Sheepfarmer22 ~ My Sheep and I

[Baymule]

Those ewes should make you some real nice babies.
Correctly: they are recorded, not registered. You have papers but they aren’t registered 1st generation—recorded.
2nd generation— recorded
3rd generation— recorded BUT eligible for full registration after 1 year old, and passing hair coat test. Then can be registered.

I have a ewe that At 1 year old, still had baby fuzz plus winter coat and no way to pass hair coat test. Second winter, more fuzz, second spring AND she started SHEDDING! She is slick now, going to get her fully registered, plus she has a ewe lamb on her that will be fully registerable. Whoop! I’ll have 2 more registered ewes!

In May at the TexKats sheep field day I took and passed a hair coat training. I’m certified to inspect my own sheep, after 1 year I can test again and then be certified to inspect other’s sheep. I suggest you find someone that can test you and get certified.

 

[Baymule]

Forgot to add, you have to be KHSI member for I think at least a year before you can take course and test for hair coat inspection.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

Hey crew, sorry I've been gone a while. It's been really busy and I'm exhausted. I did make time to become a member of KHSI now though! Update on my flock:

Salt and Pepper (my recorded 1st generation sheep) are doing great! They are about five months old now. I sent the records to KHSI in request for name change (the owner of sheep is still in the seller's name).

Almost everybody that needed a bath got their bath. Still got three I think. I am up to 12 sheep now. Since I have last spoken I gained two weathers to go with my Barbados ram in the electric fence. I have a gut feeling that old ram won't stay in the pen anyways. He was born and raised knowing he could be wherever he wanted. I will try anyways. The weathers' names are Sherman & Hudson and in about four months they will be Ground Meat & Ground Meat! If the old ram still doesn't stay in the fence, he will be in an extra farrowing pen my mom has spared. The next breeding season will probably be his last on our farm before he finds a new home. The younger, well built Katahdin ram will surely learn to respect the electric fence.

Two of my ewes are probably bred! I am expecting lambs in November!!! Laney may give twins this year and Noel will be a first-time mother. They are both bred to the Barbados ram, Mark. Lamb(s) off of Noel will be 50% Barbados Blackbelly and 50% Katahdin. Lamb(s) off of Laney will be 50% Barbados Blackbelly, 25% Katahdin, and 25% Dorper. Hooray!

 

[Baymule]

Congratulations on recording your sheep. In a few generations you will have registerable sheep. I'm getting there myself. I have a lovely black ewe with chrome, that didn't shed out fully at a year old, but has now, plus she had a ewe lamb. So when I register the black ewe, I can register her ewe lamb too. Excitement at finally getting there!

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

Picked up two ewe-lambs today! They come from my neighbor (the same one that gave me my first ewe). They were at a good price and they are a decent-size for three months old. Their names are Sugartown and Rosepine (If you are from Louisiana, you are already laughing!) Sugartown and Rosepine are two places in Louisiana where everybody in watermelon season says they come from one or the other.. even if it was secretly grown in their back yard. I have watermelons sometimes and people stop by when I'm at local farmers' markets and ask "Is that a Sugartown watermelon?" I always say "Nope, but it's just as good". Those two towns with all of the watermelons just popped up in my head for names.

What makes these ewe-lambs stand out is that they were triplets, one didn't survive (not unusual in triplets) but the other two are doing great. I visit with the man regularly and have watched them grow from birth. Rosepine was slightly smaller but has catched up significantly. The ram to them is VERY well built with wide shoulders and a nice loin. I think these ewes are a great addition to my flock! I am pretty sure all I need now is to search for a registered ram to start recording generations!

(If you sold watermelons in Louisiana, I know you're still laughing right now )

Aside from all of this, I'm sorry I hadn't been posting ANY pictures, I have no camera or phone camera to take photos to post. Don't worry because I will soon start working on getting one to post all of my sheep when I get caught up with things.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

So, finally got straight with my ram aside. He wouldn't stay in. The younger ram and two weathers are in there now. When they are young, they learn to respect the boundaries of the electric fence. Now my other sheep were free to explore a two-acre pasture (surrounded by woven 8-foot-high fence, not electric) with grass cut only weeks before. The grass is about knee-high now and the ewes recently started having diarrhea, especially the first-generation ewes (not severe, just dirty butts and legs). I am pretty sure this is from the new grass diet. They went from short grass to tall grass that is seeding out. It doesn't seem to effect their health at all. I just wanted to ask if there were any experiences like this and what did you do about it, if anything. Thanks!

