Does this ewe look healthy to you?

Ewesosillyfarmstead

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I am looking to purchase new sheep to add to my flock. I’m still pretty new and need advise please. I found a yearling and her ram lamb for $600 4 hours from us. He sent me a picture of them but she doesn’t look as healthy as mine to me but again I’m still learning. I asked if she had a Health check done recently. He sent me a picture and this response.
She received full spectrum abortion and enertoxemia vaccine protocol in December. We have 200 sheep here and neighbor is a retired veterinarian who works with us.
should I keep looking?
 

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Beekissed

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You have to ask yourself why someone is selling a breeding ewe and her lamb. The lamb, I can see, as everyone sells their lambs each year....but when someone is selling a breeding ewe, it's usually something they are culling from their flock for a particular reason.

It's hard to tell her conditioning and conformation due to the wool and one has to wonder why she hasn't been sheared by now, or if a hair breed or hair mix of some kind, why she carries so much wool. If a wool breed, why are there patches missing?

Not sure what you are looking for or what traits you are developing or even what breed this sheep is, but she's not one I'd ever consider buying....but then, I'm not in the market for small wool breed sheep.
 

Legamin

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I am looking to purchase new sheep to add to my flock. I’m still pretty new and need advise please. I found a yearling and her ram lamb for $600 4 hours from us. He sent me a picture of them but she doesn’t look as healthy as mine to me but again I’m still learning. I asked if she had a Health check done recently. He sent me a picture and this response.
She received full spectrum abortion and enertoxemia vaccine protocol in December. We have 200 sheep here and neighbor is a retired veterinarian who works with us.
should I keep looking?
I am a ‘newbie’ with only five years on in the sheep game. But if someone pointed that sheep out as a healthy sheep that they wanted to sell….I would quietly shake my head and never do business with them again.
On the other hand if you are in the ‘rescue’ farm operation and you have an isolation pen where you could put this lamb with a wether that isn’t too dear to you (sheep are too social to be kept alone) and kept it separate for a month until it passes a worm density test, a tooth exam, ear mite exam, udder/testicle exam and a basic daily spine check for the full month and puts on at least a solid 30lbs…if you’re not in the rescue business I would not walk but run from this seller. That sheep looks like it is ill cared for and about 1.5 on the health scale. The spine is clearly evident above the ridge of the back and the little lamb behind it is looking like it is not putting on weight appropriately. My other concern would be the price. An obvious cull selection that has not been shorn to best market her assets and health at a price well above the going rate for two healthy common breed sheep? I would want to know a lot more about the sheep and the lamb market in your area before laying out that cash. It is possible to go to auction and get ‘known’ breed/breeder healthy sheep in that price range all day every day in most areas. Often much cheaper. For comparison I put down $2000 for an unproven ram that won 3rd place national best of breed. The price was dirt cheap because he is unproven. (He was WORTH IT!) my meat flock all look like blimps bouncing down the trail! But I can buy perfect breeding ewes with registration (in a rare breed) for $300 each without too much trouble…so that’s a consideration. Why does the owner think they are so dear?
I will never speak badly of another shepherd because there are certain days on which some of my sheep look bedraggled and they get exceptional care, hand feeding and carefully weighed out rations. I have a strict schedule of maintenance and interventions. I would say though that this sheep’s owner is perhaps undisciplined in care during milk production an weaning and it could be that this ewe has not recovered yet from a particularly draining lambing and suckling that simply took the weight and sheen off of her. Take your vet neighbor with you on this one but be prepared to walk away.
 
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