No weight loss and no behavioural difference between marked and unmarked lambs.
It’s one thing for us to sing the praises of Numnuts with NumOcaine, because well, we would say that, wouldn’t we? It’s a very different matter when a sheep farmer reports improvements that go beyond our expectations.
That’s what happened recently when Al Hort, sent in the following feedback after three years of using the Numnuts device on his Tasmanian farm.
Numnuts exceeds in this farmer's time and motion study
Al Hort describes himself as being “passionate about developing better soil, pasture and sheep health – naturally.” His quest to produce better-tasting, nutritious meat while improving lamb welfare soon brought him to Numnuts and this fresh approach to lamb marking.
“I just wanted to say thanks for producing such a great product. We have used the Numnuts applicator and NumOcaine for the past 3 lamb markings. It has been a significant benefit to our small meat sheep operation.
“The applicator is easily 3 times quicker to use than the standard 4 prong one. In particular I have found it is quicker and easier to find and capture the testicles and then release the ring without issue (such as losing a testicle below the ring).
“Injecting the Numocaine is literally a one second addition in time to the process and considering how much time we save using the Numnuts applicator, it’s a no brainer.
“This saves us a heap of time in marking each lamb.
“Added benefits are the ease of holding the ring open due to the clever design incorporated in the Numnuts applicator. Far less strain on the hand and better control of ring release. It is easy and safe to load the rings, needles and NumOcaine. Virtually no slowing down to do these things on the job.”
A remarkable observation: reduced weight loss
“The biggest benefit though is the lack of apparent stress on the lambs.
“Normally the boys would be rolling around on the ground in distress, far more than the girls, but with the NumOcaine they hit the ground running like nothing has happened.
“They are playing and head butting mum for a drink immediately.
“We normally see significant weight loss in the ‘boys’ after marking due to the extra stress of castration, but with the NumOcaine there is no perceivable difference between the boys and girls over the following weeks.
No behavioural difference between marked and unmarked lambs
“It’s also interesting to note that MLA advise to keep an eye on marked lambs for health issues for up to 10 days after marking. Never had an issue since using Numnuts and NumOcaine.
“MLA also advise not moving the marked lambs for a few days, but we have been able to move all lambs and mums immediately after marking as they have no issue with pain or walking.
“In fact, the lambs still had plenty of get up and go to annoy the heck out of the sheep dogs.”
It’s wonderful to hear that for this farmer, the practical benefits for the lamb marking crew match the lamb welfare benefits that prompted the development of Numnuts in the first place.
To read more about the experience of large sheep farm operations in using Numnuts, check our series of interesting case studies.
