Ontario Stockyards Lamb and goat prices March 2014

I thought I would post this as a comparison to last year (2013) prices at the same time of year. Cookstown.  Note: Prices here are generally higher than at Hoards Station  Sheep, Lambs & Goats (Report for Monday March 10, 2014) Ontario Stockyards, Cookstown
	FROM	TO	HIGH
Lambs, New Crop /cwt.	202.00	232.50	260.00
Lambs, 65 - 80 lbs. /cwt.	200.00	235.00	246.00
Lambs, 80 - 95 lbs. /cwt.	185.00	207.00	222.50
Lambs, Over 95 lbs. /cwt.	175.00	196.00	225.00
Lambs, Over 110 lbs. /cwt.	130.00	170.00	177.50
Feeder Lambs /cwt.	150.00	200.00	210.00
Sheep /cwt.	80.00	90.00	105.00
Thinner Types (All Weights)	72.00	90.00	100.00
Rams /cwt.	85.00	100.00	115.00
Goats:
Kids 35 to 49 lbs. /Head	60.00	90.00	130.00
50 to 75 lbs. /Head	75.00	105.00	145.00
Young Goats /Head	60.00	80.00	110.00
Mature Does /Head	75.00	105.00	125.00
Mature Billies /Head	150.00	250.00	-
Comments:  1278 sheep and lambs +69 goats - All lambs traded actively with prices $5-7 cwt. higher.  Good sheep and goats sold steady.  Plainer sheep and thicker sheep sold under pressure.

Dealing with hypothermic (cold) lambs

We have had an unusually high number of cold hypothermic lambs born this year. Not surprising as it has been down to -30C with the wind chill, plus blowing snow that get right into the barn. It is not much warmer inside the barn than outside, even with lots of heat lamps. I hate to think what our next hydro bill will be like!
Here is some info from OMAFRA that is quite helpful and show you how to tube a newborn lamb and give intraperitoneal injections of glucose:


http://www.omafra.gov.on.ca/english/livestock/sheep/facts/98-089.htm#Treatment

Photographs courtesy of OMAFRA

Lambing time is here again. We thought we would start earlier this year. Big mistake in light of the abnormally cold weather here. It was about -15C last night and has been more or less the same, plus frequent snowstorms for the last two weeks and is expected to last until at least the middle of March.
Actually, we have not had a big problem with hypothermic lambs. So far, we have not run out of barn space or "jugs", but if the cold weather continues we may have a problem with this. We do have a couple of larger, group pens which will help with the numbers as lambs and ewes from the jugs can progress to these after a day or two. I hope the weather warms up in the next couple of weeks so these sheep can be put back outside in the loafing 3-sided shelter. They will still be out of the snow.

 Our main difficulties have been with first time young mothers and the old girls (8 years and older, who really should have been culled earlier) The reason we have a lot of young ewes and older ones is our own fault, as we sold a lot of breeding stock last year at good prices, so we could not refuse. Now we have to build up our flock again. Anyway, most of the ewes so far have had singles so we are only batting 100 percent so far instead to the usual 150 percent. It might also be due to the fact that many of our ewes are now Dorper/Katahdin crosses. Purebred Katahdins do tend to have a higher rate of twins and triplets.  There is still time to improve our percentage as we are still less than a third of the way through the lambing season.
For more information on cold weather shed lambing, see this article:  http://www.premier1supplies.com/sheep-guide/2013/01/shed-lambing/?source=newslettersheep&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=March-03-sheep