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| Thread ID: 119889 | 2011-08-15 07:22:00 | Cold Sheep | mzee (3324) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1223421 | 2011-08-15 07:22:00 | Can anyone tell me why the sheep have been clipped during winter? Seems to be both cruel and stupid. Also, why do they have lambing in Winter instead of the Spring? |
mzee (3324) | ||
| 1223422 | 2011-08-15 07:34:00 | Farmers around the world have been bringing lambing forward over the decades so they could get a jump on competitors and send bigger lambs into the meat works and get a better price | gary67 (56) | ||
| 1223423 | 2011-08-15 07:37:00 | Can anyone tell me why the sheep have been clipped during winter? Seems to be both cruel and stupid. Also, why do they have lambing in Winter instead of the Spring? Two good questions mzee and I'd like to know, too. Can anyone from the farming community help? I don't think an internet link may point us to the answers; this needs to be answered at grass roots level (so to speak). And no sheep jokes, either. :D |
WalOne (4202) | ||
| 1223424 | 2011-08-15 08:13:00 | Apparently a clipped sheep will look for shelter, a sheep with a full fleece might not do it early enough probably ties in with lambing as well. | PaulD (232) | ||
| 1223425 | 2011-08-15 08:42:00 | I am surprised that NZ farmers do not as a matter of course provide what are known as wattle hurdles or similar as in England. These form windbreaks and provide a strip of land on one side relatively free from snow where animals can shelter and feed. You could see these stretching across the Dorset downs in winter. www.louispage.com |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 1223426 | 2011-08-15 08:48:00 | Apparently a clipped sheep will look for shelter, a sheep with a full fleece might not do it early enough probably ties in with lambing as well. Logical - if one was a sheep. I guess then, Shrek wasn't too savvy. Or may be, he was. :D EDIT But question: I know nothing of high country sheep farming - where do the sheep look for shelter? Topical especially given the snow threatening even Queen Street farmers today :lol: |
WalOne (4202) | ||
| 1223427 | 2011-08-15 09:26:00 | I am surprised that NZ farmers do not as a matter of course provide what are known as wattle hurdles or similar as in England. These form windbreaks and provide a strip of land on one side relatively free from snow where animals can shelter and feed. You could see these stretching across the Dorset downs in winter. www.louispage.com :lol: :lol: Pom’s trying to tell Kiwi’s how to farm sheep now. :crying :crying |
B.M. (505) | ||
| 1223428 | 2011-08-15 09:38:00 | Farmers want lambs to be born in time to grow big enough to get a premium price in the the lucrative Christmas market. Therefore they lamb somewhat earlier than they would 'naturally', risking loss of lambs to exposure. If the ewe is carrying a full fleece, it is less likely to seek shelter, thereby leaving the lambs exposed to the winter weather. If the ewe herself is cold, she is more likely to seek the lee of a shelter belt, shed etc to keep herself warm and the lamb will go with her. That is the theory anyway... Unfortunately, a lot of shelter belts seem to have been cut down compared with how many there were when I was a kid on the farm, and there is little other shelter on modern farms. |
John H (8) | ||
| 1223429 | 2011-08-15 10:05:00 | :lol: :lol: Pom’s trying to tell Kiwi’s how to farm sheep now. :crying :crying Since snow fences have been used in Britain since Megalithic times, I'd have thought NZ farmers would have cottoned on by now.....:devil www.megalithic.co.uk |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 1223430 | 2011-08-15 10:17:00 | Cut them all down here Terry | Gobe1 (6290) | ||
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