SheepGirl's 2013 Lambing Thread - Update - July 2013

[SheepGirl]

It could be something else, but it looks suspiciously like sore mouth to me. Honestly, for the most part, sore mouth isn't a big issue. Keep an eye on your ewes though. They can get the sores on their udders and then they might not let the babies nurse. From what I've read, Hank could be a carrier....kind of like Typhoid Mary.

Lol, I know. It's not fatal, it doesn't bother the lambs...it's like chicken pox for humans. But it's one disease I have to deal with now, and it happens to my favorite age group! >1 month old lambs If it happened to like 7-8 month old lambs I couldn't care less because they're big and not as cute anymore. But now I can't love on my little babies because I don't want to get it haha. I emailed Hank's breeder/the vet to ask him about it. Right now, he's looking like the source of the problem. Figures...the first ram I buy for myself and he brings in a disease that now will be here forever And this place had been barren and clean (no livestock on it) for the past 10+ years! ugghhhhh

Oh gosh, I hope it isn't sore mouth either. My Tunis bottle lamb has something suspicious on her mouth too, but not as bad as yours. And I HAVE been kissing my lambs. I hope I don't get whatever it is. So whatever it is, can it be treated with something?

The pics of the lambs are just TOO adorable SheepGirl. They look like the perfect little Easter lambs! :bun Rosie is such a chunkster.

Actually, the picture I posted is of the ram lamb, he's had it the longest and his is the worst. His littermate only has one little spot. And Rosie has a bunch of spots on the one side of her nose. Bella has only had this one spot for a couple days and it doesn't seem to be spreading on her. But I know what you mean! I kissed my lambs the day before I first found a spot on the ram. So I think I would've gotten it now, too. If it's soremouth, it's not treatable, you just let it run its course. If it's fungal, I guess you could put a fungicide on it? Maybe something labeled to treat ringworm?

And thank you I've been stalking your journal and oohing and aahing at all your cute little Tunis and Jacob babies!!

Cute pics!! You know what's missing? Natural colored sheep in your flock!

Thanks! And I know, right? I would sooo come and buy your two ewes but unfortunately our truck is out of commission. The tire is making a grinding noise and there's also a pounding going on underneath. :/ So my mom told me not to drive it until her brother (a mechanic) can come up and check it out lol.

I am pretty positive it is sore mouth!!! I am sorry your sheep had to get that nasty thing! Mine have just picked it up as well, about a year ago! The initial infection is the worse and most of the time the sheep will be clean after that, with small break outs on one or two every once in a while!
I quarentine super well too, but some sheep are carriers and never have symptoms in their entire lives, but pass it on to all the others! Which was my new ram I bought last year! If you have deer on your place, they are horrible at spreading sore mouth!!!
Just be sure to wear golves if you have to handle any of the sores or drench one that has sores!!
Good luck!!!
It isn't as bad as it first feels when you find out your babies actually have the nasty thing!!!

We have deer, but I've never seen them in the pasture, only along the fence line. And the ewes & lambs are penned up close to our house, and I don't think deer would get that close.

I know it sounds bad but I don't even want to touch the babies WITH gloves because I'm so paranoid about it lol. I've heard it is veryyyy painful and lasts for weeks and if I developed orf I wouldn't be able to work until it was gone lol.

There's only one thing to do Sheepgirl. CULL them. Just kidding.

ha I wish it was that easy. Now the sheep area is all infected if it is soremouth Guess that means bleaching my sheep and moving them onto a new/larger tract of land!

 

[SheepGirl]

Oh! And I found someone an hour away who sells 3x4x7 large square bales of alfalfa for $175/ton. And the bales weigh 1120 lbs. Which equates to only 1/500 of one cent more expensive than the grass hay I feed. Only problem is I don't have any way to move the bales. But if they are really just like small square bales, and they have flakes that you can just peel off & feed, it will make my life soo much easier, than standing around for 10 minutes picking hay from a round bale to weigh it out

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I know what you mean about the pickin hay off the round bales!!!! :/ I love square bales, soooo much easier!!!! Makes the chores a breeze!

 

[SheepGirl]

Today Rosie turns 30 days old, so I weighed her. 32.6 lbs! That is a 0.713 lb ADG! 'course she's a single, so that helps her out... but still

 

[SheepGirl]

I have about a week's worth of hay left (if that) so I hope the grass starts growing soon ... Once I'm out of hay they are going out into the field. The grass is no longer shorter than the grass in our yard, so I'm hoping with the snow and rain the past week plus the warmth we are expecting this week, the grass starts growing fast! Also I think putting them on grass now while it is still relatively short & dry (yet somewhat green) will be better for their systems than turning them out onto lush green pasture.

Oh and this morning I went out to feed and the lambs were running around the deck! I have no idea how they got out, I guess they escaped under the fence in the ewe pen (there is a hole that the two triplets go under all the time) and then ran around to the other side and hopped through the gate. Oh well lol. They were easy to catch. They ran right up to me

 

[SheepGirl]

Well grass hasn't started growing and I ran out of hay :/ Ended up giving my ewes a flake of alfalfa and two flakes of straw that they cleaned up. But I got hay tonight.

