How Delicate are Sheep?

[Cindy in SD]

I have a spray bottle of iodine for any open injuries. You'll likely come across a few the first time you have them sheared and they can look pretty brutal - giant red gash brutal. Been using it on our poor flystruck boy who is on the mend. His wounds are more raw and scabby skin and it's been keeping them clear of infection while he's been healing. Heaven forbid, but if you have a predator attack, horn injury, etc... It'll come in handy. We had someone in to shear our sheep the first week we were here and went out and got a bottle the very next day.

Copper foot spray would be a good investment too - it's used to treat hoof rot in its early stages. I haven't added this one to my medicine cabinet yet, but it's on the list.

So you're using povodone iodine or betadine? I saw "iodine" and went straight to "tincture". Poor baby! Does the ivermectin pour-on not work on them very well? I probably slightly overdosed my Highlands with it, but you're just pouring it over their hair and it's a super benign medication and the flies were TORTURING them, poor babies. I'm glad to hear your little guy is better. I've never seen flystrike but the photos are horrible.

As for shearing, I'm not a knitter/weaver/etc. and so I had been thinking I might get some hair sheep. There seem to be a lot around here. I've heard they taste better and of course, you don't have to shear them. OTOH, not nearly as decorative... I am conflicted. I really want the cute factor, but even "shearing" my mom's fru-fru dog can be quite the chore. Maybe sheep don't wiggle around as much, though?

 

[Show Sebright]

I couldn’t tell f your comment was sarcastic…but not understanding much sarcasm…I thought I’d respond…
a “leaf of creeping indigo” is no threat to your lamb. An entire bush of creeping indigo…probably best avoided…
In all likelihood your lamb will ignore green tidbits tossed over the fence.. The lamb will not do well ‘muzzled’. They are natural grazers, it is in their DNA, you shouldn’t try to inhibit this behavior except when moving an animal from trailer to pen or around a crowded area where a loose animal might find ‘goodies’ or hurt a child or poorly balanced adult accidentally and control is preferred. sheep are not like children or pets that are so domesticated that they cannot be trusted on their own. They will seek out what is natural and tasty and tuck right in and 99.99999% of the time that will be fine.
By the way…for the purposes of the absurd I completely made up that ’statistic’! Please ignore it and do some research on animal handling.

It wasn’t sarcastic. My lamb will stay at my school. Thank you for that I’ve been so worried that he would just drop dead if I let him out.

 

[Alaskan]

So that's a little over two cups (approximately) per mama goat. Maybe not as much for sheep, or maybe similar. Not bad. I'm the only one here who will drink milk anyway, and I only drink it fermented. I don't have anything against fresh milk, but I can't get raw milk, so I figure it needs a little rectifying.

I figured I'd see whether I could skim cream over the course of several days to a week in the fridge (as some people say they do), but I recently read in my cheesemaking book that if you ferment naturally homogenized whole milk, you can then churn the fermented milk directly into butter. Butter with flavor, unlike what I buy in the stores. Fermentation reputedly weakens the bonds that hold the cream in solution. I had long wondered why people thought butter was so flavorful. Apparently people used to do it this way all the time and butter's reputation has remained long after the flavor was gone.

I can't wait to try this. Anyway, yes I want to make cheese, but most cheesemaking (as far as I can discover) uses whole milk in any case. Mind, this is all from books. I'm eager to try, and if I need to, I'll definitely get a separator. Got to get a sheep first, though.

I have never had sheep... I used to have milk goats...

I have also never fermented anything....

But... in my experience...

The milk tastes way better when it is fresh. We drank the fresh milk (never pasteurized it) and drank it about 6 to 12 hours after it was milked, milk 24 hours old was cooked with, milk 3 days old was put into the garden or fed to chickens.

The taste difference between 12 hr old milk and 48 hour old milk was huge.

Even on rare occasion when a jar of milk was hidden in the back of the fridge and aged a week... it did not separate.

I never wanted to buy the "stuff" needed to make "fancy" cheese (so, renet), so only ever made soft cheese.... is it called farmer's cheese???.. heat the milk on the stove, add something acid like lemon juice so the milk separates... pour it all through a cheese cloth and what comes through the cloth is the whey that I would use as the liquid to cook rice, and the curds are held by the cloth and that could be seasoned however for a soft cheese.

For ice cream we bought a separator ... really just a big centrifuge.... and that wouldn't give curds and whey... but would give low fat milk and cream. We never bothered to make butter... ice cream tastes better.

