- Thread starter
- #131
baymule
Garden Master
Lucy stayed in the night pen as the flock left her yesterday morning. She paced, baa-baaed at the flock, but wouldn't take her lamb out the gate. Several hours later, she took him about 5' from the gate. Later she took him midway out in the field.
I didn't go out to feed until nearly 6 and the flock was already in the night pen, bawling at me. Lucy and Uno were out by the burn pile. When she saw me, she came running. When she got to the pen, she realized her lamb was missing and started searching frantically for him, calling and calling. Ewes can be so dumb. They are also exceedingly greedy.
"Lucy! Where's your baby? Let's go find him."
"Lucy! Where's your baby? Where's your baby?"
I walked with her out in the field, she was calling and very upset. I picked Uno up, holding him low so she could see and touch him. If you cradle a lamb in your arms, the ewe can't see, can't touch, can't smell it, and they still run around screaming for their baby. Lucy ran circles around me, stopping in front of me, impeding progress,
but we finally made it to the night pen and I set him down. Then I put out feed and the piranhas fought to be first and eat the most. 
We'll see what Lucy does with him today.
In Lindale, their front pasture attached to the barn was maybe an acre, mostly trees with little grass. Here, I'd guess their field to be 5 acres. It's wide open with 3 large trees and LOTS of grass. It is interesting to watch them graze in large circles, always moving.
Prior to the 1870's when millions of bison roamed the plains, they were always on the move. That's what grazing animals do, they eat on the front, poop out the back, keep moving, leaving the parasites (worms) behind. They were not confined to a field, circling back, eating the grass loaded with worm larva.
Now we fence in our animals, they suffer from parasites and we must keep close watch on them. The young ewe I bought recently, just never thrived. She barely ate. I wormed her. I gave her probiotics. I gave her nutridrench, a molasses based formula with vitamins and minerals in it. I even gave her 2 ml of mineral oil in case she had an impaction. She pooped out a puddle, so no impaction. She was steadily going downhill. Took her to the vet and found out she was loaded with worms. She is now confined to a small pen (so I can catch her) and being treated. This is why I cull for worm load, among other characteristics.
My ram, Ringo, was bred by Virginia Tech University in their parasite resistance program. Young sheep are intentionally infected with worms. They are tested, the wormy ones get treated and sold. The ones that can consume the worms, but not actually get wormy are kept and sold in special sales. Ringo is 10 years old, neither i nor his previous owner ever wormed him. I have run fecal tests on him and he is always clean.
I'll be leaving this week to go to Tennessee to get Cooper, another ram from the same breeding program. My goal is to have parasite resistant registered Katahdin breeding stock. The registered ewes I buy are wormy and must be treated with chemical wormers. By breeding them to these rams, I will get registered parasite resistant lambs, which will be tested and culled. Unlike most breeders whom I've found, register EVERYTHING and sell them, I will cull out the inferior ones and only offer the best I can produce. I've had sheep for almost 8 years, mixed breed, what are called commercial sheep. I've culled heavily, I've learned how to raise a better lamb and now I move on to registered sheep, IF I can get the damned things to live long enough!
Most young lambs have no resistance to worms. People breed for spring lambs, as the worms are "waking up" from the winter, eggs are hatching, larva crawl up the grasses and reinfect the sheep. The lambs get massive loads of parasites and must be treated. I breed in the spring for fall lambs. The reason is two fold, the worms are going dormant, which gives the lambs a little time to grow, and develop a little resistance, and the lambs are ready to go to auction in December, January and February, when practically no one has lambs and the buyers will pay more for them.
I can "breed up" my sheep by breeding the ewes to a registered ram. I can record the lambs as half, then 3/4, then 7/8. Then they have to meet certain criteria, if they pass, they can be registered. I have some ewes now that can be recorded as half, their lambs will be recorded as 3/4. I'm bringing in Cooper for breeding to those offspring and having 7/8 lambs that can be registered. My small flock has come a long way from the 4 original ewes we bought. I still have one of them, Ewenique. After learning how to do fecal exams with the microscope, I culled out an entire line from one of my original ewes.
