@@LinessaFarms got my 11 ewes and a ram and so far so good, there all spring lams, will be downloading sheet in a few and hope it works on my computer, again thanks for all you do
Fabulous spreadsheet and info Tim, thank you! All the purple in all the cells looks very nice on-screen, but it does make it hard to print. Even in Black & White mode it sure uses a lot of ink. Any way we can get a version with No-Fill in the cells?
I've been working on a similar system that uses RFID tags, ASP.Net, and a database for my college senior project. Don't have the reminders set up much farther than sheering and vaccinations though. Trying to just get a functional system first. It's supposed to email on the day vaccinations are due too, once I set up a mail server. The RFID system is the heart of the project though. It's intended to be nearly hands off by having a sensor placed at the exit of the livestock corral. You tell the system what services you're doing (and for vaccines you can just scan the bottle's barcode), and what sensor you're using (currently only have one, as the sensor unit was ~$250, Which is still a heck of a lot cheaper than something like what Primer 1 offers, which starts at ~$1,200). As the sheep pass the sensor it tells the system which sheep has passed, and then it combines the services with the sheep IDs. Ended up having to order ear tags from china though, since the sensor is UHF and all Premier 1 offers is LF. No idea when those will arrive lol.
Sounds like you’ve got a big project on your hands! We have not made the jump to RFID due to the cost but eventually we will. If you can get your system up and running, it should be pretty profitable for you. We understand your hesitancy with ordering products from overseas. Never know what you’re going to actually get! Thanks for watching our videos and thanks for the comments.
In step 1 can you add the dates we should remove the Rams "1 mile away". As you advise in another video, I am going to try to get the RAMs as far away as I can from the ewes for 30 days. Or is it 60days?? What is best? So your spreadsheet could indicate that time period when we removed the rams from the sight/smell of the ewes.
30 days works, 60 days is better. 30 days would be the bare minimum. With all this being said, there is an important point to remember. For sheep that do not naturally breed out of season, the ram effect will usually only allow ewes and does to go into estrus a few weeks before they naturally would. So, for most breeds, you can't utilize the ram effect mid-summer, etc.
This is a good question and is base on hours of direct sunlight. Sunlight hitting the eye of the ewe has a complex mechanism which communicates with the hypothalamus in the brain which in turn starts a chemical/hormone release leading to estrus. This is an evolutionary mechanism which ensures lambs will be born when temperatures are starting to warm in the spring and about the time the lambs will be weaning, there will be new spring pastures for them to graze. This is the natural process and this is also why it is healthiest for ewes and lambs to be born on their time without us interfering. Any major producer will tell you cold weather lambs almost always grow better and are healthier than warm weather lambs. Also, microorganisms which so often have a negative impact on lamb health are at least partially retarded by cold weather. Once the direct daylight hours drop below 12 hours per day, you can expect ewes to start to estrus. For most norther states this produces babies between late December and early March. Average lamb birthing will occur in late January and early February. Since we are now (at the time of me writing this) at the end of September, we are looking at late February lambs. Chances are, if your rams and ewes are together now, they are already bred. There are a couple of considerations to keep in mind. First of all, you will notice I keep using the term direct sunlight and not dawn till dusk. This is not an accident. When considering the sunlight effect on the ewes, you will want to consider when the sunlight/rays from the sun are hitting the eye until they stop. This really means the process is more than likely starting when the hours of daylight (you can see outside) are around 14 hours a day. The other consideration I would like to bring up is the false statement that temperature drops have an effect on estrus in the females. I hear a lot of producers making statements about how a cold snap in late summer might make the ewes go into estrus. There is no evidence to support this. Sheep and goats become more active as the temperatures cool because there is less stress on them and they feel better. There is a reason sheep and goats lay around so much in hot temperatures and eat less. They are under stress and it is taxing on them to do activity. Scientists have been able to keep sheep in barns during the summer months, limiting their hours of sunlight exposure and they go into estrus. Temperature simply doesn't seem to have an effect. Long story short, trying to keep your ewes from getting pregnant in the late summer early fall is almost as difficult as trying to get them to go early.
Hello, Lisa. Thanks for watching our videos and thanks for the question. The gestation time, general management, vaccination times, etc… should all be the same. Obviously, if you are actually milking your goats, you may want to alter weaning times to suit your needs. Hope this helps.
Wow thank you so much! I am very new to sheep and feel like I have no idea what I'm doing...until now!
Thanks for watching our videos and for the kind words.
That was nice that you showed how to use your forms.
Thanks, Kelsey. We hope you find them helpful!
great job and software, thanks
Thanks, Gerald. Hope you are doing well.