As far as a medicine box...

I really liked the Schriner products: they were great for fungal issues, wound healing, etc. I use/used them on horses, dogs, goats, ducks, and chickens

Other excellent items to have on hand:
.a very strong anti-fly spray
.all the hoof equipment
.worming items
.a liquid or paste iron supplement
.a multi-vitamin b paste
.pro-biotic paste
.Forceps, a few different sizes, at least 1 needle nosed pair
.suture kit is nice, but 100%cotton thread and a sewing needle will also work

 

[Alaskan]

It wasn’t sarcastic. My lamb will stay at my school. Thank you for that I’ve been so worried that he would just drop dead if I let him out.

I bottle lamb that hasn't had a mama teach him what plants are bad will be more tempted to eat poisonous things.

You can actually teach your lamb what not to eat/shouldn't be eaten.

Take him out to graze and if he tries to eat something he shouldn't, make it clear that the item is not edible. I did that with my bottle kids. . ... and yes I looked like an insane idiot... but kids are smart and they learned quickly. I would think a lamb could be trained the same.

 

[Lizzy733]

So that's a little over two cups (approximately) per mama goat. Maybe not as much for sheep, or maybe similar. Not bad. I'm the only one here who will drink milk anyway, and I only drink it fermented. I don't have anything against fresh milk, but I can't get raw milk, so I figure it needs a little rectifying.

I figured I'd see whether I could skim cream over the course of several days to a week in the fridge (as some people say they do), but I recently read in my cheesemaking book that if you ferment naturally homogenized whole milk, you can then churn the fermented milk directly into butter. Butter with flavor, unlike what I buy in the stores. Fermentation reputedly weakens the bonds that hold the cream in solution. I had long wondered why people thought butter was so flavorful. Apparently people used to do it this way all the time and butter's reputation has remained long after the flavor was gone.

I can't wait to try this. Anyway, yes I want to make cheese, but most cheesemaking (as far as I can discover) uses whole milk in any case. Mind, this is all from books. I'm eager to try, and if I need to, I'll definitely get a separator. Got to get a sheep first, though.

Good to hear about the fermentation. I'd heard the butter outta the goats I want isn't that nice and we too don't go through that much milk - maybe a litre a week, so with other dairy making, one or two would definitely suit us.

We're not too keen on cows cause we are on a ridgetop and our paddocks can be quite steep, otherwise I'd seriously think about getting some Dexter.

Don't think I'll try milking the sheep, probably going to skip the next breeding season to find our feet. We started with 22 and I've gotten us down to 15 through sale and slaughter, but still feel that's too many, especially since only a handful are friendly. I prefer animals I can walk up to and look over without them bolting, or having to stress them out in a crush pen.

 

[Alaskan]

Good to hear about the fermentation. I'd heard the butter outta the goats I want isn't that nice and we too don't go through that much milk

Each goat's milk tastes different.

What they are fed greatly changes how the milk tastes.... truly HUGE difference.

Also the milk can be bitter if they are low in minerals/mineral deficient or if they have an infection, even a very low grade infection.

I can't image going through only a liter of milk a week... can't..... just one pot of rice pudding can use up an entire gallon of milk.

But... if you prefer it as cheese... you can easily make all milk into cheese, and cheese stays fresh longer than raw milk. Also, with cheese making most of the milk volume turns into whey which can be used to make rice, soup, or any recipe that uses water.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I have never had sheep... I used to have milk goats...

I have also never fermented anything....

But... in my experience...

The milk tastes way better when it is fresh. We drank the fresh milk (never pasteurized it) and drank it about 6 to 12 hours after it was milked, milk 24 hours old was cooked with, milk 3 days old was put into the garden or fed to chickens.

The taste difference between 12 hr old milk and 48 hour old milk was huge.

Even on rare occasion when a jar of milk was hidden in the back of the fridge and aged a week... it did not separate.

I never wanted to buy the "stuff" needed to make "fancy" cheese (so, renet), so only ever made soft cheese.... is it called farmer's cheese???.. heat the milk on the stove, add something acid like lemon juice so the milk separates... pour it all through a cheese cloth and what comes through the cloth is the whey that I would use as the liquid to cook rice, and the curds are held by the cloth and that could be seasoned however for a soft cheese.

For ice cream we bought a separator ... really just a big centrifuge.... and that wouldn't give curds and whey... but would give low fat milk and cream. We never bothered to make butter... ice cream tastes better.

