Feelin' a bit sheepish...

[Mini Horses]

It's true, sheep and goats prefer what many livestock don't, especially the goats. I can turn goats and mini horses together with little concern for who's eating what. The goats love the trying to grow young trees and wild berry starts....horses walk on by. Plus, their systems are built to use that forage very well.

In winter, any young tree starts become theirs!! Free food, growing when grass isn't.

 

[Ridgetop]

Got my Blade Ice in the mail today...supposed to be a blade coolant and lubricant combined. Not sure if that will work as effectively as having those two things separately, but it's worth a shot.

Blade Ice, if it is the same as Oster Kool Lube, is not the same as Oster Blade Wash. If you pull up Valley Vet Supply on line and go to their Oster Kool Lube and Blade Wash pages there is an excellent U Tube video showing the 2 products and how to use them on your clippers. Be aware that the clipper they are demonstrating on is not a sheep shears, but is the Oster A-5 clipper. The A-5 will not shear or clip wool on sheep. But the video shows how to use the blade wash on the blades. Kool Lube lubricates and cools the blades while the blade wash dissolves the lanolin that gums them up.

If you can't find the video on the Valley Vet website, then just putting Oster Blade Wash on clipper blades might turn up the same video on U Tube.

The blade wash is super important because it will cut the lanolin which is what is gumming up the clipper blades and causing your problems shearing.

 

[Beekissed]

Blade Ice, if it is the same as Oster Kool Lube, is not the same as Oster Blade Wash. If you pull up Valley Vet Supply on line and go to their Oster Kool Lube and Blade Wash pages there is an excellent U Tube video showing the 2 products and how to use them on your clippers. Be aware that the clipper they are demonstrating on is not a sheep shears, but is the Oster A-5 clipper. The A-5 will not shear or clip wool on sheep. But the video shows how to use the blade wash on the blades. Kool Lube lubricates and cools the blades while the blade wash dissolves the lanolin that gums them up.

If you can't find the video on the Valley Vet website, then just putting Oster Blade Wash on clipper blades might turn up the same video on U Tube.

The blade wash is super important because it will cut the lanolin which is what is gumming up the clipper blades and causing your problems shearing.

Will get it! Turns out it has a bit more than a degreaser in it....more petroleum type agents that will degrease and also lube. Thank you!

 

[Ridgetop]

 

[Beekissed]

We are back on serious rotation of pasture now and I'll move the flock by myself to the other end of the big field on Tues....that will be the first time in awhile since I've done that and it will be with sheep that are out of the routine of changing paddocks. I think only the power of the dog biscuits will help me get them to the new paddock once I've got it strung up.

Tomorrow I move the lambs into the garden for weed cleanup....I'll keep them there a couple of days until I'm sure there's nothing else they will eat, then they will go into A paddock to feast on even more brush. I'm putting Eli Dog into that paddock with them....he's moving around a lot better nowadays and seems much more alert, less sleeping all day long.

I'll mow the paddock the big flock leaves behind and work on getting my dog feeder pen up and running.

Moving the sheep shade shelter(say that real fast 3 times)each day is providing some intensive manure cover, much like moving a CX tractor does, as they take cover in that for most of the day and only graze in the cooler hours....when they stand up and stretch, they naturally evacuate their bowels right in the shelter. Should be interesting to see what the areas that the shelter were on look like when the grass recovers and even further down the road. I'll take pics of those, both before and later when I see the after affects, if any.

I'm planting clover seed in the spots left behind by bale feeding this past winter and those spaces have plenty of manure around them as well. Should be nice spots of fresh growth once things start developing.

Going to look at 2 Ford 8N tractors this week, one that runs and one for parts, both for a good deal. Then we'll have to buy a brush hog to go along with if we want to mow a little higher than I can with the Cub Cadet.

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[Baymule]

I am loving hearing about your sheep and the pastures. Grass is the very staff of life. Where we spread sheep barn clean out, the grass comes back dark green and lush.

 

[Mini Horses]

In their day, those 8Ns were THE tractor to have! Very reliable and even today one maintained works well. Hope you get it and it's in good working order! A blade will make snow shoveling a thing of the past.

My tractor is very helpful for so many things! I can rope or chain things to lift and move that would not get done without that muscle. Used it when picking blackberries last week...parked with front end loader up and over the patch, climbed up arms and into it....worked well. But, I'm half monkey.

 

[Mini Horses]

I see new gravel...is that pic at your house??? It's home???

 

[Beekissed]

I see new gravel...is that pic at your house??? It's home???

That's the place where the tractor is at, not ours. I'll try to find a pic of our place for you, if you'd like. Thank you for the tractor review! That sets my heart at ease, as we are first time tractor buyers, my son and I. We've been watching all the YT vids on tractor reviews, what to look for when buying an old tractor, etc. but it's still anyone's guess what we will get.

So...after seeing a wound on a LGD on FB, it occurred to me that we could easily get a wound like that on the dogs or sheep at any time and I didn't have a contingency plan in place. Most folks would run them to the vet, but being a nurse, I try to do most of the vetting here at the house. So, did a search for lidocaine, surgical stapler, sutures, hemostats, etc and found, to my astonishment!, that these things are not only affordable but readily available online. Things ya learn.

So, soon I'll be stocking up on such things to keep in the spare fridge, along with injectable penicillin I already have on hand. Need to get more needle syringes to keep on hand as well. Should be able to take care of minor wounds and such here for the sheep and, hopefully, for the dogs if they don't freak out and need to be sedated. Come to find out, you can even purchase injectable sedatives for dogs too! How cool is that?

Couldn't find any recent pics....I'll have to take some that show the changes we've made this past year. Lots and lots of changes.

 

[Ridgetop]

Yes, it is absolutely essential to have a lot of first aid supplies at home. Even if you have a local vet you can often treat the wound yourself.

One trick my friend Erick (breeds Anatolians) taught me for puncture wounds is to use mastitis tubes. He uses Tomorrow tubes and after cleaning the wound, inserts the tube end into the puncture and squirts in the antibiotic. He says this works like a charm on punctures.

Punctures are terrible to treat since you can't stitch them up or they form an abscess when they heal on top. That s why vets will put an irrigation tube in one end of the wound and stitch up around it. I had a mare that developed cellulitis after coming home from the horse hospital with instructions to "just hose it off a couple times a day". A new vet was recommended to me by my farrier. This guy was older and a real old fashioned horse doctor. He showed me how to use a Water Pic to irrigate inside the deep puncture (about 6" deep") to flush out the pus and bacteria. Had to do this 2x daily with iodine and water. Took her 3 months to heal. That water Pic was wonderful. He also gave me an old coffee grinder from the thrift store to use to crush antibiotics to drench her. I still have them in my medical cupboard.

Other items that come in handy are disposable scalpels, stitch removal scissors, disposable needles and sutures, Kotex pads for large wound drainage pads. Lots of vet wrap (cheap on line), Alumashield spray, etc. Hemmorrhoid cream, etc.

I add to my kit every time we have an emergency and it seems like the emergency doesn't often recur. LOL