creep feed our lambs aiming to sell all as prime finished lambs 42Kg + before 16wks of age before price crashes.Snow due on mountains next week here in Wales.🐑🏴👏👍
It may not effect you in Canterbury, but facial eczema spore counts is something else to consider. In the north island Terminals really need to be gone before autumn to reduce risk, or there's the expense of mitigation.
Crap, I missed this one, late to viewing . . . fascinating . . . so much information and cattle on the back-burner . . . Have to watch several times to understand . . . only question I'd have is what is the lifespan of the individual sheep in the flock, how do you weave in the replacements. Cheers.
Something we also consider carrying lambs on is the cost of not having the money in the bank with interest rates the way they are. We are in sw Victoria and we are quite dry over summer so growth can be slow so you might keep them an extra 4 to 5 months sometimes and the carry cost of money can eat into your profits
Luckily I’m not dependent on income from my sheep. So I stock light and here in Ozzie I run Dorpers and they lamb all year around on a 7-8 month cycle. But being from NZ I know how terrible the weather can be.
Looking forward to see how this year's lambing goes - you can only try different methods to see what works for you - with a bit of fingers crossed and a quick prayer on the weather front - Cammy's last Fed By Farmers he was talking about 25% lambing losses because of weather - 6 ewes on day one all lost triplets and that is a hard come back
Cammy sorta set him self up for high risk either the high maintenance sheep lambing outside. He’s got a shed organised for this year for the high maintenance girls.
@@colinwientjens1871 Yes but both NZ and Aussies all lamb outside - this is what Alister was talking about and part of the reason why they have pushed back lambing from August to September for 2025
Alistair I agree that this was a really educational video. I have one query re lambing in August vs sept. The death rate should be lower with the Sept date but do you expect any difference in scanning % due to the later mating date and later start of pre mating flushing date. If the scanning % is lower with the later mating date that might have an impact on the total number of lambs weaned. Thanks ..great video.
Yes that can be a factor but is very season dependent on both ewe condition and feed availability in the autumn. It's a hard one to quantify over different seasons
Thanks for explaining your thinking. Surely the cost of replacement ewes per lamb born must be considered. If a single terminal lamb is the cheapest to produce for the reasons you said a ewe that has twins has half the cost per lamb for the replacement ewe ?😊
It's a complicated equation. The twin lambs will take longer to finish eating more grass and generally at a lower price per kg later in the season. A ewe rearing 2good lambs is more efficient than a ewe only rearing one lamb.
Some questions. 1. Ewe genetics. Current ewes vs Kelso, Headwsters, Waiere etc. 2. Ram genetics. 3. Invest in 15ha lucerne vs current crops etc. 4. Lower number of ewes but you purchase store lambs to finish? Thank you for explanation. Best regards for you all!!!
We currently have kelso type ewes. Ram genetics are Kelso meternals and South Suffolk terminals. We fine the finishing mix of pasture to be better than Lucerne as it grows out of the winter faster and doesn't require the same transition period. The issue with store lambs in our area is we can get very dry without irrigation so our growth rates over summer can be very slow. Then we are stuck with those lambs for a long time.
Is it possible to pull the slower growers off earlier and get them on the rocket fuel earlier to try and make it quicker? Is a super tight lambing better or spread out?
Yes, can pull small ones off especially if they are small because they don't have a good mum. They tend to do better away from mum. A tight lambing is better as the lambs are more uniform and even but more work in a short time period.
Given all the complexities in sheep farming and the very low return on capital (under 2%) you have to wonder why farming land is so expensive (10000 - 20000 ha) . Young persons like yourself and becoming less and it is little wonder why. Keep up the good work and trying to explain to townies why their view of farmers is so distorted.
Ive always wondered why some farmers aren't prosecuted for animal cruelty it's not hard to provide a shed or shelter surely. seems to happen so often lambs in snow ? is it just useless lazy farmers or what?