@@LinessaFarms got my 11 ewes and a ram and so far so good, there all spring lams, will be downloading sheet in a few and hope it works on my computer, again thanks for all you do
Fabulous spreadsheet and info Tim, thank you! All the purple in all the cells looks very nice on-screen, but it does make it hard to print. Even in Black & White mode it sure uses a lot of ink. Any way we can get a version with No-Fill in the cells?
I will see what I can do to get this done.
I've been working on a similar system that uses RFID tags, ASP.Net, and a database for my college senior project. Don't have the reminders set up much farther than sheering and vaccinations though. Trying to just get a functional system first. It's supposed to email on the day vaccinations are due too, once I set up a mail server.
The RFID system is the heart of the project though. It's intended to be nearly hands off by having a sensor placed at the exit of the livestock corral. You tell the system what services you're doing (and for vaccines you can just scan the bottle's barcode), and what sensor you're using (currently only have one, as the sensor unit was ~$250, Which is still a heck of a lot cheaper than something like what Primer 1 offers, which starts at ~$1,200). As the sheep pass the sensor it tells the system which sheep has passed, and then it combines the services with the sheep IDs.
Ended up having to order ear tags from china though, since the sensor is UHF and all Premier 1 offers is LF. No idea when those will arrive lol.
Sounds like you’ve got a big project on your hands! We have not made the jump to RFID due to the cost but eventually we will. If you can get your system up and running, it should be pretty profitable for you. We understand your hesitancy with ordering products from overseas. Never know what you’re going to actually get! Thanks for watching our videos and thanks for the comments.
In step 1 can you add the dates we should remove the Rams "1 mile away". As you advise in another video, I am going to try to get the RAMs as far away as I can from the ewes for 30 days. Or is it 60days?? What is best? So your spreadsheet could indicate that time period when we removed the rams from the sight/smell of the ewes.
30 days works, 60 days is better. 30 days would be the bare minimum. With all this being said, there is an important point to remember. For sheep that do not naturally breed out of season, the ram effect will usually only allow ewes and does to go into estrus a few weeks before they naturally would. So, for most breeds, you can't utilize the ram effect mid-summer, etc.
@@LinessaFarms What month(s) is "In Season"...? We are in a north climate in the US. When would you expect them to naturally go into estrus? Oct? Nov?
This is a good question and is base on hours of direct sunlight. Sunlight hitting the eye of the ewe has a complex mechanism which communicates with the hypothalamus in the brain which in turn starts a chemical/hormone release leading to estrus. This is an evolutionary mechanism which ensures lambs will be born when temperatures are starting to warm in the spring and about the time the lambs will be weaning, there will be new spring pastures for them to graze. This is the natural process and this is also why it is healthiest for ewes and lambs to be born on their time without us interfering. Any major producer will tell you cold weather lambs almost always grow better and are healthier than warm weather lambs. Also, microorganisms which so often have a negative impact on lamb health are at least partially retarded by cold weather.
Once the direct daylight hours drop below 12 hours per day, you can expect ewes to start to estrus. For most norther states this produces babies between late December and early March. Average lamb birthing will occur in late January and early February. Since we are now (at the time of me writing this) at the end of September, we are looking at late February lambs. Chances are, if your rams and ewes are together now, they are already bred.
There are a couple of considerations to keep in mind. First of all, you will notice I keep using the term direct sunlight and not dawn till dusk. This is not an accident. When considering the sunlight effect on the ewes, you will want to consider when the sunlight/rays from the sun are hitting the eye until they stop. This really means the process is more than likely starting when the hours of daylight (you can see outside) are around 14 hours a day.
The other consideration I would like to bring up is the false statement that temperature drops have an effect on estrus in the females. I hear a lot of producers making statements about how a cold snap in late summer might make the ewes go into estrus. There is no evidence to support this. Sheep and goats become more active as the temperatures cool because there is less stress on them and they feel better. There is a reason sheep and goats lay around so much in hot temperatures and eat less. They are under stress and it is taxing on them to do activity.
Scientists have been able to keep sheep in barns during the summer months, limiting their hours of sunlight exposure and they go into estrus. Temperature simply doesn't seem to have an effect.
Long story short, trying to keep your ewes from getting pregnant in the late summer early fall is almost as difficult as trying to get them to go early.
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Would a dairy goat be any different than meat goat?
Hello, Lisa. Thanks for watching our videos and thanks for the question. The gestation time, general management, vaccination times, etc… should all be the same. Obviously, if you are actually milking your goats, you may want to alter weaning times to suit your needs. Hope this helps.
Where can I download the spreadsheet?
linessafarms.com/index.php/downloads/