This is the season where new shepherds & shepherdesses buying from me, as well as from others, fill my phone with excellent questions. In an effort to be more efficient (this reads as: be on my phone less) I am using the blog so I can send a link rather then answer the questions many different times every season. I’m as chatty as usual so hopefully it comes across as helpful & not unavailable!
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with more questions, but these all came from a new shepherdess, this season, who is preparing for four ewe lambs & a bred yearling.
(Everyone of the pictures used was just taken after a tremendous rain storm that lasted hours. The most eye opening time to evaluate your lamb crop is after a rainstorm! They all look ginormous & fluffy dry, but wet you can see their confirmation better. All of the lambs featured, other then the rams, are headed to new flocks & range from 88-120 days old ♥️).
Wet & a bit miserable.
At my suggestion, the new shepherdess is waiting a year to add a ram. The bred yearling let’s her experience a single lambing & have the time to prepare for & process it. The four ewe lambs are in my absolute favorite ‘make friends’ time period (6-14 months). They won’t be pressured or distracted by a ram’s presence (neither will the shepherdess) & instead everyone can focus on trust building. In the case of milking, the shepherdess will need to work on halter training as well as exposing them to a milking stand.
Her goal is to milk them, so I feel the extra season she spends befriending them will pay off for years. I love seeing families start with ewes & add a ram & wether the next season. It takes longer, but these are some of the happiest & most successful small flocks.
Her questions are below:
*What do you suggest we have on hand(medical care wise?)
I like to have:
A. Betadine (a gentle iodine)
B. Vet wrap (equine section at feed store)
C. BoSe or Selenium/Vitamin E gel (BoSe is prescription & an injection. I like that I know exactly how much they are getting with BoSe, but the gel will work too & it’s at the feed store).
D. Vitamin B Complex (an injection & at feed store)
E. 18-22 gauge needles 3/4”-1”.
F. Syringes in the 3ml to 12 ml range
G. A 5-1 bolus containing cobalt, zinc, iodine, copper, selenium.
H. Copper Oxide Wire Bolus (preferably in 4g & 2g for adults & lambs)
I. Keep clean old rags & paper towel
J. Pair of scissors
K. Molasses
L. Baking Soda
M. I discuss antibiotics in the next question
N. Vetricyn is an antimicrobial spray (usually at feed stores)
Most of the above is what I’d call support. Both injections are mineral & vitamin based as are the boluses. When it comes to medical supplies often they’re directly related to the ailment your battling so buying them far in advance, especially if they can’t sit on the shelf, won’t be helpful.
As for better understanding ailments that arise there are three authors who have written some helpful books. I like Laura Lawson, Pat Coleby, & Carol Ekarius. Because Icelandic sheep differ from many commercial domestic breeds I suggest joining one of the two Facebook pages that highlight them. Icelandic Breeders of North America or Icelandic Sheep Owners. You can search a topic at the top & read old threads. Keep in mind some comments are written by shepherds who know what they’re doing & others not so much, but it can be a good thought provoking process & you can do further research.
When going into summer I strongly recommend reading up on parasites. Warm & humid summers can make these a problem that’s better to stay ahead of. Most chemical dewormers have a long shelf life & the ones you really need to combat barberpole aren’t usually on the shelf when you need them. You will need either Cydectin or Prohibit to fight barberpole. You can read about both & order those from Premier 1 as well. You don’t need both- just one or the other. There is a blog post on ‘parasite support & intervention’. I refer to chemical dewormer as intervention & it may be something you want to have. I also discuss the exposure of lambs to mother’s dewormer in the blog post on whether to deworm ewes.
*Also, where do you source your vaccine (which one do you administer again), and do you have a farm vet, that you could recommend?
The only vaccine I give is CDT. I have a blog post that goes over the reasons why. You can find this in the small refrigerated section of any feed store. There will be many choices with more ingredients/vaccines added. I use the plain CDT. It’s usually $15 for a bottle with 25 doses. There are multiple brands & they will all work.
I do recommend finding a farm vet even if you plan on doctoring most of them yourself. The laws recently changed & you can no longer access antibiotics. If this ever changes, the only over counter antibiotic I liked was Biomycin which is essentially LA 200 but without the sting. You’re sheep will appreciate it. Once you go to a vet for an antibiotic they will have many choices & guide you towards which one best combats your ailment. For instance they may prescribe Draxxin or Exceede for a respiratory problem. Due to them being for cattle, the use is off-label & requires a vet (it also means they’ll be more expensive because cattle medicine always is) but they are also highly effective & often save time & money down the way.
We can discuss the use of antibiotics further, but having access to a vet who can assist is nice for emergencies. Most vets are now required to visit your farm once a year in order to legally prescribe you anything. This involves vitamin/mineral support such as BoSe or thiamine.
*Do you have someone who shears them, or do you? Also, do you trim their hooves as well?
I have someone who shears them. I like to shear twice a year in order to make use of our fall shearing. The shearer I use trims hooves at the same time if I ask beforehand (usually a couple more dollars each to add that). This means October & May. I use to need to trim quarterly so that was end of January & some of them in July/August. I’ve put down gravel at my waterers & that has helped during the summer with some of them so that they go from May-October. You’ll find all their feet grow at their own rate so you’ll have some with hard black hooves that grow slower then than the white hooves. This has been my experience. You’ll want to get a pair of hoof clippers. Premier 1 is a good site for those. I usually by in the $15-20 range & they hold up for a few years with a big flock.