 

[Mini Horses]

Give some hay before daily turn out on fresh grass.

 

[Baymule]

You can set out baking soda for the switch over to green grass. In the spring, they can get grass tetany, look it up so you will be familiar with it. Free choice baking soda helps with that, but what they really need with grass tetany is dolomite lime. Dolomite lime has magnesium in it. You can get it in the garden department at most stores, just look for the dolomite, usually in small print. Dolomite is also good for growing lambs, pregnant ewes, and lactating ewes.

For the runny poop, watch closely for coccidia. You can dose with toltrazuril for the coccidia. It's for horses but can be used off label for sheep. Usually one dose is enough. Corrid can be put in their water or given straight in their mouth. I like the straight dose better, then I know they got it ad got enough of it. Corrid in the water is more of a preventative.

@Mini Horses advice is good advice. I probably dumped too much information., just tuck it away in your mind and retrieve it as needed. LOL

 

[Mini Horses]

I just didn't have time for more

Yes to what Bay took time to explain. With horses you hay, limit time on grass & out back in a stall.

I have goats, they & sheep are not as easy to control & usually greater numbers to corral. So, hay in a paddock is fast.

 

[Sheepfarmer22]

Hey, hard times with the sheep recently. I am in no situation to get any more sheep right now. I already took the risk of big income means big diseases. Heres an update:

I had gotten the small Barbados ewe from a local, to realize when I payed and returned home that there was a sale barn tag on it. I wasn't as happy afterwards since I stick with no sale barn sheep. In weeks over time she began getting rashes on her face as I may have before mentioned and never got the time to treat or remove. In the past couple of days in current time it had spread to Noel, my nice, 2nd best ewe that is pregnant. At first it was small and I thought it was more flesh wounds from mosquitoes, turns out yesterday morning it had noticably grown over night. We went to the livestock vet a couple of towns away and they gave us some shot for both of them. It is rain scald and it is contagious. We ("we" means me and my mom or a friend that helps out) gave them the shots yesterday. It hasn't gotten worse but it doesn't seem to be getting better. It's a one time shot and they said if it doesn't clear up in a week, come back and get more. I am just afraid in the meantime that it will spread to more.

My best ewe that is pregnant was limping on her front right hoof today. Since she has that Dorper in her, she's prone to the hoof rot. We treated with trimming and gave an injection of LA300. It was too late in the day to work on the hoof by soaking it and more treatment. If it doesn't get better in the next couple of days we will have to make room for it.

If you read my "Lethargic Lamb" post recently, you know she was laying down often and was lethargic. That's Cinnamon, the rescue lamb I had gotten when she wasn't gonna survive. Turns out she didn't grow at all and now I have to get rid of her. The lethargic part was probably from the oak poisoning. Today a bottle jaw formed. Bottle jaw = Barber Poll worms = seperation from herd = extra special maintnece = headache for you. Treated her with some dewormer and selenium. Doesn't look like she will survive. I removed her from the flock and coated her with extra insect repellent for animals to let her rest in peace. She might survive but odds are she won't with the way she's looking.

Petunia wasn't looking so hot either.

This past January, I had gotten a bottle baby that showed up three-days-old rejected by her mother. I nursed her back to health and she will probably be old enough to breed in Fall.

She was just lethargic, probably oak poisoning too. So we treated her with some of the abovelisted stuff you are probably tired of hearing of. When I recently checked on her, she was looking a lot better, so she will probably be released with the rest of the flock tomorrow. I think it's time to rehome her anyways. It's surprising that over the quick last eight months, she is one of few I have really been attatched to, but where I'm headed to with registered sheep and recording with KHSI, she needs to go, as well as the other small ones like Cinnamon and Mystery. They are just dragging me down now. There is a good friend I know that is turning 15 next week, he visits with me when we set up near eachother at the farmer's market. I think I will offer Petunia to him, he has experience with chickens and horses already, so if he wants her, it's his for free. Going to a good home too. As for the other ones I dont need anymore, if I can make them healthy enough, sell them at cheap prices for pets or, as my last resort, sale barn.

So yeah, real busy with everything that is spreading. Generally happening because of all of the sheep that are coming in. Now that I have my picked ewes that are impressive to breed and record offspring, it's time to remove the low ballers. No more buying from, as what I like to call, "Buy, Sell, Trade" station owners, no more bottle babies, no more rescue lambs, no more sale barn animals, no more foriegn sheep excessively coming in from unknown places (health-wise), I need to make my bumpy path smooth and straight and set sail for a healthy, registered Katahdin flock.