tahir
|
First lame sheepOn Saturday I noticed Nosey limping a little, Richard was about so we went and grabbed Nosey and I held him while Richard trimmed his feet with a knife and discovered that it had an infection in one of it's feet, made a cut to expel the puss, squeezed it out and that was it. Looked fine yesterday.
Have now ordered my hoof shears and blue spray from Ascotts....
|
judith
|
Your sheep had a cat in its foot? 
|
tahir
|
| judith wrote: | | Your sheep had a cat in its foot? |
|
Bodger
|
Its just the start Mr T !
We did sheep when we first had our holding and got them out of our system pronto.
Foot rot, flystrike and the almost constant urge to die soon dampened our enthusiasm.
I'm pleased that you have someone to guide you. 
|
dpack
|
only on downsizer 
|
tahir
|
| bodger wrote: | | I'm pleased that you have someone to guide you. |
Luckily Rich is about most days, his yard's next door and Ken who supplied them is just up the hill.
|
dpack
|
on zoo vet they used a dart gun to catch the alpaccas to trim hooves , sort of looked tricky with a lively one
im glad your livestock have a friend at hand ,i,ve kept lots of different critters and new ones are safest with personal tuition or a good keeper .
i have been having moo breeding masterclasses from rob ,real example are better than books for details but books help with breadth
nothing helps catch sheep like ?? umm?
i vote oranges
|
tahir
|
| dpack wrote: | | nothing helps catch sheep like ?? |
Luckily it was Nosey who acts like a pet dog, tried gathering some more in to check theirs but they didn't want to know, will have to make a small penned of area.
|
Gervase
|
A sheepdog is brilliant, but most sheep can be trained with their stomachs - the rattle of a bucket of ewe-nuts will bring ours thundering down the fields as is their lives depended on it. If you can create some sort of holding area, even a temporary one with hurdles, and get them into that, life is hugely easier.
|
tahir
|
| Gervase wrote: | | If you can create some sort of holding area, even a temporary one with hurdles, and get them into that, life is hugely easier. |
That's what we should be doing on Saturday, got a few spare gates around the place
|
Anna-marie
|
Hi Tahir,
Glad to hear that you are experiencing the joys of sheep keeping 
When I trim my sheep's hooves, I always spray them with purple (or blue) spray, and also vaccinate them against foot rot with "Foot vax) which I buy from my vet. Not only does it vaccinate against hoof rot, but also prevents it - it is brilliant stuff!
Apparently, the best treatment to prevent and treat rot is this three-pronged approach:
Trim;
Spray;
Vaccinate.
Hope that this is of some use to you.
Kind regards,
Anna-marie
|
Mary-Jane
|
| tahir wrote: | | Gervase wrote: | | If you can create some sort of holding area, even a temporary one with hurdles, and get them into that, life is hugely easier. |
That's what we should be doing on Saturday, got a few spare gates around the place |
And you'll always need need plenty of baling twine to lash 'em together...
|
Anna-marie
|
By the way, when you do get them in, you may as well worm them and treat for blow fly prevention too - it will save you the trouble of getting them in again!
Good luck and have fun. Think of me, too. I will be doing all the above and shearing as well, this afternoon.
Anna-marie
|
gil
|
I'd also recommend a handling pen, and some kind of funnelling race to guide them into it, which can be moveable. I see hours of fun ahead for you, Tahir
|
tahir
|
Ken was going to pop over and do the vaccination/blow fly stuff, he keeps an eye on them. I can see it's going to be lots of fun, good luck Anna-Marie
|
Northern_Lad
|
| gil wrote: | | I'd also recommend a handling pen, and some kind of funnelling race to guide them into it, which can be moveable. I see hours of fun ahead for you, Tahir |
He has lots of young daughters; if he had had sons he could have practiced with them first...
|
Mary-Jane
|
| Anna-marie wrote: | | I will be doing all the above and shearing as well, this afternoon. |
We had all ours done, plus dipping, last night thank God - the sheep all looked like burst sofas and the paddocks were starting to look as if there'd been an overnight snowfall
|
alison
|
We have just finished ours.
Started at 8.00am, with the shearing, then helped next door with his first 50, as he helped with ours. The shearing crew then went to his other farm to carry on.
We then did all the feet, worming, clix, heptavac p+ and tagging, from lambing.
All now making tons of noise, finding mums!
|
tahir
|
How many have you got Alison?
|
alison
|
One ram and 35 ewes, or year olds, and 37 lambs.
|
tahir
|
Don't think we'll ever have that many 
|
Gervase
|
Just be careful! Sheep are crap at contraception
|
tahir
|
Talking of which ours are "intact" and seem to be mounting each other, we've got 7 boys and 3 girls, hopefully all will be gone by November do I need to worry?
|
gil
|
Gestation period for sheep = 5 months
May - November = 6 months
How old are they ?
