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Louisdog

Sheep scanner in South Wales / South West?

Hi

I guess this is a bit of a long shot, but does anyone know of a sheep scanner anywhere in South East Wales or South West England please?

I had a number for a chap called Luke near Bath but I am getting number unobtainable, I might have written it down wrong, d'oh.

Cheers
Alex
VSS

Look up adverts in farmers gaurdian / farmers weekly.
Gervase

A friend of ours here (near Cardigan) has a scanning business, but he prefers larger-scale jobs if he's travelling - he goes to new Zealand every summer for seven weeks to do a thousand ewes a day, so I don't know how many beasts will get him to South Wales! How many ewes do you have?
Louisdog

Thanks for the tip, will try and pick one up tomorrow - have been scratching my head trying to figure out where they would advertise. In hindsight it seems obvious of course!

Cheers
Louisdog

Thanks Gervase, but I only have 13 so probably not going to be worth it!

We used to live near Haverfordwest and St Davids and used a local scanner last year, wonder if it was your friend. I can't remember his name though. Might have been Phil. He was very nice and was also 100% accurate!

Cheers
VSS

Most scanners don't mind doing small jobs, if it fits in with when they are in the area. I helped a neighbouring smallholder gather her sheep for scanning the other day, and the chap charged her £10 cash for doing 40 ewes!
Last year I paid 41p / ewe, for just under 200.
jamanda

Being very, very ignorant in the ways of sheep, would this be scans to if they are pregnant?
Marionb

Jamanda wrote:
Being very, very ignorant in the ways of sheep, would this be scans to if they are pregnant?


Yes, they can detect if the ewe is in-lamb and also how many lambs she is having. Which is handy to know as you can then feed them according to how many lambs they are carrying.
VSS

Yes, pregnancy diagnosis. Detects number of lambs present (singles, twins etc) or barren ewes. Enables accurate feeding of the ewe in late pregnancy according to requirement. Can also give early indication of disease problems by identifying mummified foetuses (eg, Toxoplasmosis). Most accurate at 90 days gestation.
Mary-Jane

There's an article in this month's Country Smallholding about scanning.
Mary-Jane

Louisdog wrote:
Thanks Gervase, but I only have 13 so probably not going to be worth it!

We used to live near Haverfordwest and St Davids and used a local scanner last year, wonder if it was your friend. I can't remember his name though. Might have been Phil. He was very nice and was also 100% accurate!

Cheers


Arthur Morgan is our friend.
Louisdog

I managed to find a scanner. 7 out of 13 are pregnant Shocked 5 singles 2 twins Confused

I have already arranged to get my fences fixed to stop the ram lambs getting in with the ewes this Autumn! Smile
toggle

Marionb wrote:
Jamanda wrote:
Being very, very ignorant in the ways of sheep, would this be scans to if they are pregnant?


Yes, they can detect if the ewe is in-lamb and also how many lambs she is having. Which is handy to know as you can then feed them according to how many lambs they are carrying.



and you know how many you have to pull out.
Nanny

ok

call me stupid but why can't you use a pregnancy testing kit like wot you would use for us females

is it really a stupid idea?

probably the chemicals in the body are different right?
Louisdog

You probably could use a pregnancy test kit, the chemicals/hormones would probably be similar. But how do you persuade the ewe to wee on a stick?! Shocked

I think you can get the vet to do a blood test too. But I guess scanning is cheaper/faster, for commercials at least? Plus they need to know single/twin/triplet etc cos they feed 'em differently.

The scanning lady said she had scanned 1800 sheep yesterday!
Nanny

Louisdog wrote:
You probably could use a pregnancy test kit, the chemicals/hormones would probably be similar. But how do you persuade the ewe to wee on a stick?! Shocked

I think you can get the vet to do a blood test too. But I guess scanning is cheaper/faster, for commercials at least? Plus they need to know single/twin/triplet etc cos they feed 'em differently.

