Saturday, March 26, 2011

More lambs

We had two new lambs yesterday, and I think we are done now, assuming the yearling ewes were not bred.  My ram management was not at it's best last year, so we'll see.   They don't look pregnant anyway. 


Anka, the ewe Dane had to pull a lamb from two days ago is looking much better today.   She's eating with gusto and not standing oddly hunched anymore, so I'm feeling optimistic about her.  

I have all the lambs eartagged now, one little guy castrated, and all but the most recent have had their tails banded.  I tend to wait a couple days on that because sometimes the first stools are runny and I don't want the banding to be messy.  Hopefully you are not all grossed out now, but it's about to get worse.  Stop reading and come back later if you are eating and reading.    People ask why dock tails at all, and it's for cleanliness and their health.  In a pure hair sheep flock the tails are slick and don't collect glop.   In my part wool sheep, or in full wool sheep, any time the lambs get the runs the tail collects it, then you get flies and flystrike, which is pretty unpleasant to even think about, much less have to deal with.   So it is better for the sheep to have short tails.

We only had one ram lamb this year, and six ewe lambs, the opposite of last year when it was practically all boys. 
 
Here are the newest lambs:


4 comments:

  1. I banded on the first day(hair sheep)but I haven't put eartags in yet. Maybe I will do that tomorrow. I am cutting the rams this year, since my record on banding is spotty even though I am ever so careful -must be the band ;-)

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  2. We always band the rams- that is the worst part to me and the only part I can't do by myself. The eartags/tails don't seem to bother them. Do you worm the ewes the first day too? I try to do that usually, but this time didn't get to it until a couple days later. I just finished worming all of them today.

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  3. Love the black and white lamb. Diane and I are so careful banding the ram-lambs but looking forward to cutting this year then we will know that it's a done deal.

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  4. I'll have to get a picture of my black and white wether, the full grown version. He's really a nice looking animal.

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