*What do you feed in hay each winter? I want to start preparing/securing our supply.
You should budget 4-5 lbs of hay per sheep. For reference, a small bale of hay should weigh 40-50 lbs. I’d err on the lower side & plan for one bale to feed 8-9 sheep. This means with your ewes you should plan to feed a little over a half a bale a day. If you plan to feed big bales then I’d suggest weighing your portions when you first start, so you’ll be able to eyeball what you need. You’ll want to build or buy some type of hay feeder so you don’t be feeding them on the ground. Because they’re so susceptible to parasites sheep are very picky about eating even lightly soiled hay. It’s better for then & creates less waste to feed them off the ground.
I always recommend getting a little extra. It’s always easier to get good hay in the fall then it is in the spring if you run short!
*Also, if you don't mind, could you remind me, which minerals you get and where you source them?
I’ve tried a lot of different minerals through the years. Some generic & some more specific for Icelandics. Crystal Creek & Back in Balance are two very nice blends that I’d label ‘fancy’ as well as effective. They’re more expensive & depending on shipping it can add up. I like them, but don’t always want to pay that much for a flock of 75. There are generic goat & sheep minerals at the feed store. The difference is primarily that one contains copper & one doesn’t. Most commercial sheep breeds are not given copper. I give my sheep copper. The safest way to go about this is to get your soil & water tested to learn what your deficient in. You can also wait until you process a sheep & send the liver to a veterinary university for testing (I like Michigan State). Both of these methods can guide your decisions regarding minerals.
If you’re not ready to do that then you can chose one of the two routes above. Let’s call them fancy & generic, or chose a middle of the road option with room to customize. That’s where I’m at. Keep in mind a KEY part of my mineral program is my 5-1 bolus twice a year. It’s what I’d refer to as my insurance policy. It’s a slow release of minerals. I also offer free choice: Redmond 90 with Selenium & Redmond 10 with garlic. If any ailments arise that appear like they may be mineral based or you run your livers & you come up deficient, you can ‘doctor’ your minerals using cost effective packets from Premier 1 ie they sell small packets of most minerals & vitamins that you can add to your free choice mineral offering.
Many of the fancier mineral blends do this for you & I recommend looking at the two above to see what exactly is being added to their mix. I recommend doing this whenever you offer anything to your flock. Keep in mind, this is what has worked for my flock, in my environment. Each farm will differ so be prepared to monitor & adjust accordingly. The most important part is keeping them available & dry. In a humid climate I suggest putting out small amounts & switching it out as it gets moist or clumped in the summer. I also like to have raw garlic cloves available free choice. If they aren’t eating them then you can remove for a few weeks or a month then offer again for a couple days at a time.
Minerals play a big role in overall health & immunity which directly impacts everything from parasite resistance to easy lambings. It takes a little time to dial in on what you need, but it’s WELL WORTH the effort.
*I am debating on if we should get the sheep style electric netting vs the poultry style. Both are 48" tall, and can put out the same amount of joules. I'm leaning towards the poultry netting for two reasons. One being that it can be utilized for others species, and the other being that, because the poultry net has a tighter weave, the likelihood of a sheep getting caught in the netting seems lower.
I don’t use the poultry netting, but I checked with someone who has a large flock & she likes it. She says it’s heavy, but she feels safer with the smaller holes. She says it’s the PermaNet fencing with poultry spacing.
I started with the ElectroFence® 11/48/12 Electric Netting & still use it especially in more remote locations where predators are more of an issue. I also use ElectroNet® Plus 9/35/12 which is lighter & I’ve never had a sheep jump (knock on wood!). I don’t feel it’s as much of a predator deterrent but I like the light size.
My personal experience with electronetting is that:
A. If you keep the fence hot they don’t get tangled in it. It helps to keep sheep who are used to it, but I trained mine without any casualties. The only times I had lambs get caught is when the charger wasn’t working well enough. You want to keep it hot.
B. The only other time I’ve heard stories about sheep getting caught (in this case an adult) is when they were too slow moving it. You don’t want to create a scenario where all the feed is eaten, soiled, or trampled down & there is long green vegetation on the other side. The sheep can only resist temptation, or worse, hunger for so long. They can’t be ridiculously tempted.
C. This is always tough, but if you have a sheep that refuses to respect it you’re better off rehoming to a farm with solid fence or culling. The vast majority of sheep don’t test it if you set it up firmly, avoid sagging & gaps at bottom.
*Have you experienced any sheep getting caught in your netting? Especially since they have horns?
I’ve had lambs get tangled on non-hot fences & it can get bad quickly without any charge. They are amazingly good at wrapping it around their necks very tightly. I’ve been fortunate to never have an adult get caught. In the case of the lambs, it was our fault, not the fencing.
Starting a flock has a different learning curve for everyone, but shepherding is an old world skill that was passed down within families & from mentors for centuries. Although we often don’t live in close proximity anymore, technology helps to bridge the gap & keep that tradition alive. Don’t hesitate to email a question if you get stuck. I may not always be able to answer it, but I usually know someone who can. This is an exciting journey. I hope you enjoy it!
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