Baymule’s Journal

[Baymule]

I took 8 fecals this morning. One was from a 2 1/2 month old ewe lamb, she pooped, so I tested it. LOL 3 Barber Pole eggs, giving her a count of 150. She showed 51 coccidia eggs, will start her and the other lambs on Corrid as a preventative. SOMEDAY it will rain and cause a bloom.

Even Ewenique, 9 year old original ewe who usually tests at 50-200, tested at 1,150. That’s not a bad number, but it’s not 200. Her 9 month old ewe lamb, Jet, by Ringo, tested at 1,650. Jet is in excellent condition.

Nora, triplet sister to Nova and Tiny, in April, tested at 150, today at 2,450.

Frimplepants in April was a Zero, today at 200. Her 8 month old daughter, Fancy, in excellent condition I might add, walks away with the Barber Pole Trophy!!! Her count is 14,500!! I’m dumbfounded. She will be wormed with Valbazen and I will test her regularly. These are extreme conditions and I cannot fault the sheep. When conditions improve, several will be closely monitored for high counts. This winter, worms will go dormant, giving the young ewes time to build resistance. If I get high counts from my ewes next year, they will be culled. Unless, Heaven forbid, we get another drought, 2 months of 100+ degree weather and no grass. Next year has got to be better than this! LOL


I read on a Katahdin forum, a man gives his weaned lambs the small copper bolus. Said it made a world of difference, giving the lambs time to grow and build resistance.
I’m thinking on that. I do not automatically worm weaned lambs, so this might be the way to go.

 

[Skiesblue]

Copper and sheep?

 

[Baymule]

Copper and sheep?

Hair sheep need some copper. The key word is some. The feed I use is Martindale all purpose 14% pellet. It has 5-15 PPM. I could tell a difference in my black sheep.
I’ve heard of using the small copper bolus on sheep. But I never have.
I have a book by Pat Colby and the mineral mix she recommends has copper in it, also Dolomite lime, it neutralizes the effects of the copper. The copper is for parasites. I never mixed any up, I’ve just bought mineral mix.

 

[Baymule]

It RAINED TODAY!!!!!!!! Drops of that exotic elixir fell from the sky!!

Look closely and see the RAIN running off the porch roof!

Feast your eyes upon the teeniest itty bitty RAIN in the gauge! WHOOP !

Within the hour, the ground was dry.


Then late this afternoon………

It RAINED again! I got PUDDLES!

If you thought the first rain gauge picture was exciting, LOOK AT THIS!

A half inch of rain! This drought isn’t busted, but the process has begun. It’s a cool 87F outside. Nice.

 

[Devonviolet]

It RAINED TODAY!!!!!!!! Drops of that exotic elixir fell from the sky!!

Look closely and see the RAIN running off the porch roof!

View attachment 101267

Feast your eyes upon the teeniest itty bitty RAIN in the gauge! WHOOP !

View attachment 101266

Within the hour, the ground was dry.


Then late this afternoon………

It RAINED again! I got PUDDLES!

View attachment 101268

If you thought the first rain gauge picture was exciting, LOOK AT THIS!

View attachment 101269

A half inch of rain! This drought isn’t busted, but the process has begun. It’s a cool 87F outside. Nice.

We got rain, on and off, all day. But it didn’t amount to much . . . maybe 1/8”. Just enough to make it miserably muggy!

 

[Baymule]

I worked sheep through the chute yesterday and had little granddaughters help, handing me things. They were glad when that was done, and we went to town. Grocery shopping then went to 3 splash pads but all 3 were closed.

 

[canesisters]

Closed because of the drought?

 

[Baymule]

Closed because of the drought?

Probably because kids are in school.

 

[Ridgetop]

So glad to hear that you have finally gotten some rain.

As to the worm counts, you have to remember that in Lindale you were not grazing consistently like you are in Kennard. Mostly you were doing a semi dry lot situation with feeding hay. Between the stress of moving, the drought and heat, higher worm loads are to be expected. Particularly on the ewes that have lambed, since we know that worm counts soar right after lambing.

I have heard about using copper boluses on sheep to help with parasite prevention. You have to know exactly how much copper is in your pastures, hay, and feed to make sure of the amount. However, copper is a necessary mineral in all sheep breeds as well as other animals. All sheep need some copper. Some breeds are more sensitive to copper. Hair sheep need more copper than wool breeds. There has been so much written about sheep's intolerance to copper that people become hysterical about giving their sheep any copper in any form. About 25+ years ago the dairy goat people here in California heard about copper deficiency in some herds. All of a sudden, every goat that was "off" had "copper deficiency". People were hysterical about not feeding enough copper and any goat that died was sent for necropsy. I fed dairy cow ration grain to my dairy herd and their copper was fine. I didn't join the copper deficiency crowd. My goats were healthy, they milked well, their color was good. No problem.

I will look up information on copper boluses for Dorper sheep. It might be a good way to increase their resistance. I wonder if I could also have my oil and hay tested for copper content.

 

[Baymule]

Entrance to the zoo.

A steam engine. Was probably used in logging back in the day.

A shady walkway. The whole zoo is shady, cool and a great place to spend the morning.

Observation deck, the chairs are comfortable to sit in, it’s cool and shady, the giraffe was laying down, resting in the shade.

The leopard

The reptile house

Chick FIL A

The girls played on the playground and had fun.

Then we went to Hobby Lobby and got stuff to make a present for their mom from a ceiling fan blade.