Theawesomefowl~ My Hair Sheep Journal ~ NEW LAMB PICS! YAY!

[theawesomefowl]

I am going to chronicle my sheep-raising for at least the first year. I currently have two ewe lambs: Sadie, a Dorper x Katahdin, and Amelia, a Katahdin x an unknown hair ram (?). These two came from Southwind Farms in Gilbertsville, NY, on May 11. We brought them home in Honey's (our Yellow Lab pup) dog crate! Our minivan still smells like sheep.
They both are twins, though unrelated, and have wonderful twinning ancestry.
I also have a goat--because I just like goats, and I needed something to help clear out brush and multiflora rose bushes.

My longterm sheep goals are to have 8-9 great producing hair sheep ewes. I plan on keeping stellar records and culling to accomplish this. (No, really, I mean it! LOL, I'm not know for my record keeping skills) We have almost four acres of grass, brush, with a small amount in pine trees, and I could pursue other pasturing opportunities also. (such as renting them out for lawn-mowing, or renting our neighbor's horse pastures)

I'm also planning on keeping this operation as grain-free as possible; mainly because grain is expensive, and also because grass-fed meat is better for you. I am using grain to train the girls to be friendly; the lady at the feed store talked me into buying it.

They have baking soda and a salt brick free-choice. Right now they are out on grass, plus a little hay in the morning and evening.

Many thanks to the inspirational Beekissed, who gave me the idea to get hair sheep in the first place! You are awesome!

And now, about my goat:

Billy the Goat (I know, original name, huh?) is a Nubian-cross wether. He is a great, friendly little guy; we really love him, especially my younger sis Molly, who loves to play with him.

Hey, every farm need a goat.

Anyway, thats enough for the first entry. I promise to update it at least once a month, more often when I can. Tune in next week for "Lice!", in which I will explain how to dust squirming sheep with insecticide. (Sounds like fun! ) Which I just found on the goat.

Blessings to all!

Awesomefowl

 

[Beekissed]

Awesome flock start, Awesome! Very bright and healthy youngin's....I can't wait to watch their progress on here.

Yay for sheeples!!!!

 

[rockdoveranch]

Love the beginning of your journal and the pictures, especially your precious little sister. She a adorable.

Our sheep are mainly pasture fed. In the evening when I put the ewes and lambs up, they get a tiny bit of pellets. We have only fed hay when absolutely necessary . . . drought conditions.

I am looking forward to more stories and pictures.

 

[Beekissed]

Hey, Awesome...bet I can guess which ewe is the Dorper cross and which is your mystery hair sheep, which I suspect is St. Croix!

Your Dorper gal is on the left in the first pic and your SC/Kat one is on the right.

You know what my sheep farmer guy told me about these hair sheep? He used to raise all woolly breeds and was used to supplementing their hay/grass with pellets in order to keep them in good condition.

When he switched to hair sheep he attempted to do the same feed regimen but found that his hair breeds didn't thrive well on supplemental grain rations and did much better in their general health and conditioning, lambing and parasite resistance when fed only grass and hay.

Oh, I wish I were still sheeping! I wish you the best of luck and can't wait to see how it all comes out!

 

[theawesomefowl]

Well, I noticed that on the sheep's poop, there was gelatinous-looking small white "worms/worm eggs." What the heck? They are healthy, and the membranes under their eyes is a nice cheerful pink, but what could this be?
It was just a bit startling. FYI they're on grass pasture with a little bit of a hay now. Thanks

 

[Margali]

Beautiful animals!

Don't have any yet but I've read goats need copper in their minerals which is poisonous to sheep. Do you have a mineral block out? Hopefully someone with experience can give advice for setting up minerals so sheep and goats don't get into the wrong ones.

 

[Beekissed]

Sounds like it's time to deworm, huh?

My local feed store sells a goat and sheep block combination.

For my money, I would give a loose mineral supplement like salt and sea kelp. This always kept my sheep very healthy. The kelp is a bit pricey but it lasts a very long time.

 

[theawesomefowl]

Well, I did an internet search and it seems like what I saw are most likely tapeworms. The good news is that tapeworms arn't a big problem unless there are many of them. http://www.sheepandgoat.com/PPT/dewormresist.pdf It says here not to deworm them unless they're unthrifty? The lambs are chubby, perky, paranoid, otherwise perfectly healthy for a sheep as far as I can tell.
Anyone else dealt with tapeworms? What did you do?

 

[rockdoveranch]

I started another thread about parasites because I have never seen any in our sheep's poop. I was wondering why since we have had sheep since 2004, and we only worm when they are showing signs of bottle jaw.

The posting eventually went to tapeworms saying that they were the only worms that would show up in poop. The drug to kill tapeworms is very specific. I would have to look it up to see what it is. Sorry.

It just seems odd to me that sheep would ingest mosquitoes, but apparently they do.

 

[theawesomefowl]

Well, sheep101 said Valbenzan (sp?) or Safe-Guard. I'm going to talk the vet tomorrow about dewormers for tapeworms.

Manure Management Part 1

Well, I really hate wooden floors. They stink!!! My 'official' 15' x 9' three sided sheep shed (with a dirt and rock floor!) isn't quite ready, so I have them in a smaller stall in the barn which has a plywood floor. Phew.

My (sort of) temporary solution was to sprinkle it liberally with baking soda to help deodorize the urine. And I also added some peat moss which can absorb 1000x its own weight in water. We shall see if it makes a difference.
They're only here for now, anyway, and they spend their days on the grass, so I'm not going crazy. If only it would stay dry!

Still, these guys are great compared to a cow or pig. Sheep manure has a mild odor, not bad at all, comparatively. And I like their baa which sounds so funny compared to the obnoxious goats'!