SHEEP TID BITS
Compiled by Cannon Farms from many sources
Starvation is estimated to kill 10% of all lambs in the US every year.
Don't underfeed your ewes during lactation which causes them to give less milk and restrict lamb gains. Lambs are also more susceptible to pneumonia.
The most critical time in a lamb's life is between birth and 7 days of age.
Ewes are in heat about 28 hours, with about 16 or 17 days between cycles.
A blow dryer is a handy tool to keep in the barn for drying and warming newborn lambs.
Clostridial diseases such as tetanus, overeating, and malignant edema are all diseases that can be effectively prevented by use of vaccines or antiserums given at the proper time. Although these diseases mostly effect lambs, they all can occur at any age if an amimal is injured or overeats grain.
The normal temperature of a sheep is 103 degrees. The average heart rate is 75 beats per minute.
A healthy lamb will stretch when it gets up and will stand with its back level. A sick lamb will stand arched and drawn. The mouth of a healthy lamb is warm, whereas the mouth of a sick lamb is cool or cold.
Normal lamb deliveries take up to 2 hours.
Sheep are ruminants (cud chewing animals). They have 4 compartments in their stomach. Because of this they need to be fed whole grain and roughages so the stomach can function properly.
Deworming your sheep on a regular schedule is probably one of the most important management practices you can do to keep a healthy flock. Most flocks need to be wormed every 3 months. Wormer rotation is also important. Show sheep may need to be wormed every month.
Ewes require a 14% protein ration the last 2 to 3 weeks before lambing and 15 to 16% protein ration after lambing. Ewes raising single lambs can be fed a 13% ration and require less feed than one with multiple lambs.
Look for these ingredient benefits in a lamb and sheep feed program: Ammonium chloride (water belly preventer), less copper toxicity (use feed, mineral, and salt without copper oxide or copper sulfate added), reduce copper toxicity (sodium molybdate on the feed tag), reduce white muscle disease (sodium selenite on tag), prevention of coccidiosis in sheep maintained in confinement (feed 20 to 30 grams of lasaloid(Bovatec) per ton of complete feed).
A ml and a cc are the same thing.
Sheep's daily requirement of salt, about 1/4 oz. cannot be met by licking a salt block and salt blocks are not good on their teeth. Therefore loose salt is preferable.
Measurements: 2 TBS=1 oz., 3 tsp.=1 TBS., and 30cc=1 oz.
Young lambs may become infested with internal parasites. Watch for signs such as nappy wool, underweight for age, pot-bellied, prominent hip bones, and in general an unthrifty appearance. Amemia may be prevented by worming lambs at 2-3 months of aged with a wormer at proper dosage.
Three rules that should be exercised immediately after birth are clip, dip and strip.
Clip the lamb's navel cord. Dip the navel in 7% solution of iodine. Strip the ewes teats to remove the waxy plug and make sure she has milk.
There are around 35 breeds of sheep in the United States and an estimated 914 different breeds in the world.
Did you know that Christopher Columbus's father was a wool weaver?
Overfed ewes will have fewer lambs because of embryo loss.
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