And is it tup on ewe or tup on tup action ?
|
Bernie66
|
| gil wrote: | Gestation period for sheep = 5 months
May - November = 6 months
How old are they ?
And is it tup on ewe or tup on tup action ? |
That would be a yes then
|
tahir
|
| gil wrote: | How old are they ?
And is it tup on ewe or tup on tup action ? |
Hmm, I think they were 6-8 weeks when we got them, we;ve had em for 3 weeks? now. Haven't identified who's doing it who yet, will tell the girls to pay more attention
|
gil
|
They're a bit young to do that kind of thing effectively, then.
Thought you were only getting wether lambs so the issue wouldn't arise ?
|
tahir
|
What's a wether?
|
gil
|
Castrated ram lambs
|
tahir
|
Ah no, they're all intact.
|
Nick
|
| alison wrote: | We have just finished ours.
Started at 8.00am, with the shearing, then helped next door with his first 50, as he helped with ours. The shearing crew then went to his other farm to carry on.
We then did all the feet, worming, clix, heptavac p+ and tagging, from lambing.
All now making tons of noise, finding mums! |
Hm, there must be TONS of money to be made with sheep, then. Why do people do it?
|
alison
|
Ha ha
I do because I love having them around, and I have grass that must be eaten, coupled with the fact that we eat a lot of lamb!
|
tahir
|
The missus and Rich gave him another clean out yesterday, he's still limping about and is getting down on his knees to graze.
They managed to clip the feet of another 4 of em couldn't grab the rest, will have to try tomorrow
They've also got scald.
|
judith
|
Have you got to that point yet where you stand in the middle of the field and yell, "I'm only trying to bl**dy help you!"?
|
tahir
|
Not yet, I was trying to convince the missus that it really was a good idea to keep sheep last night.
At least we've got a pen to round em up into tomorrow and Ken's going to pop in too.
|
judith
|
Mine jump out of the pen
|
tahir
|
I must say I'm amazed by the growth some of them have put on, a couple are still quite small though. They're all so different to each other.
|
tahir
|
| judith wrote: | | Mine jump out of the pen |
Don't say that
|
Northern_Lad
|
| tahir wrote: | | I must say I'm amazed by the growth some of them have put on, a couple are still quite small though. They're all so different to each other. |
That's so you don't have to harvest them all at the same time.
|
judith
|
I know what you mean about the growth. You can practically see them grow before your eyes.
|
Anna-marie
|
| judith wrote: | | I know what you mean about the growth. You can practically see them grow before your eyes. |
Mine look bigger than their mums, now that the ewes have been shorn
Anna- marie
|
Anna-marie
|
| tahir wrote: | | Talking of which ours are "intact" and seem to be mounting each other, we've got 7 boys and 3 girls, hopefully all will be gone by November do I need to worry? |
Tahir,
Why weren't they castrated before you bought them? I normally "rubber band" mine at two to three days old. It doesn't seem to bother them too much at that age. I would have thought that leaving it until November was a bit late, really 
Apart from the fact that they will be much more difficult to handle at that age
At least when they are only a couple of days old, you can grab 'em and hold them on your lap. 
Or do you plan to "harvest" them without having them castrated?
Good luck with them, by the way.
(Now I will convince you that you should have kept goats instead )
Anna-marie
|
tahir
|
| Anna-marie wrote: | | do you plan to "harvest" them without having them castrated? |
Yup. I've been waiting all this time for you to convert me to goats, do you want to start a goats v sheep thread or shall I?
|
Nick
|
Sell them now. Buy pigs.
You know it makes sense.
|
tahir
|
| Nick Howe wrote: | Sell them now. Buy pigs.
You know it makes sense. |
Yeah but I'll be sooo hungry
|
Nick
|
Oh, now. What you need is IslamLite. It's like Islam, with the being nice to each other and stuff. You even get to have multiple wives, but you're allowed bacon and lager. And, with multiple wives, I'd guess you need the alcohol.
|
Northern_Lad
|
| tahir wrote: | | Nick Howe wrote: | Sell them now. Buy pigs.
You know it makes sense. |
Yeah but I'll be sooo hungry |
I'm sure there's people here who'd trade some daal for a pig.
|
tahir
|
| Nick Howe wrote: | | And, with multiple wives, I'd guess you need the alcohol. |
Hard drugs more like, or brain transplant?
|
Nick
|
My son, bacon is like a hard drug. It numbes the senses and makes everything else fade away. Without it, I shake and shiver.
Come towards the light (bring your own ketchup).
|
tahir
|
| Nick Howe wrote: | My son, bacon is like a hard drug. It numbes the senses and makes everything else fade away. Without it, I shake and shiver.
Come towards the light (bring your own ketchup). |
So very tempting, I must fight your porcine evangelism, anyway isn't it supposed to be brown sauce?
|
Nick
|
Northern Irish Christians would have you believe brown was the way forward, but it's not. Even the food is colour coded.
Sausages = brown = brown sauce.
Bacon = pink = red sauce.
