These were linked in dog groups so you might have to use a different probe for sheep, but I'm not sure. People used them and liked them though.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CT125XQ/
https://valuestore.us/product/veterinary-ultrasound-scanner-v16-with-3-5-mhz-convex-probe?
Someone I know had good success with it with her pigs, I've heard mixed things for sheep. For $500 I'd just save up a bit more and get a cheap ultrasound scanner (can be found for ~$800) and learn to use it. At least with that you can do fetal counts and measurements.
Personally, I'd learn to...
Jacobs can have full blue eyes and marbled (yellow or brown with blue) eyes or one blue eye/one brown or yellow eye. It seems to be a simple recessive trait. I don't breed for it but I have had a number of ice blue eyes pop up over the years. Here's some blue eyed lilacs from this year.
My perimeter fence is woven wire and I've never had a jacob get caught in it (now the goats on the other hand...). I divide it up with 4 strand electric "smart fence" for pasture rotation and it works really well.
I'd start with 3 so if something happens to one you still have a pair to keep...
Jacobs are great! I'm always happy to answer spotty sheep questions if you have any. The breed club is also super friendly and supportive.
Here's all the lambs that I had left at 6 months. All my ewe lambs sold except the 4 I'm keeping back and I've got a bunch of ram lambs some of which are...
The oldest batch of lambs got vaccinated on Friday and I decided to get pictures of all the jacobs for reference and to start deciding who to sell. They were not especially cooperative.
Holly- I'm probably keeping her because someone wants to buy her mom, and her aunt Pistachio, who I sold...
It's called the flehmen response. They are smelling pheromones using a special organ they have at the roof of their mouths. Usually rams do it but ewes can too.
I currently have 6 adult rams and 6 ram lambs (and 1 wether) together and they all get along fine. Introductions are the tricky part but not usually an issue when introducing baby rams. In your situation I would get him a wether (castrated male) buddy instead though. Keep them far enough from...
That's a dangerous question! According my computer here are my mature animal numbers: 6 angora goat does, 1 buck (who is sold last year but is still here for some reason), 12 cormo ewes, 2 cormo rams, 2 cvm romeldale ewes, 1 cvm ram, 20 jacob ewes, 2 jacob rams. Then a bunch of yearlings that...
Part 2!
Keepsake
Kent
Duchess and Dulcet
Duchess
Dulcet
Pacific
Rival
Rosette
Rubens (I think I was calling him Regent before but he's more of a Rubens)
Beacon
Bess
Winston
I'm pretty sure this is the last lamb of the year. Two other cormo ewes were marked but don't have any udder development. Cormos are weird about breeding :idunno
So with this 11 lb 11 oz cormo girl we're up to 26 lambs, 2 goat kids with a 50:50 boy/girl split.
Got updated pictures of all the...
I figured we could all use some spotty lamb pictures.
Fortune
Holly, she is so much trouble! Into everything all the time.
Keepsake inherited her mom's Crazyface (tm). The bright blue eyes don't help.
Her brother Kent didn't miss out on it either.
Jubilee just looks pleased with herself...
They're funny sheep, you'll either love them or hate them! Usually you can tell if they're rams or ewes from their horns but wethers can have ewe-like horns.
7 days, 20 lambs, 0 sleep
Everyone is doing well at around a week old though! Ten rams and ten ewes. I have a handful more that I bought late that will be lambing next month but this is most of them. Forgive the cell phone pictures, I figured blurry pictures were better than no pictures. I live...
My black sheep get lots of copper, way more than most people would feed, and still sun bleach. It is hard for them to transport melanocytes all the way to the end of the wool fiber when they get long so they bleach easier. Some people are breeding for non-bleaching black wool but its not a huge...
A friend of mine has been battling copper deficiency in her sheep (yes, deficiency), in part due to high iron in the water. Right now she keeps back the liver from every sheep she has processed or dies on her farm and has her vet send it to Michigan State for copper testing to make sure she's on...
Lamb pan sausage is one of my faves! Our processor does a sage sausage that's out of this world. We had a whole sheep just done in sausage recently because we go through so much of it :drool
Good luck selling your lamb! It's the right time of year for those of us who eat lamb on Christmas so...
Shave Em to Save Em is a program put on by the Livestock Conservancy encouraging fiber artists to use wool from sheep on the conservation priority list. Fiber artists sign up and get a passport with all of the conservation priority breeds in it (and a cool pin), farmers sign up and get passport...
Recently we had a little oopsie involving the gate to the ram pasture not being latched properly. Got home from dropping the kitten I found off at a rescue and thought it was weird that I couldn't see any of my ewes in the pasture. Went to let the dog out and it turns out I couldn't see them...