A growing number of sheep farmers are using Stockmax pine shavings principally at lambing times, but one major sheep producer in Northumberland has discovered that they make shearing easier, cleaner and more efficient too.
Each year Charlie Armstrong shears in the region of 7000 sheep at his North Charlton Farm in Northumberland, and he tells us why he uses Stockmax both in the overnight sheep sheds and in his forcing pens.
“When the sheep are brought into the sheds the night before shearing we bed the sheds with the shavings because they absorb all of the moisture, and help to keep the sheep clean. Unlike straw, they do not stick to the fleeces and unlike sawdust, Stockmax shavings are dry, easy to handle and one bag goes a very long way. We keep the same bedding down in our sheds for the duration of the shearing period. Our shearers always comment on how dry and clean the sheep are to handle.”
Farmers using Stockmax at lambing times report that they lose fewer lambs to E.Coli and other common infections, need fewer antibiotics, and significantly reduce the time and labour involved in changing and maintaining traditional straw bedding.
Now it seems they have another key role at another key time in the sheep farming year – saving more lambs at lambing time, and shaving more sheep at shearing.
