Recent content by Sheepshape

I have just been 'flicking' through your baking triumphs, So many of them that I love.....and taken me so long to see this thread. Crikey, I'm feeling hungry.

We can slaughter our own chickens. Larger animals must be slaughtered at licensed premises. Actually, there's really no delay and, though abattoirs may be 'ruled', inspected and licensed by the Government , they are under independent ownership. If I have 'fat lambs' for sale they can be taken...

I just thought I'd give a UK perspective here. Home butchering is illegal. All animals have to be humanely slaughtered at abattoirs. The vast majority are stunned prior to slaughter (non-stun slaughter has been taking place at a very small number of halal meat producers, but I think, is now...

Seems to work pretty well here. Super stud rams!

OK...sharp intake of breath. Over here we breed for commercial flocks....mature ra, 1:35 to 1:50. Some even go up to 1:80, but the ram may end up a bit thin and tired! Yearling rams no more than 1:25. The ram usually stays in for 6 - 9 weeks and most get pregnant. Lesser ratios 'work' the ram...

Over here we are just having horrible cold rain....leading to seas of gloopy mud. Sentry lends in SO well colour-wise with the ewes that i had to look closely to see who was who. Good boy for not interfering with labour. There's always something so totally endearing about lambs.....lots of...

Then you REALLY need to be worried😱

OOOOOOhhhhh...I hope it is not ruptured tendons. She may well give birth OK even if it is, but Caesarians are quick, done under local and usually very successful in sheep. My vets are really stars as regards Caesarians. They only charge £60 to £80 to do the Caesarian. Please keep us updated...

Personally I've never heard of this (may well just be my ignorance!). Pulpy kidney is due to entrotoxaemia from Clostridium perfringens and i'm struggling to think of a reason why a wormer can't be given. I usually worm my lambs about 2 weeks after the first dose and within about 2 weeks of the...

Yes, it's a real place.....Shropshire in the area near to the Welsh border....rolling hills etc. There's a village of Clun, too....population of 680 apparently...about 40 miles from where I live. The climate...cool. wet, typical valleys weather. Clun Forest sheep are tough sheep. I'm not aware...

Clun Forest (in Shropshire) is not very far from where I live and 'enjoys' a chilly and very damp climate. The Clun Forest is a hardy upland sheep with a dense fleece. Over here we sheer sheep around June to August as those are the only times that they miss their dense fleeces and suffer with...

Bottlejaw is due to anaemia and low proteins (usually caused by worms in the obamasum...part of the sheep's stomach and the small intestine). Barber's pole worm is a common cause, but other parasites can do it, too. As the two wormers that you have used do not seem to have been effective (I'm...

Bay...I don't think there's too much to worry about. Though no expert, I am from a scientific background. What all viruses normally do, whether they are DNA or RNA type, is to 'hijack' our cells reproductive systems in order to produce more of their own kind. When we develop immunity to the...

My chickens love barley...they will eat just about anything, though. I entirely agree with famerjan....not an especially nutritious grain, so should not be the sole item of diet, but could form a fairly substantial part.

How is Covid affecting me? Well we have this new rapid-spreading variant of which the UK has the majority of cases. I am from Wales.....along with London and the South East, we have the highest proportion of cases with the new variant. Wales has the highest incidence in the UK.....a slightly...