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    Tag: Sheep

    0
    July 27, 2011 Posted by niffer in Sheep

    Consequence of an open gate: Part 3

    Yesterday I spend most of my time on tenterhooks. I thought I would wait 24hours to see if Izzy and Thomas improved. Knowing how I feel when my stomach is rebelling against the rest of my body, I thought it would be good to just watch and wait.

    Several times I went into the paddock and walked Thomas and Izzy around the pen. Really this was just slowly walking behind them to get their  systems active and to get them to poop. It is really amazing how much of animal management is based upon animal poop. I am consistently watching poop consistency, colour, smell, frequency, and viscosity. Yes it seems kind of gross, but when they can't talk you have to look for other ways of figuring out how they are feeling.

    So I watched to see how the bowels of both Izzy and Thomas were reacting to their overeating experience. Thomas took longer to show signs of recovery than Izzy.

    Izzy went from diarrhea, to producing healthy looking cow poop, to what could have been mistaken for soft-serve ice-cream that had a definite sound when they hit the ground.

    Thomas only started to improve later on in the day. I was very happy when he finally started firming up and his back end no longer behaved like a hose squirting thick, muddy water. I was very close to calling Dr. Rob back to entubate Thomas again.

    By the end of the day, both were a bit more interested in eating. They mouthed and nibbled on a bit of hay. This was encouraging.

    Today I will be watching again. If they don't eat then Dr. Rob will be coming back, but I am really hoping they will eat.

    The lambs and Itchy are so sick of being in the pen. They will get to go out to the paddock for a little bit this afternoon.

    Wish us luck!

    Tags: acidosis, poop, Sheep, vet
    0
    September 22, 2010 Posted by jennifer in Sheep

    Introducing Thomas, the ram

    This year in many ways has been pivotal. We have added to our chicken flock, had our own homegrown chicks, and brought some animals to slaughter, with more to go soon (damned roosters)! A full life cycle has taken place here. We really didn't know how we would react to all of this birthing and dying. At times it has been traumatic (Mr. Tufts) but also fulfilling (our first lamb roast). All in all we feel that we want to continue raising animals for more than pets.

    Of course this means that we had to think about how we were going to have more lambs and chicks. Well, we kind of have the chick thing covered, but the having more lambs is a more complicated thing. It seems that loaner rams are not common here, and likely they are not as common in England as they once were either. this is due to transmitting diseases between farms, not something that anyone really wants to do. So, we took the plunge an got a ram.

    Because our ewes are of small stature we had to make sure we did get a small breed. Of course a Shetland ram is the logical choice, so that is what we looked for. Of course we had determined what kind of animal we needed: white, male, good fleece. Luckily we managed to find the perfect ram at the right (a.k.a. as low as possible)price down near Sarnia. Tammy has been breeding Shetland's for a number of years and wanted to reduce her flock. She had a ram available that suited our needs perfectly. So we looked at Thomas and decided he was the one for our girls. Unfortunately his original home had cut his horns before they had fully turned outward so he has a few maintenance issues that we need to address. But other than that he is very good and gentle with the girls.

    We had Tammy deliver Thomas here as we didn't think our hatchback was a good way to bring him home. S far everything is going great and he has settled in beautifully. We have noticed that the girls are no longer afraid to go to the end of the pasture the way they were when there was just the two of them. Now we just hope he is going to do his ramly duties!

    Posted via email from All SortsAcre

    Tags: breeding, ram, Sheep, shetland
    0
    January 10, 2010 Posted by niffer in Sheep

    Vaccination day part 2

    We have just finished trimming hooves and giving booster vaccinations to the woolies. Often this is stressful as one of our sheep, scratchy is quite crazy. She has almost killed Izzy as a newborn, she has knocked me down at least twice, and has tried to get through very tiny spaces. She lives her life terrified by people. This upsets us as she never seems to be content and always in flight mode. After speaking with a couple of people who are long time shepherds and the famous Temple Grandin we had come to the conclusion to have her put down. We didn't even want to send her to the butcher on her own as we would end up with sub-standard meat, and she may have gone through the windshield on her way there. So Kate, our wonderful vet would have come over and put her out of her fear. So today we decided to vaccinate and trim her hooves anyway. JUST in case anything had changed. Well I am happy to report that Scratchy was surprisingly good to catch and to deal with. She was still terrified, but not enough to go through a wall or window, which she has tried in the past. This means Scratchy has bought herself another month of being here. Maybe she will improve yet!
    Tags: clostridium, Sheep, vaccinations
    Pages:12