OK...tell me everything I need to know about this sheep!

[sred98]

DD just brought home her FFA sheep, and I have no idea what to do with it! I have it in a pen with hay down, lamb feed (it was just weaned), and water. She can hear her mom up the street calling for her, so she is a little worked up.

Also, she has a knot under her arm where the people we got her from said was a tetanus shot.

That doesn't sound right. Said she got it about 2 weeks ago, and it is huge. DH and I were going to drain it, but it is really hard, so we left it alone. I think someone may have given her a shot and not known what to do, or do sheep do that when they get a shot?

Also, what treats can they have? I know they can't have copper. Anything else? We tried to find a book at the feedstore, but they didn't have anything.

I'll have to go into town later this week and see if I can find one.

I guess this is a Hampshire cross??? It was born black and is turning white with a black face. I am guessing she is about 50-60 pounds because I was able to pick her up and put her in the back of the minivan no problem.

Thanks!

Shelly

 

[username taken]

Okay, first of all breathe!

Enjoy your lamby!

You are off to a good start with the hay and lamb feed. Hay should be free choice, depending on how you want her to grow out (slaughter or breeder) and the amount of grain she is used to, you should limit feed the grain to start with and you may or may not want to up it to free choice.

You are going to have a bit of a battle if she is by herself. She will calm down eventually but it will take a while and some work. If you have a friend for her, goat, sheep, mini horse, cattle, etc even a well behaved dog will help her out. Otherwise, you should spend as much time with her as you possibly can.

Depending on how friendly she is, she may not want anything to do with you or she might love you. If she's not real friendly, just sit in her pen quietly and let curiosity take over and she will approach you. After a while you might even be able to scratch her.

Treats - horse, cattle and goat food is a no-no because of the copper. Good treats are bread, biscuits, fruit (apple, banana, grapes etc), sometimes crisps, some vegetables, grass if there isnt any grass in her pen. Raisins. Just experiment a little with her.

Getting a lump from a needle is normal. Probably from when they vaccinated her. Almost every animal will get a lump the size of a marble, that is normal and indicates that the vaccine is working. If it is this size, no need to worry about it, it will disappear eventually, although some hang around for up to a year and that is why it is given under the arm in show animals, you cant see it as much in the show ring.

Some of them develop a lump the size of a golf ball or even a tennis ball - that means the needle nicked the muscle just a little when the injection was given - not that big a deal, it happens to the best of us. You can lance it if you want but I prefer to just leave it alone - it will either burst on its own, or just go down eventually. Obviously a very large lump is going to be an issue in the show ring, so you might want to lance it if its hugely big, but put a needle in it first and see what you can draw out.

Good luck with her!

 

[KareyABohr]

Good info! I don't have anything else to add except watch how much she eats at first.

The show lambs are always vaccinated in the 'arm pit" for the very reason you are looking at. I say leave it alone for a while it will probably go away, AND you don't want her first impressions of your family to be of pain.

Good luck and I hope your daughter gets a blue ribbon!

 

[sred98]

Thanks so much for the great info and reassurances!

I believe that the girl we got her from said she would be better as a market lamb, but I think when school starts this fall we will ask the FFA/Ag teacher. He is a member of our Round-Up club, so I'm sure he will steer us in the right direction.

I have a Pyrenees/American Mastiff puppy (11 wks) that we had with the goats, but we took the goats to go clear brush at a friend's house, so she is in with the sheep now. She was terrified of the sheep at first...screamed bloody murder and peed all over me!

Now they are big buddies, and are playing a little and laying together. I think they'll do fine. I think the problem is going to be the mom living at the top of our hill. She's already burst through their gate, once, and started down here. They wanted us to take her, too, but she needs to be weaned, and trained for show. I think that would be too much with her mom here, too.

I had no idea about the vaccines doing that, and wondered why it was under the arm! We were going to aspirate it, but decided to call, first. I was really upset. When I had DD call the girl, and she said it was vaccines, I noticed that it had been shaved, but I had no idea they were so sensitive to things like that. If it's not better closer to show, we'll aspirate it. It is about marble size, and not hot.

Thanks y'all!

Shelly

 

[username taken]

just make sure your lamby is behind very secure fencing, that way if mum does come to visit you wont have too many troubles. Good to hear she is starting to play with the other sheep.

You can get those vax lumps on cattle, goats, horses as well, not a big deal at all, as I said if its only marble size it actually means the vaccine is working well! so its a good thing