Sheep Chat Thread

[kuntrygirl]

I'm glad that you mentioned weight. You are the 3rd person that has mentioned weight to me. I confess that I do keep my ewes "too fat".


I have to let them lose weight. I will look into finding alfalfa pellets and alfalfa hay. For some reason, I thought that alfalfa hay was too rich for them. But I guess it's not.


I have a total of 7 ewes and 5 lambs right now . What feed/grain portion do you suggest that I should feed 7 ewes on a daily basis? They have access to hay every day and I put them in their outside pen that has grass for grazing when the weather is nice and I try not to put any feed when they are grazing. When the weather calls for rain, I move them to an inside pen (where there is a shed) but there is no grass but there is always hay and I keep feed in their feeder. The crying is what gets me. I think if they are crying, they want to eat and I cave in and give them feed.





LOL @ she jumped the fence.

Ohhh, They have you WELL trained! Hasn't anyone told you that SHEEP LIE! Check the Story book on How to Raise Sheep or any other good beginner sheep book. They will have the feed charts for the size and use of the sheep and their feed requirements. If you break their food requirements into a morning and evening feeding they will be less restless. Feed on a schedule. You can also devise ways to make it difficult for them to eat it all up fast. This makes them slow down and it is more natural like grazing.

I like feeding the alfalfa because they do not need to eat as much. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. You only need to feed them 2/3 what you would any grass hay! I know the charts make you do number crunching but it is so much better than having a lamb that grew too big get stuck and you are there in the dirt with your feet on the ewes butt hauling on the lambs hind legs because it was too big to turn around and even only pulling with her contractions and putting your thighs and back and every muscle in your just 2 years out of the Army body, it still takes 10 minutes to deliver that lamb and she is cold and blue and not going to breath. That was my first year in sheep.

Oh that also goes for Serecia hay. Serecia is a cousin to alfalfa. Serecia may only be a point lower in the protein but you can overfeed with it easily.

Ok, I just ordered every single book by "Storey" at the local library. I will have a lot of reading to do.

Yes, they have me trained. When it comes to my animals, I'm a wimp. I give them what they want.

Thanks

 

[kuntrygirl]

For all of you who have small ruminants (sheep & goats), please keep an eye on them to make sure that their eyes are not infected with Pink Eye. The summer time (and fall) is terrible when it comes to the increased number insects. Someone that I know had a goat that had pink eye and they failed to notice AND treat it and the poor goat became blind because of it. If you are able to look at their eyes daily, please do so. You will be glad that you did. I check my sheep and goat's eye every single day because of this.

 

[Penny Hen]

For all of you who have small ruminants (sheep & goats), please keep an eye on them to make sure that their eyes are not infected with Pink Eye. The summer time (and fall) is terrible when it comes to the increased number insects. Someone that I know had a goat that had pink eye and they failed to notice AND treat it and the poor goat became blind because of it. If you are able to look at their eyes daily, please do so. You will be glad that you did. I check my sheep and goat's eye every single day because of this.

I had problem with this my first year with sheep. One of the shepherds on Sheep-L list told me the Basque shepherds cure which is Burgundy wine. Put it in a spray bottle and spray it into the eyes. The acidic tannins kill the organism. It worked like a charm. You don't have to buy expensive Burgundy either. I took the rest of it and marinated steaks.

 

[kuntrygirl]

For all of you who have small ruminants (sheep

I had problem with this my first year with sheep. One of the shepherds on Sheep-L list told me the Basque shepherds cure which is Burgundy wine. Put it in a spray bottle and spray it into the eyes. The acidic tannins kill the organism. It worked like a charm. You don't have to buy expensive Burgundy either. I took the rest of it and marinated steaks.

WOW!! This is a great tip !!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I had a goat (I know this is the sheep chat thread - sorry) that had pink eye about 3 years ago. I used Terramycin eye ointment and it was cleared up in about 5 days. It never came back again.

Because of the number of flies that I am already seeing on my property, I have begun hanging Raid Fly Ribbons in different places to catch flies. I know that I can't catch all of them but by gosh, I"m catching A LOT so far. I'm adding more DE in the soil as well.

They cost $1.12 at Walmart and with a coupon, I paid on $0.12 the other day. It's 4 in a pack. Well worth the money. I have them hanging from my chicken coops and sheep and goat pens.

http://www.pennypinchinmom.com/walmart-raid-fly-ribbon-strips-just-0-12-each/

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

We have seen quite a bit of pink eye this year. Our sheep are grazing very tall pasture and are getting poked in the eye by the tall grass, a good recipe for pink eye. We give them a squirt of Tylan 200 in the affected eye once or twice a day until they can see well enough that we can't catch them - usually three days, sometimes four or five if the infection is severe. This is considered "off label" use though, so consult with your vet before you do it. I would not recommend the Vetericyn Pink Eye spray. We tried it and after a week of use treating three or four times a day the sheep showed no improvement, so we switched back to the Tylan.

 

[kuntrygirl]

We have seen quite a bit of pink eye this year.  Our sheep are grazing very tall pasture and are getting poked in the eye by the tall grass, a good recipe for pink eye.  We give them a squirt of Tylan 200 in the affected eye once or twice a day until they can see well enough that we can't catch them - usually three days, sometimes four or five if the infection is severe.  This is considered "off label" use though, so consult with your vet before you do it.  I would not recommend the Vetericyn Pink Eye spray.  We tried it and after a week of use treating three or four times a day the sheep showed no improvement, so we switched back to the Tylan.

I didn't know that you could put Tylan 200 in the eye. This is great information to know for future references. Thanks for pointing that out. I have been seeing a lot of products by Vetericyn. Glad that you noticed that it wasn't working and switched. Prolonged use and no change could have been tragic for their eyes.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

You bet. That is what our vet told us to use when we had goats, and it works just as well on sheep. It doesn't take much, a little less than a CC is more than adequate, and just to clarify it should be used like eye drops and not injected into the eye.

 

[AlienChick]

Brother and Sister napping together inside the barn.
It was hot outside.

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

Cute!