It’s lambing time again with many farmers losing sleep trying to get all ewes lambed, not to mention fostering multiple birth lambs to a mother with a single lamb.
These are the two main problems that keep sheep farmers awake at lambing time.
However if you have the ewes scanned and know what you’re facing it can make these things a lot smoother. Lambing in a shed also limits these problems. However with many sheep farmers having large numbers of ewes, shed space for all might not be possible. Indeed a lot of farmers don’t have a large capacity sheep shed at all. These farmers have an extra worry keeping sleep away; the bold Mr Fox.
While farmers lambing in sheds won’t need to worry as much about this predator, those with ewes lambing outdoors will be very aware of the danger he poses.
Those lambing in sheds will often only be letting lambs out to grass once they are big enough to avoid a fox, or if not they will have the opportunity to mark the lamb with Repellent Oil, lamb Macs or some other deterrent to keep them safe.
For those lambing outside these are not viable options, even if they could catch all lambs to do so.
The time lambs are in greatest danger is just after birth.
To be effective with such methods, farmers would have to be on hand at every birth with oil or Macs in hand and this is just not possible, no matter how much planning you do. This is the problem that faced Australian sheep farmer Ian Whalan.
A number of years ago Ian was having a lot of trouble with Foxes and other predators taking his lambs and no matter how much time he spent on the land he wasn’t able to curtail his losses. He decided he needed to do something in a hurry. His eventual solution was the Foxlight. About the size of a flashlight, the Foxlight works by flashing light from nine LED bulbs projecting in 360 degrees at random; thus giving the impression that someone is patrolling with a flash light. The random nature of the lights makes it impossible for a fox to predict its movements.
The device runs off a standard 6V battery which lasts approximately 6 months.
It has been fitted with a light sensor to automatically come on at dark so there is no need to switch it on or off and it can be hung on a post or an existing fence line, ensuring less work for the farmer during the busy lambing period.
“Foxlights” have now made their way to Ireland and have made a big impression with many sheep farmers across the country.
One such farmer, Thomas Pummer, runs a mixed sheep and suckler enterprise in Monfin, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.
He purchased a Foxlight at Agridirect.ie last year. Thomas, who has 85 ewes, has had some issues with fox attacks in the past so decided to give the Foxlight a go and was very happy with the results.
Thomas commented “I couldn’t fault the product, during the 2016 lambing season I lost 6 lambs to the fox. In 2017 I bought a Foxlight and set it up on a post in the middle of a 4 acre paddock where I put the lambs out at about 2 days old. Thankfully no lambs were lost, so the Foxlight obviously did its job.”
Thomas’s experience is the same as all who’ve tried the Foxlight.
While many other protective measures require disrupting the flock during the sensitive lambing period, requiring rounding up and catching lambs in the field, the Foxlight is proven to be hugely effective and non-invasive to the flock.
The Foxlight is available on our site here and well worth consideration for all sheep farmer’s facing into the lambing period.
The peace of mind it offers is well worth it.
RGA
