Sex-links

I’ve incubated a couple of batches of chicks. I’m taking advantage of a peculiar genetic phenomenon called sex-link, where when a red- or buff- colored rooster is bred to barred-colored hens, the offspring are different-colored by sex. In this case, I have a Rhode Island Red rooster and Barred Rock hens. The chicks hatch black, […]

Tandem Collies

My younger border collie, Maggie, is still struggling with pain issues after days when she has a lot of exercise. Adequan and Duralactin are helping, but not solving the problem. I tried giving her buffered aspirin on working days, that also helped, but still not entirely. The vet has given me some NSAIDs to use […]

Cornell on Low Input Systems

I ran across this recent publication Low Input Lambing and Kidding, by Cornell University and found it to be really refreshing reading. It had my keen interest from the introductory paragraph describing one impetus for the study: During a recent sabbatical in New Zealand, Dr. Michael Thonney, who is director of the Cornell Sheep Program, […]

Culling Decisions

I wanted to write a bit about culling decisions, it’s been on my mind due to a lot of discussions on sheep discussion groups I read. For this discussion, I won’t differentiate between sending an animal to slaughter versus selling it to someone else. The former is typically done when it wouldn’t be ethical to […]

In the Numbers

Here are my lamb counts for the year. I had forty ewes overwintered here. One was a late summer-born ewe, so I suspected she may not breed, and she didn’t. That’s ok. Of the remaining 39, six are not pregnant, as confirmed by recent blood tests. Five of those are ewelambs. The sixth is my […]

Frothy Bloat in Grazing Lambs

I’ve had several cases of frothy bloat crop up this year. The interesting thing is that it’s appearing in regular ol’ lambs nursing on their mothers, at the age of 3-4 weeks, when they are just starting to transition to real ruminating. I’m used to seeing it in bottle lambs trained to drink of the […]

Ordinary, Yet Noteworthy Number Seven

I like to write a lot about strange cases, anomalies, and sick animals. Though they are the biggest headache, I also find them the most intriguing. Today I will write about one of the rest: all of the perfectly normal, perfectly boring sheep which are noteworthy for capturing none of my attention at all. This […]

Sick Bay

I have a poor ewe that’s really has some bad luck this year. I mentioned already that she had triplets, and one of the lambs just couldn’t figure out how to nurse (though he found the bottle perfectly understandable). He’s thriving as a friendly bottle lamb, the ambassador of the season. The day after she […]

Wave II

Just as the craziness settled down from the first wave of lambing, there was a second wave of inconveniences. The first set of ewes in the barn for various monitoring reasons was able to go back outside. Then a new set needed to come in. One is a three  year old with triplets that has […]

This and That

Lambing is quieting down, though there are still fifteen ewes which have yet to deliver. A few of the yearlings may not be pregnant. This is not desirable, but is to be expected. I had noted that the rams were pursuing a couple of them in December, so they may have re-bred and will surprise […]

Salvaging High Promise Progeny

In 2011, I kept a ram lamb which I intended to sell, so he could pinch-hit for another ram which I feared may have been rendered temporarily infertile by a raging infection. The pinch-hitter’s lambs turned out so nice I kept him for another year. He and one of my best ewes produced a particularly […]

Never Dull

I always hope I’m going to get something done on my vacation (other than being a sheep midwife), but it never seems to happen. We are up to 31 lambs today, out of seventeen ewes; so hovering near the halfway mark. Some items that add to the shenanigans: Triplets and a Tooth On Easter Sunday, […]

Cornell on Low Input Systems

I ran across this recent publication Low Input Lambing and Kidding, by Cornell University and found it to be really refreshing reading. It had my keen interest from the introductory paragraph describing one impetus for the study: During a recent sabbatical in New Zealand, Dr. Michael Thonney, who is director of the Cornell Sheep Program, […]

Culling Decisions

I wanted to write a bit about culling decisions, it’s been on my mind due to a lot of discussions on sheep discussion groups I read. For this discussion, I won’t differentiate between sending an animal to slaughter versus selling it to someone else. The former is typically done when it wouldn’t be ethical to […]

In the Numbers

Here are my lamb counts for the year. I had forty ewes overwintered here. One was a late summer-born ewe, so I suspected she may not breed, and she didn’t. That’s ok. Of the remaining 39, six are not pregnant, as confirmed by recent blood tests. Five of those are ewelambs. The sixth is my […]