Intresting comment, Let me ask you this, what would you do? You have 100 ewes lambing in a paddock and a storm comes through. You do have a shelter belt but not all ewes decide to use that shelter, because some are not so smart. Some one takes a picture of ewes giving birth in the middle of the paddock away from the shelter but they dont include the shelter in the photo. This is a common occurrence in the social media world.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Interesting presentation! Great job! Farming is a gamble - always chasing the top prices! Thanks again....
You did really well with presentation Alistair 👏 show help people to understand everything better and the whole process farmers need to go through. I hope you had something strong in that cup trying to present that chart.
This is the most interesting video yet. I've learned so much tonight. Well done on explaining.
Wow thanks I didn't expect a comment like that.
Always find your video’s interesting Alistair. You are always looking to try new ways of doing things. I was bought up in an area where this is how we have always done it so why change
Beautiful sharing upload and share ! .. thanks again ! ..
Thanks for explainning all that there is a very lot of people that are not aware of all the facts and planing that goes into farming sheep during the winter months. Well done.
Interesting video with similar issues with lambing dates that we have farming hill farm in North Wales 🏴.Biggest difference is we creep feed our lambs aiming to sell all as prime finished lambs 42Kg + before 16wks of age before price crashes.Snow due on mountains next week here in Wales.🐑🏴👏👍
I really like your decision to move your lambing date to start of September and not to mate the hoggets. I learnt a lot thankyou .
Thanks 👍
It may not effect you in Canterbury, but facial eczema spore counts is something else to consider. In the north island Terminals really need to be gone before autumn to reduce risk, or there's the expense of mitigation.
Very true. We are not affected by FE yet but it is moving south. It's only a matter of time.
Crap, I missed this one, late to viewing . . . fascinating . . . so much information and cattle on the back-burner . . . Have to watch several times to understand . . . only question I'd have is what is the lifespan of the individual sheep in the flock, how do you weave in the replacements. Cheers.
Ewe lifespan about 6 years here . The replacement ewes fill-in the gaps in the numbers as older ewes die, get culled for teeth, udders, DRYS or age .
Something we also consider carrying lambs on is the cost of not having the money in the bank with interest rates the way they are. We are in sw Victoria and we are quite dry over summer so growth can be slow so you might keep them an extra 4 to 5 months sometimes and the carry cost of money can eat into your profits
That is very true. The quicker we can get money in the bank to pay off overdraft will save us 12 percent interest currently.
@kiwifarmernz 12 percent is even worse than what we have currently 😬
@@kiwifarmernz12% ouch
I'm not the only one on 12% then! Base rate here is 5 something so they're doubling it when lending to small businesses. @@kiwifarmernz
The drench we used today costs $4500 for a 5L bottle 😮
Wow what was it?
@kiwifarmernz it's name is something like Zolvix. Or something close to that
Good move to reduce the number of tasks throughout the year.
Hi I like your video
Good farmer 👍🏼
Has someone developed a spreadsheet where you can put in all the variables to help with the decision making?
Not that I know of. I do have some that can help track the schedule drop and growth rate side of the equation.
Luckily I’m not dependent on income from my sheep. So I stock light and here in Ozzie I run Dorpers and they lamb all year around on a 7-8 month cycle. But being from NZ I know how terrible the weather can be.
Looking forward to see how this year's lambing goes - you can only try different methods to see what works for you - with a bit of fingers crossed and a quick prayer on the weather front - Cammy's last Fed By Farmers he was talking about 25% lambing losses because of weather - 6 ewes on day one all lost triplets and that is a hard come back
Yea interesting. 25 percent is a huge loss and can have a massive effect on not only profit but mental health as well.
@@kiwifarmernz very much the mental health - he said no matter what he did there was no come back from that loss
Cammy sorta set him self up for high risk either the high maintenance sheep lambing outside. He’s got a shed organised for this year for the high maintenance girls.