As far as a medicine box...

I really liked the Schriner products: they were great for fungal issues, wound healing, etc. I use/used them on horses, dogs, goats, ducks, and chickens
View attachment 89531
Other excellent items to have on hand:
.a very strong anti-fly spray
.all the hoof equipment
.worming items
.a liquid or paste iron supplement
.a multi-vitamin b paste
.pro-biotic paste
.Forceps, a few different sizes, at least 1 needle nosed pair
.suture kit is nice, but 100%cotton thread and a sewing needle will also work

Thanks so much! I'll definitely keep this list. As for fermenting milk (or most anything else), it's super easy but you have to enjoy that tangy taste. I did make some farmers cheese once. Soooo good, even made from store-bought milk.

 

[Lizzy733]

So you're using povodone iodine or betadine? I saw "iodine" and went straight to "tincture". Poor baby! Does the ivermectin pour-on not work on them very well? I probably slightly overdosed my Highlands with it, but you're just pouring it over their hair and it's a super benign medication and the flies were TORTURING them, poor babies. I'm glad to hear your little guy is better. I've never seen flystrike but the photos are horrible.

As for shearing, I'm not a knitter/weaver/etc. and so I had been thinking I might get some hair sheep. There seem to be a lot around here. I've heard they taste better and of course, you don't have to shear them. OTOH, not nearly as decorative... I am conflicted. I really want the cute factor, but even "shearing" my mom's fru-fru dog can be quite the chore. Maybe sheep don't wiggle around as much, though?

There are self-shedding breeds that will drop their coat on their own too. Wool can also be used for mulching and as insulation. We have way too much of it after shearing ours and it's still bagged up under the tractor shed with no plans for it.

Ivermectin is being controlled at the moment due to misuse. My poor boy has a 'very' short tail and was full of dags. All my adults have their tails and virtually no dags, no signs of flystrike on anybody else, just my one poor boy. All my lambs have been docked with varying levels of dags. Won't be docking any of the lambs I breed, for sure.

I've used betadine as well.. especially with my chickens, but the spray on is much better when dealing with larger wounds. It's an iodine, potassium iodine, and alcohol solution.

With parasite control, I'm trying to keep drenching to a minimum to prevent parasite resistances. I'm going by famacha score for this. Also, have heard about a product called bioworma, which I really want to get my hands on. It's an edible fungus spore that eats oocytes, breaking the worm cycle. It just ends up being a preventative feed supplement that keeps the worm burden very low.

Hard to get in NZ at the moment. I can only find the one mixed with supplements meant for horses so far... I think the latest nonsense has been affecting imports, making it difficult to come by.

 

[Cindy in SD]

I bottle lamb that hasn't had a mama teach him what plants are bad will be more tempted to eat poisonous things.

You can actually teach your lamb what not to eat/shouldn't be eaten.

Take him out to graze and if he tries to eat something he shouldn't, make it clear that the item is not edible. I did that with my bottle kids. . ... and yes I looked like an insane idiot... but kids are smart and they learned quickly. I would think a lamb could be trained the same.

Thanks! I was wandering about that. What did you do to get your point across?

 

[Cindy in SD]

There are self-shedding breeds that will drop their coat on their own too. Wool can also be used for mulching and as insulation. We have way too much of it after shearing ours and it's still bagged up under the tractor shed with no plans for it.

Ivermectin is being controlled at the moment due to misuse. My poor boy has a 'very' short tail and was full of dags. All my adults have their tails and virtually no dags, no signs of flystrike on anybody else, just my one poor boy. All my lambs have been docked with varying levels of dags. Won't be docking any of the lambs I breed, for sure.

I've used betadine as well.. especially with my chickens, but the spray on is much better when dealing with larger wounds. It's an iodine, potassium iodine, and alcohol solution.

With parasite control, I'm trying to keep drenching to a minimum to prevent parasite resistances. I'm going by famacha score for this. Also, have heard about a product called bioworma, which I really want to get my hands on. It's an edible fungus spore that eats oocytes, breaking the worm cycle. It just ends up being a preventative feed supplement that keeps the worm burden very low.

Hard to get in NZ at the moment. I can only find the one mixed with supplements meant for horses so far... I think the latest nonsense has been affecting imports, making it difficult to come by.

New Zealand! We've been praying for you all.

The iodine you're using is what I've been taking for hypo-thyroid. It's probably better for wounds than betadyne would be. At least better for humans. I hope you can get him all healed up.