Frothy Bloat in Grazing Lambs

I’ve had several cases of frothy bloat crop up this year. The interesting thing is that it’s appearing in regular ol’ lambs nursing on their mothers, at the age of 3-4 weeks, when they are just starting to transition to real ruminating. I’m used to seeing it in bottle lambs trained to drink of the […]

Ordinary, Yet Noteworthy Number Seven

I like to write a lot about strange cases, anomalies, and sick animals. Though they are the biggest headache, I also find them the most intriguing. Today I will write about one of the rest: all of the perfectly normal, perfectly boring sheep which are noteworthy for capturing none of my attention at all. This […]

Sick Bay

I have a poor ewe that’s really has some bad luck this year. I mentioned already that she had triplets, and one of the lambs just couldn’t figure out how to nurse (though he found the bottle perfectly understandable). He’s thriving as a friendly bottle lamb, the ambassador of the season. The day after she […]

Wave II

Just as the craziness settled down from the first wave of lambing, there was a second wave of inconveniences. The first set of ewes in the barn for various monitoring reasons was able to go back outside. Then a new set needed to come in. One is a three  year old with triplets that has […]

This and That

Lambing is quieting down, though there are still fifteen ewes which have yet to deliver. A few of the yearlings may not be pregnant. This is not desirable, but is to be expected. I had noted that the rams were pursuing a couple of them in December, so they may have re-bred and will surprise […]

Salvaging High Promise Progeny

In 2011, I kept a ram lamb which I intended to sell, so he could pinch-hit for another ram which I feared may have been rendered temporarily infertile by a raging infection. The pinch-hitter’s lambs turned out so nice I kept him for another year. He and one of my best ewes produced a particularly […]

Never Dull

I always hope I’m going to get something done on my vacation (other than being a sheep midwife), but it never seems to happen. We are up to 31 lambs today, out of seventeen ewes; so hovering near the halfway mark. Some items that add to the shenanigans: Triplets and a Tooth On Easter Sunday, […]

Baby Stealer

Lambing is cruising along nicely, we’re up to 23 lambs out of twelve ewes so far. Of course, it’s a circus, it always is. I noted one ewe competently handling birth on her own, so let her be. Only to return later and see this: This is #33 on the right. She is ten. She […]

#10

I would be really pleased to have a lambing season start off real boring-like. But it seems like odds are against that. The week leading up to lambing I’m on pins and needles. If a ewe’s fetuses have died, this seems to be the week her body decides to hit the eject button. And so […]

Can Ruminants Save the Planet?

I want to point out a really amazing TED talk that came out recently, about using ruminants to restore the land and offset global warming. But before I link to it, I’d like to set up the topic with my own observations of running ruminants in the microclimate of our farm. My friends were just […]

Green

First of all, apologies to our friends to the East, who have this: Here in the Pacific Northwest, things look a little different. About this time of year, Mother Nature says, Ding! Your grass is ready to eat! Our hillside is demanding to be grazed. After last summer’s difficult drought, this spring we are blessed […]

Family Visits

Every year, I get multiple requests from families with kids to come visit the farm during lambing season. I say yes to nearly all of them, it’s fun to share the fun. I’m on vacation during that time, so it’s not difficult to accommodate visitors. Some people come “just to see.” Others are seeking more [...]

Two Disparate Ewes, in the Numbers

While I’m on the subject of NSIP numbers… I spotted these two ewes standing next to each other in the feeder, and realized their comparison is a fun exercise in NSIP metrics. Their sizes are at two extremes in my flock. As you can see, there is a big chocolate ewe to the left, and [...]

Prediction Error in NSIP: an Example

I made a recent discovery about National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) numbers which I felt was worth some thought and graphing. I’d been wondering for a long time about these little “acc” numbers that come back with each score you get. It stands for accuracy, of course, and is expressed as a percentage. I asked [...]

Annual Barn Scrub and Freedom to Ewes

I turned all the sequestered ewes out into the pasture yesterday. The older ewes have been in the barn for a month; the younger ones, for two. It’s roomy enough in there, they aren’t overcrowded, but it’s likely boring. Each evening as I prepared their grain, they’d kick up their heels in anticipation, doing fancy [...]