And the sheep will be sheared April 21st

 

[SheepGirl]

The two triplets turn 30 days old tomorrow (well I guess it's today ), so I will be weighing them and giving them their first CD/T shot. I noticed the ewe lamb grinding her teeth so I took her temp. 103.9--a little high so I have her on Pen G (she's getting 1/4 cc 2x/day). I'll probably keep her on it one full day after her temp returns to normal. However those two lambs are getting really tall. I can't wait to see how much they weigh now. The ram lamb is getting really stocky and heavy. Before when I would pick him up it would be like picking up a stuffed animal. Now it's like picking up a cinder block lol.

 

[SheepGirl]

The two triplets are not as heavy as Rosie! Bella weighed in at 16.6 lbs at 30 days old and Edward weighed in at 19.8 lbs at 30 days old. While these weights aren't impressive now, their ADG seems to be improving every 10 days when I weigh them. So that's good. Still haven't set up the creep feeder yet So these weights are just from drinking mom's milk. And also grazing a little bit of grass (the two triplets sneak out and start grazing).

Edward (pics taken 4/1)

Edward & Bella...I don't like how long their tails turned out. I wish they were a hair shorter.

As for the whole soremouth thing.... well Bella never got more than one spot on her, and it was barely even noticeable unless you held her face and really looked at it. Edward & Rosie were the worst, but it was nothing too bad. Rosie still has a couple spots on her nose, but it looks like Edward has cleared up. Again, I'm not sure if it is soremouth. I emailed Hank's breeder, and he said that he hasn't had a case of soremouth on his farm in "many, many years" and that Hank was raised away from the rest of the flock and he lived with a ewe lamb on another farm after being weaned and then he moved back in with the breeder for two months before I bought him. Hank himself never had it. But Dr. L (the breeder) said that almost all sheep have the soremouth virus, it's just a matter of time when it becomes 'active' -- but he also said what my lambs had (I sent him a couple photos) was probably bacterial (he said there's a couple bacterial diseases that affect the mouth) or an injury from their hay feeder or the hay itself (there were some thorns in it). So I don't know lol.

I guess I'll found out in a month when Katy Perry has her baby, if her lamb develops anything. Speaking of which, I was comparing KP's udder to Lady Gaga's and her's is showing some signs of development!

Oh and my manager came over with her hubby, three kids, her brother, and her niece to play with the lambs on Sunday They all had a ball. Except the sheep! They were a little bit freaked out to have a bunch of kids in their home. Normally when they see kids it's when they are at the fair or carnival lol. And then yesterday, my brother got a ride home from work with one of his coworkers and he was showing off the sheep and the lambs to her and her son lol. Next Sunday we are having a "play date" with my mom's co-worker's dog (we are going to be babysitting him for a week and my mom's co-worker wanted to see if he would get along with everyone before she just dropped him off with us) and she's bringing her two daughters so we get to be a little petting farm again hahaha.

 

[SheepGirl]

Sheep were moved out to pasture on April 15. Hank got a new pen set up for him right next to the feed shack. Even has a real gate, too! His pen is roughly 8'x28'. He looks so adorable in his pen. When I'm outside, he loves standing on the gate and he lets me pet his chin & his brisket. Back when I was in NYC, I bought a sign at the Empire State Building that says 'Stud Way' so I plan on putting that on the gate to his pen hahaha. My dad and I built his pen. We used T-posts and then we (well my dad) dug a hole where we put a wood post to use for the gate. And then we used left over woven wire fencing and we actually tightened it (unlike the pens we previously built) so it was nice and taut. I wasn't really ready to let my ewes out (grass really isn't tall enough for my liking), but my ewes were itching to get out, trying to push through their fence and they kept getting their heads stuck in the woven wire. So they're out. The lambs like the wood pile, it's a nice toy for them haha. I started raking up all the hay/straw all over their pen so I could move it to the wood pile so it can kind of compost, but there's just so much so I'm saving it for my next day off.

Can't wait for this weekend--Saturday afternoon my sheep will all be penned up (probably in my garage) and then Sunday my shearer will be coming out to shear off all that wool! I think I'm going to keep it and either attempt to process it myself or send it out. I'm also excited to see pretty bright white sheep against bright green grass Always such a pretty sight. And then their wool gets dingy looking after a week or two lol and then they just look like a regular sheep haha.

And Katy Perry has an adorable little udder about the size of 1.5 clementines lol. She's due May 18 But she will probably go early. May 18 is day 147, and my other two ewes lambed at day 145 this year, so she could go on May 16. Can't wait for another baby! Too bad Lady Gaga never came into heat. Hopefully I will have lambs from her next year.

 

[BrownSheep]

Do you plan on banding Edward or selling him as a ram?