@@colinwientjens1871 Yes but both NZ and Aussies all lamb outside - this is what Alister was talking about and part of the reason why they have pushed back lambing from August to September for 2025
@@TifJones-p8s yes I was chef the video. Cammy made a call and it didn’t pan out, it happens, he’s only new to the game.
Alistair
I agree that this was a really educational video. I have one query re lambing in August vs sept. The death rate should be lower with the Sept date but do you expect any difference in scanning % due to the later mating date and later start of pre mating flushing date. If the scanning % is lower with the later mating date that might have an impact on the total number of lambs weaned. Thanks ..great video.
Yes that can be a factor but is very season dependent on both ewe condition and feed availability in the autumn. It's a hard one to quantify over different seasons
Thanks for explaining your thinking.
Surely the cost of replacement ewes per lamb born must be considered. If a single terminal lamb is the cheapest to produce for the reasons you said a ewe that has twins has half the cost per lamb for the replacement ewe ?😊
It's a complicated equation. The twin lambs will take longer to finish eating more grass and generally at a lower price per kg later in the season. A ewe rearing 2good lambs is more efficient than a ewe only rearing one lamb.
@kiwifarmernz thank you. Will a single lamb ewe last longer than a twin lamb ewe ?
@willyfindlay4398 a ewe might have a single one year and then twins the next year so it's hard to compare
Some questions.
1. Ewe genetics. Current ewes vs Kelso, Headwsters, Waiere etc.
2. Ram genetics.
3. Invest in 15ha lucerne vs current crops etc.
4. Lower number of ewes but you purchase store lambs to finish?
Thank you for explanation.
Best regards for you all!!!
We currently have kelso type ewes. Ram genetics are Kelso meternals and South Suffolk terminals. We fine the finishing mix of pasture to be better than Lucerne as it grows out of the winter faster and doesn't require the same transition period. The issue with store lambs in our area is we can get very dry without irrigation so our growth rates over summer can be very slow. Then we are stuck with those lambs for a long time.
Thank you for answering my questions.
A friend of mine used to take the tups out at night.....so that the ewes would just lamb in the day😅
Hope you find this useful.
Great idea , should also do it when it's raining so they don't lamb in the rain
Someone suggested years ago that they were taken out a weekends so no lambs were born then 😂😂😂
Is it possible to pull the slower growers off earlier and get them on the rocket fuel earlier to try and make it quicker? Is a super tight lambing better or spread out?
Yes, can pull small ones off especially if they are small because they don't have a good mum. They tend to do better away from mum. A tight lambing is better as the lambs are more uniform and even but more work in a short time period.
@ 👍👍 I was listening to a podcast with the lamb pro guy I think, weans them all on weight, 18-20kg I think. Was a while ago I heard it though 😬
Given all the complexities in sheep farming and the very low return on capital (under 2%) you have to wonder why farming land is so expensive (10000 - 20000 ha) . Young persons like yourself and becoming less and it is little wonder why. Keep up the good work and trying to explain to townies why their view of farmers is so distorted.
Yes it is very hard to see a future at the moment 😔
🐨👍
You are not talking crap.
Ive always wondered why some farmers aren't prosecuted for animal cruelty it's not hard to provide a shed or shelter surely. seems to happen so often lambs in snow ? is it just useless lazy farmers or what?
Did you not watch the video?!!
@@S_Eglington I never said this guy wasn't a good farmer or making the effort ? Cant you read? maybe look again
Ive always wondered why people who don't know what they're talking about feel as though they are in a position to ridicule others 🤷♂️
Intresting comment, Let me ask you this, what would you do? You have 100 ewes lambing in a paddock and a storm comes through. You do have a shelter belt but not all ewes decide to use that shelter, because some are not so smart. Some one takes a picture of ewes giving birth in the middle of the paddock away from the shelter but they dont include the shelter in the photo. This is a common occurrence in the social media world.