Kodesh Acres - This is my journal about sheep

[farmerjan]

Massaging udders is like stimulation for milk production... think lamb butting it... If you do anything, strip out the milk or don't touch them unless they feel hot.
The engorgement helps with the hormones to stop milk production... because it is not being relieved so signal to stop producing.

 

[Baymule]

Agree with @farmerjan. If you can, pen the ewes and give no feed for 24 hours.

 

[Ridgetop]

I am worried about mastitis, etc., and was wondering if this is normal or if I am rightfully concerned. And what would you recommend. Sometimes I can catch 2 of the 3 mamas, and I am massaging their udders to try to help with the transition. But the udders are at maximum size right now, and that is probably not comfortable. Advice?

Absolutey what Farmerjan and Baymule said.

In future, cut extra food to ewes about a week before weaning. This will cut down milk production. Then pull all food and water from ewes for 24 hours when you pull lambs for weaning.

 

[Ridgetop]

Our rams Snickers and Weller have been very naughty!!!! They jumped the fence and in to the ewes paddock they went!!!! I lost it when I checked the cameras at 5am one morning and saw Snickers in with the ewes!!!!

Be sure to write down dates the rams were in with the ewes. Having lambs in 5 months is not a problem, this breed is designed to do this. Fall and winter lambs are not exposed to parasites the way spring lambs are so that can be a good thing. You will have supplement more with bought hay.

I like accelerated lambing so am breeding my flock for fall lambs already. The January lambs avoided parasites until May. DS1 said we lost a LOT of the retained ewe lambs while we were in California. Next year I will be keeping fewer replacement lambs and sending most of them to the auction at weaning to avoid that $$ loss.

 

[Baymule]

With all the rain and heat, worms have exploded.

 

[sandy10m]

Absolutey what Farmerjan and Baymule said.

In future, cut extra food to ewes about a week before weaning. This will cut down milk production. Then pull all food and water from ewes for 24 hours when you pull lambs for weaning.

I did the cutting of feed for 8 days before weaning. The mamas only had grass/weeds to eat. I didn't cut all food for 24 hours, I can try to do that now, but I don't have a pen with no grass/weeds. I have an electric fence and can try to make a pen under the trees with minimal grass/weeds available.

 

[Baymule]

I did the cutting of feed for 8 days before weaning. The mamas only had grass/weeds to eat. I didn't cut all food for 24 hours, I can try to do that now, but I don't have a pen with no grass/weeds. I have an electric fence and can try to make a pen under the trees with minimal grass/weeds available.

I keep cow panels, hog panels or just pallets handy for the "whatever" things that always seem to pop up. T-posts, hay string, and you have a quick pen. Make it a small enough pen and they will eat and trample those weeds down quickly.

 

[KodeshAcres]

Hello Everyone

Dottie’s lambs (Stagg and Russell) are now 7 weeks old. I’ll be pulling them out of the ewes paddock in about 3 more weeks. They are healthy and getting big fast! Just weighed them yesterday. Stagg is 35.64lbs and Russell 33.44lbs, you can judge for yourselves who gets the most milk


Dottie and Stagg

Russell

As for Dottie, well….. she’s my first case of bottle jaw this constant rain and heat is perfect for barber pole worm and despite us rotating them every 2-3 days I still came out to find Dottie with bottle jaw. She’s doing better now and gaining back condition. I gave her a copper oxide bolus and have been drenching her with pumpkin oil, oil of oregano, thyme and cayenne pepper. The bottle jaw appears to come and go but has significantly gone down. I continue to monitor her daily and I’ve been giving her a small amount of corn and grain for extra energy and protein. My last plan of attack is turpentine. We shall see how she is doing by the end of the week.



How I found Dottie.

How she’s doing

We had a cafeteria style mineral feeder built for the flock. We are excited to see how this goes for the sheep and pasture. I currently keep the flaps open with pony clamps during the whole day (weather permitting) to help them get used to coming there and then I close the flaps before dark.

I got a new ewe!!! Her name is Dolly. I had my eyes on her from the day they posted her for sale. She lost her twin lambs in a storm, but she was being milked and producing 2 quarts of milk daily. I plan to milk her in the future and any ewe lambs she produces if they turn out to be as good as her. I hate that her tail was docked. She is such a sweet friendly girl, she fits in so well and I am so happy to have her in our flock.

Dolly

They make short work of these paddocks

 

[SageHill]

Good to see you check in. Stag and Russel look great.
LOVE your mineral feeder. I've been thinking about doing something similar. Need to figure out which minerals and where to get them.
Dolly looks like a sweetie - and you're milking her too - wow! I got a new ewe and lamb a few weeks ago - talk about a docked tail - they don't even have stubs!

 

[Mini Horses]

I dislike those short, short docks