Obsessed with Poop

That's right.

You read that right!

Parasites such as worms are really one of my biggest nightmares in sheep. Our cattle have not been wormed for a decade and have not had any worms to speak of since then. We've also had a closed herd for quite some time. Our cows also go to pastures away from our farmyard which helps to break the egg cycle. They also calve in a 'clean' pasture every spring and then that pasture sits empty the rest of the year.

Sheep are little more tricky. Shetlands are amazing stoic with worms. Most are quite resistant. BFLs being an improved breed, tend to be less resistant to worms and I have to work with them a bit harder.

I became so obsessed with fecal tests the past few years that I finally purhased a microscope and all the necessary mediums, supplies, slides, etc to 'do it myself' (and save a butt load of money not having to take them to the vet every week). I am now able to test EACH sheep and I'm VERY happy to report ZERO worms that I've detected in my samples. To make sure I'm on top of my game, I take every 15th or 20th sample and give half to the vet and half to myself to see if I'm just missing something. I'm happy to say I am NOT missing anything, because they aren't there!

Granted some things can NOT be seen under the microscope like tapes...but I check their stools for 'sections' of tapes....and haven't found any of those either. And yes, I am squatting in the pasture, seaching the poop pellets and holding some up to the sun and breaking them in half. LOL. I guess you can say I'm a big obsessed.

Flock/Herd health is paramount here. Besides fecal tests I also rotate the sheep through paddocks for grazing. Every 6-9 days I rotate the girls through their paddocks to a new paddock that hasn't been grazed in at least 4 weeks.

Besides fecal tests and rotational grazing...I also blood test for several contagious diseases. OPP, Johne's, CL and BTV in that order of importance. It has been a HUGE expense the past several years as I have brought in new stock and there is a need to have TWO negative tests at least 6 months apart to be considered Flock Negative. After that 20% of your flock should be selected at random to continue to make sure you are negative, and that no false positives occur.

Its an added expense that I whole heartedly believe in. I put more weight into that then I do the Scrapie Program. No offense to anyone involved in the Voluntary Program and are certified. I don't believe there is enough evidence for me to jump on that bandwagon. I joined it merely to be able to AI my sheep. Since that is not a requirement any longer, I am no longer involved in the Voluntary Program.

Water testing (for toxins), feed testing (for toxins, protein, minerals etc) and ventilation are also key to a healthy, happy herd/flock.

You cannot have a successful, productive flock/herd if you do not have their health at the forefront of your best interest.

Now saying this I still seem to find things that happen to my flock, but I am able to at least scratch parasites and contagious diseases off of the 'what caused it' list.

Tune in next time.......

And then this happens.....

I broke my foot!

I know.

I can't believe it either.

I now finally have enough subsiding of the pain for awhile to reach the computer to let you all know.

Its pitiful and it could not have happened at a worse time.

three agility classes, agility training on my new equipment, dog show this weekend, sheep show next weekend, training sheep to be halter trained. I have three different people coming for sheep that they bought from me in the next six days. I still have to clean barn, clean house, tag sheep, health papers, wormers etc. Oh and I have a job....Labor Day weekend i have all sorts of yards to mow, trim and blow off driveways....I can't walk, and I sure as heck shouldn't be driving.

Four weeks of elevated foot, little work and lots of ice. WTH am I supposed to do? this is going to KILL me. cast, cruthces, no stressing the foot. I told her I farmed and did landscaping/lawn service. she giggled and then said...oh well....just remember I warned you.

ugh...

If i didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any at all!

weighing lambs and ramblings

I thought prior to my trip to MFF that my lambs were quite large. Yes there were a few exceptions, but for the most part I felt my lambs were of good size for their age. No grain. No supplements aside from kelp, mineral, etc. Just pasture.

I weighed all my sheep (ewes, rams, lambs) on 6-11 when i wormed everyone. Today, I wormed with Valbazen as I had seen tapes in a few sheep recently (not at my farm or my sheep) and was petrified that I might have some. Better safe than sorry. I hadn't used Valbazen in nearly a year, since the last time I wanted to worm for tapes. Its the only brand I am aware of that kills the tapes.

Anyway I decided since I was alone that I would not weigh the adult ewes but just the lambs. All of them.