The scanning lady said she had scanned 1800 sheep yesterday!


the same way that i would check the urine of one of our animals....i follow behind them with a small dish and collect as produced...

mind you i would only be talking about 5 ewes and not 500 you see
toggle

Nanny wrote:
ok

call me stupid but why can't you use a pregnancy testing kit like wot you would use for us females

is it really a stupid idea?

probably the chemicals in the body are different right?


you'd have to do a blood test and that wiouldn't be easy on hundreds of sheep and wouldn't give instant results and wouln't tell number.

telling number stops you getting a lot of HUGE single lambs that are a complete PITA to get out, particularly of smaller ewes and tiny triplets with a drained mother.

it also says how many there are and if you need to assist in a lambing, it sort of helps to have some understanding of how many legs to expect to find and if she is being lazy and won't get up, or if she's got another lamb or 2 in there that she can't get out on her own.
Nanny

toggle wrote:
Nanny wrote:
ok

call me stupid but why can't you use a pregnancy testing kit like wot you would use for us females

is it really a stupid idea?

probably the chemicals in the body are different right?


you'd have to do a blood test and that wiouldn't be easy on hundreds of sheep and wouldn't give instant results and wouln't tell number.

telling number stops you getting a lot of HUGE single lambs that are a complete PITA to get out, particularly of smaller ewes and tiny triplets with a drained mother.

it also says how many there are and if you need to assist in a lambing, it sort of helps to have some understanding of how many legs to expect to find and if she is being lazy and won't get up, or if she's got another lamb or 2 in there that she can't get out on her own.


of course............hadn't thought of it in that way...........
toggle

it's been years since i had to know any of this as well
Louisdog

Nanny wrote:
You probably could use a pregnancy
the same way that i would check the urine of one of our animals....i follow behind them with a small dish and collect as produced...

mind you i would only be talking about 5 ewes and not 500 you see


Heh, I hadn't thought of that. I only have 13 anyway. Knowing my luck I'd be following 'em around for ages with nothing. Although they do quite like to wee on (and sometimes in Shocked ) my wellies, I think it's sport to them Razz
Nanny

toggle wrote:
it's been years since i had to know any of this as well


maybe but it's only one year till i need to know..........
Louisdog

Ooh are you about to start breeding sheep?
toggle

Nanny wrote:
toggle wrote:
it's been years since i had to know any of this as well


maybe but it's only one year till i need to know..........


good luck with that. Everytime i get romantic about smallholding, i remember how much i loathed getting up at 5am to go lie in sheep shit and then get pissed on, to haul out an overfed lamb
Louisdog

toggle wrote:
Everytime i get romantic about smallholding, i remember how much i loathed getting up at 5am to go lie in sheep shit and then get pissed on, to haul out an overfed lamb


Shocked Surprised when you put it like that, it doesn't sound so much fun Laughing
Nanny

toggle wrote:
Nanny wrote:
toggle wrote:
it's been years since i had to know any of this as well


maybe but it's only one year till i need to know..........


good luck with that. Everytime i get romantic about smallholding, i remember how much i loathed getting up at 5am to go lie in sheep shit and then get pissed on, to haul out an overfed lamb


do you know it was exactly that sort of thought that stopped me from having any more than one child
toggle

strangely, nothing has really managed to put me off having more children, including 2 very strange children and a failed epidural leading to a med free childbirth
Nanny

toggle wrote:
strangely, nothing has really managed to put me off having more children, including 2 very strange children and a failed epidural leading to a med free childbirth


frankly i would rather go to hell in a hand cart

give me 4 legs any time

no fur
no trotters
no interest
Penny Outskirts

toggle wrote:
s... and a failed epidural leading to a med free childbirth


I had one of those Very Happy They just managed to deaden my leg, not the important bits, then when they did the big needle injection to get the placenta to come out cleanly, they stuck it in the other leg Rolling Eyes
Louisdog

Surprised Yikes you are putting me off ever having kids! I find myself wincing watching the ewes giving birth, but that sounds awful Confused
toggle

Penny wrote:
toggle wrote:
s... and a failed epidural leading to a med free childbirth


I had one of those Very Happy They just managed to deaden my leg, not the important bits, then when they did the big needle injection to get the placenta to come out cleanly, they stuck it in the other leg Rolling Eyes


that sounds about right.

The only good thing i can say is that from the moment i decided i wanted the epidural to them trying to do it took 10 mins and from then to finish was 45.

oh yeah, and the midwife having a freak out at me on the phone because I told her how dilated i was when i was deciding on timing to go in. Apparently this isn't something they want you do do yourself.
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