See, so simple even children get it.
Ignore Jonnyboy, for he is a false prophet from HP.
|
tahir
|
I'm sure you've overstepped some kind of line here, this could be worse than the roast potato debate...
|
Nick
|
This is not debate. This is fact.
Colour coding gives it away. God has red sauce on bacon, brown on sausages.
|
sean
|
Only when he's run out of mustard.
|
tahir
|
It's not my place to comment except to say I'll be so bloody angry if I get to heaven and god's sitting up there with a full English on his blinking plate (whatever his choice in condiments).
|
Nick
|
Oh, mustard is entirely acceptable. I might even point out that it doesn't matter if it's English or French.
Yeah, right.
|
Anna-marie
|
| tahir wrote: | | Anna-marie wrote: | | do you plan to "harvest" them without having them castrated? |
Yup. I've been waiting all this time for you to convert me to goats, do you want to start a goats v sheep thread or shall I? |
Tahir,
Haven't we already done this?
Anna-marie
|
tahir
|
| Anna-marie wrote: | Haven't we already done this?
Anna-marie |
I didn't think you were as vocal in support of goats as ytou might have been.
It'd be nice to have a point by point run down of pros and cons for each (maybe pigs and cattle too), might make the basis for a good article.
|
Anna-marie
|
| tahir wrote: | | Anna-marie wrote: | Haven't we already done this?
Anna-marie |
I didn't think you were as vocal in support of goats as ytou might have been. |
Yes, but Tahir, my approach has been somewhat more devious
Now that you have sheep, it should be pretty obvious that goats come out on top.
I thought I'd let you learn the hard way
Anna-marie
By the way, I will get around to writing the article one day, I hope, but not yet. I'm off to Tunisia for a fortnight next Sunday, and have loads to do before then, sorry 
|
tahir
|
Aha. Is it worth me tracking down a local dairy goat herd to see if they have kids to get rid of for next year?
Have fun in Tunisia
|
Anna-marie
|
| tahir wrote: | Aha. Is it worth me tracking down a local dairy goat herd to see if they have kids to get rid of for next year?
Have fun in Tunisia |
Tahir,
If you want goats, you will probably be able to get some kids for next year.
But, you will need to provide shelter for them. They don't particularly like the rain, and like to have a "home".
They will "browse" rather than grazing, and will help to keep your hedges down. Mine also like the seed heads from docks, so help to prevent next year's growth. They are also partial to nettle leaves, but these have to be wilted before they will eat them, so you will have to cut them for them.
And as for brambles - mine eat all of the leaves, leaving it easier for me to get to the berries
However, you do need to be aware of what plants are close to the goats, as yew is extremely poisonous, and there is a whole list of others that need to be avoided. I have found, though, that as long as there is plenty of the "good" stuff available for them, they tend to leave the "bad" stuff alone.
Many people say that you need high fences for goats, but mine are OK with just normal sheep fencing.
The rest of their management is pretty much the same as that for sheep. Hooves, worming, vaccination, etc. But if possible, it may be wise to keep them separate from the sheep, as they are prone to picking up coccidiosis from them. (They can, of course, be vaccinated against this.)
Goats have the added benefit that they don't need shearing 
They don't neccesarily need milking, either, of course, and won't anyway until they have kids themselves.
If you want loads of milk, try a dairy breed. But if you want good meat, try a Boer goat or Boer-cross. You should still be able to get about two litres a day for the family.
Several commercial dairy breeds are now using Boer goats to "beef-up" their herds, so that they get better meat quality from slaughtered kids.
Goats tend to be very sociable - find kids that have been bottle fed. They will be your friends for life.
Here endeth the lesson
Anna-marie
|
tahir
|
Ta A-M, so in my 3 acre field that is mostly grass with some docks, nettles and blackthorn suckers would they be OK or would I need to supplement their forage?
I probably wouldn't mix goat and sheep and am looking only for meat production.
|
Anna-marie
|
Hi Tahir,
You would need to give them some concentrate, too. I use Allan and Paige (or however it's spelt!  ) Goat Mix. It's good, clean stuff, and they really enjoy it. I only give them about half a scoop a day, increasing it to almost a whole scoop during the winter. And of course, they will need good quality hay, too.
You will need to take care that the sheep don't eat the goat's food, too, as it contains too much copper for them.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards,
Anna-marie
|
tahir
|
Another limping one yesterday, scald, gave it a clean out and a spray.
|
Mary-Jane
|
| tahir wrote: | | Another limping one yesterday, scald, gave it a clean out and a spray. |
Aaaaah - the joys of keeping sheep Tahir. Fun isn't it?
|
tahir
|
Yeah, I won't repeat what the missus said
|
tahir
|
Well, first one is slightly better now but still limps, 2nd one seems to be fully recovered
|
sean
|
| tahir wrote: | | Yeah, I won't repeat what the missus said |
She'll never manage to shove one up there.
|
tahir
|
|