I've been rambling. There is your wormy sheep lesson for today! LOL
I didn't go out to feed until nearly 6 and the flock was already in the night pen, bawling at me. Lucy and Uno were out by the burn pile. When she saw me, she came running. When she got to the pen, she realized her lamb was missing and started searching frantically for him, calling and calling. Ewes can be so dumb. They are also exceedingly greedy.
"Lucy! Where's your baby? Let's go find him."
"Lucy! Where's your baby? Where's your baby?"
I walked with her out in the field, she was calling and very upset. I picked Uno up, holding him low so she could see and touch him. If you cradle a lamb in your arms, the ewe can't see, can't touch, can't smell it, and they still run around screaming for their baby. Lucy ran circles around me, stopping in front of me, impeding progress,
but we finally made it to the night pen and I set him down. Then I put out feed and the piranhas fought to be first and eat the most. We'll see what Lucy does with him today.
In Lindale, their front pasture attached to the barn was maybe an acre, mostly trees with little grass. Here, I'd guess their field to be 5 acres. It's wide open with 3 large trees and LOTS of grass. It is interesting to watch them graze in large circles, always moving.
Prior to the 1870's when millions of bison roamed the plains, they were always on the move. That's what grazing animals do, they eat on the front, poop out the back, keep moving, leaving the parasites (worms) behind. They were not confined to a field, circling back, eating the grass loaded with worm larva.
Now we fence in our animals, they suffer from parasites and we must keep close watch on them. The young ewe I bought recently, just never thrived. She barely ate. I wormed her. I gave her probiotics. I gave her nutridrench, a molasses based formula with vitamins and minerals in it. I even gave her 2 ml of mineral oil in case she had an impaction. She pooped out a puddle, so no impaction. She was steadily going downhill. Took her to the vet and found out she was loaded with worms. She is now confined to a small pen (so I can catch her) and being treated. This is why I cull for worm load, among other characteristics.
My ram, Ringo, was bred by Virginia Tech University in their parasite resistance program. Young sheep are intentionally infected with worms. They are tested, the wormy ones get treated and sold. The ones that can consume the worms, but not actually get wormy are kept and sold in special sales. Ringo is 10 years old, neither i nor his previous owner ever wormed him. I have run fecal tests on him and he is always clean.
I'll be leaving this week to go to Tennessee to get Cooper, another ram from the same breeding program. My goal is to have parasite resistant registered Katahdin breeding stock. The registered ewes I buy are wormy and must be treated with chemical wormers. By breeding them to these rams, I will get registered parasite resistant lambs, which will be tested and culled. Unlike most breeders whom I've found, register EVERYTHING and sell them, I will cull out the inferior ones and only offer the best I can produce. I've had sheep for almost 8 years, mixed breed, what are called commercial sheep. I've culled heavily, I've learned how to raise a better lamb and now I move on to registered sheep, IF I can get the damned things to live long enough!
Most young lambs have no resistance to worms. People breed for spring lambs, as the worms are "waking up" from the winter, eggs are hatching, larva crawl up the grasses and reinfect the sheep. The lambs get massive loads of parasites and must be treated. I breed in the spring for fall lambs. The reason is two fold, the worms are going dormant, which gives the lambs a little time to grow, and develop a little resistance, and the lambs are ready to go to auction in December, January and February, when practically no one has lambs and the buyers will pay more for them.
I can "breed up" my sheep by breeding the ewes to a registered ram. I can record the lambs as half, then 3/4, then 7/8. Then they have to meet certain criteria, if they pass, they can be registered. I have some ewes now that can be recorded as half, their lambs will be recorded as 3/4. I'm bringing in Cooper for breeding to those offspring and having 7/8 lambs that can be registered. My small flock has come a long way from the 4 original ewes we bought. I still have one of them, Ewenique. After learning how to do fecal exams with the microscope, I culled out an entire line from one of my original ewes.
I've been rambling. There is your wormy sheep lesson for today! LOL