My largest lamb was actually my F1 Jamie polled ram Levi. He was a whopping 70 pounds already! Holy crap! My other AI rams were all 45-60 pounds, with all of them at least doubling their size from 9 weeks ago! I was quite impressed. I checked all lambs again for proper bites, conformation, fleece and on the boys to make sure there were two testes of equal size that were in the scrotum, not up in the body cavity.

There are two rams that are going to have fatal horns. one happens to be an F1 Timothy, my Ag ram. They are massive horns but I don't think they are going to clear the head, or they will be very close. The other has horns growing straight back into his neck. Pity.

The rest of the lambs look REALLY nice. My youngest lamb, out of Jazz and Sterling (Sedalia's full sister) weighs more than most of the lambs several weeks older than her. She is already 42 pounds (her mother is only 65 pounds as a two year old). Her fleece is just stunning and I'm really excited about her (as well as most of my other lambs)

I'm getting much pickier with my F1s in the fleece department and I'm waiting for some of them to change over in their fleeces. I'll probably hold over several in case their fleece does change over the winter.

I've also decided (at least today) that I will NOT be breeding any ewe lambs. Stephen still has larger lambs than me and I said I won't breed anything under 50 pounds. Last year according to my papers I had ewe lambs weighing between 40 and 60 pounds November 15, when I put groups together. I am already at those weights and that is three months away. I'm not trying to raise huge animals, just excited they are going to mostly all be over 50 pounds by then.

I'm also going to be lambing earlier in the spring to avoid the Cardigan National and hope to have older lambs to show and be competitive with next year at MFF and Jefferson.

I'm also not breeding ewe lambs (at least today) due to the fact that although sales are going well this year, for the most part people are still waiting for the economy to change. I figure I've done my part in stimulating it by buying sheep by the dozens last year, and just a few this year. Most people I talk to are waiting to sell lambs before buying lambs. '

I have a total mature ewe flock of 37 ewes including sale ewes and ewes that have found new homes but are still waiting to be delivered. I plan on using any sale animals on the BFL if they don't sell , 15 ewes to AI, and probably another 10 to ground breedings. That would give me 25 ewes for purebred, 10 for mules and then 10 or so BFLs to breed (not breeding lambs in those either). I had 32 ewes lamb this year in 2008. So not too terribly many more :)

I am bringing a few sale sheep to Jefferson. I hope to sell a few there to pay for my entries for Jefferson, but time will tell :) If you think I might have something you'd like, do let me know :)

Good News

I received my OFA certificates finally for Ell and Zoe's Normal Patellas and Cardiac. those who wish to see them, just let me know :)

Also of note I did CERF Zoe, Ell and Sadie. This was Zoe and Sadie's second time getting CERF'ed and all three passed with beautiful eyes (so the doc said).

I have to get them sent in to CERF and OFA as well.

so much to say about my last 10 days but I have to head back out to work! Just came home to check for more lambs!

WLC update and great links

I've managed to shed 28 pounds since our WLC endeavor. I was feeling pretty good about it and then found these links:

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/tl/misc/foodpyramid.jsp

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/tl/cl/bmi/bmi.jsp

http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/tl/cl/healthyweight/healthyweight.jsp?h=0&frm=0

They basically told me my ideal was was 145-194. Can you imagine seeing me at 145? That is about half of what I weighed before this WLC! That's ridiculous. At this height the lowest I weighed was 172 pounds and I ran about 8 miles a day and had Binge Eating Disorder and was a binge drinker as well. So basically always drinking and never eating. Silly college years. People said I looked sick at that weight and after college worked landscaping so built more muscle in my upper body (I was a weakling). Now with more muscle I don't ever see myself at 172 pounds again unless I'm sick and dying. I would think 194 is not a crazy goal, considering I haven't been running and just did diet and lifestyle changes.

Another great link is this:

http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

My information was this:

Body Mass Index:	27.8 kg/m2
Waist-to-Height ratio:	0.46
Percent Body Fat:	13.8%
Lean Body Mass:	186.1 lb

Your BMI is greater than normal, but your waist-to-height ratio is normal.
You may be overweight or have unusual mass distribution.
Your diet should contain at least 96 grams of protein per day.

Interesting stuff. I guess I better go out and find me a new pair of running shoes!