Jacob Sheep-6 month update on our sheepies!

[Shelly May]

yes sheep can have alalfa hay, puts weight on faster then other hays, There is a shipping fever shot you can buy or talk to
the breeder about giving it to them before you pick them up, you can get it at vets office. you might want to get a bottle of
iodine 7 percent from farm store, just incase you want to put on tail for quicker healing. Always nice to have this on hand for
any small scratches/cuts. free choice mineral for sheep and grain for sheep has to be different then goat grain, again to much
copper. If you use the alalfa hay not much grain needed, Only for you to SPOIL THEM ROTTEN. good luck and have a safe trip.

 

[Bossroo]

I have umpteen years of experience with sheep ( produced hundreds annually). As to the wet dry lot... I would get tons of 1/2"to 6" crushed rock to spread to at leat 6" deep. ( eventually it will end up sinking half way to China due to the mud) . When bringing in sheep from pasture, I fed my dry lot sheep good quality alfalfa hay than slowly added grain. Be prepared to pay lots of $$$s to the Vet. for the surgeries. In the future, I would only purchase lambs that were castrated shortly after birth as well as all tails DOCKED short shortly after birth. This greatly reduces messy backsides and resulting flystrikes, which will cause great pain to the sheep due to huge number of maggots eating the sheep's flesh and may end in death from resulting infections. Wasted labor as well as $$$s for very little or no return on investment with these two.

 

[bonbean01]

That's a short trip...don't think it will bother them. Hand feeding not only tames them....but also fun for the humans Bring some chairs in there with them...some graham wafter crackers, and just see if they don't decided that they want to be snuggle bunnies

 

[CocoNUT]

Ok...I JUST have to say: CONGRATULATIONS!

Oh Southern...you're going to fall MADLY in love with them! If you think goat binkies are cute...just wait!

Oh and I'm with Bridge...waiting for pictures!

 

[bonbean01]

Southern...are your flies not all gone by now? I wouldn't do it in summer for fear of flystrike...but I think it is cold enough to not have that problem. Wind chill right now here is 25 F ....DH was up at 3:30 am to check on the chicks in the shed and to be sure that heat lamp was keeping them warm, and so far so good.

You are in NC...so I'm thinking your temps are similar to mine?

 

[SheepGirl]

1. We had an unusually wet summer this year, ironically the same year my sheep were dry lotted. It was usually very muddy in there and there were no issues; only that my sheep had dirty hooves. I only put straw down under the stairs during/after it rained, where it was most covered and where they chose to hang out most. I never actually gave much thought to the muddiness anyway. They seemed to like to lay down in the mud as opposed to the straw

2. Sounds good.

3. Sounds good.

4. Sheep can have alfalfa hay, however normally it's too expensive to use for sheep just on maintenance rations. Since these are Jacobs and they are a couple months old, I'm guessing they weigh no more than 70 lbs. Give them 1 to 1.5 lbs of grass hay plus 1/4 to 1/2 lb sheep feed each daily. They should clean that up and gain weight.

5. Depends on how messy they are. My sheep get messy back ends in the spring due to the lush spring grass and their long wool, but I just wait until the shearer gets there.

6. The sheep should be fine on their way home. Just load them up and drive home and unload them.

7. I've never had much experience with sick stock, but what I do have on hand is iodine, zinc sulfate, Pen G Procaine, needles & syringes. Pen G has fixed any sickness my flock has had. I've never had to use any stronger antibiotic than that.

8. He will be a little sore! Just make sure his wound gets cleaned up nice (iodine is great) and he stays clean under there. With the ewe, don't dock her tail at this age. You will have to cut through bone and well-developed nerve endings which, IMO would be more painful than the castration. Just leave the tail where it is; you will have to watch her when her fleece grows more, though.

 

[Southern by choice]

Thank you thank you thank you!

The dry lot has tons of gravel already mixed, it doesn't get sinkholes, or any standing water it's just that at one time we had high grade 50/50 soil in there 3 tons...mixed with the rock now. The dirt is just still so black and don't really want it in the wool, so I guess when I say muddy it's not an accurate discription. Sorry, I should have worded that better. The castration and docking is being done under sedation by a livestock vet. I'm not too worried there.

 

[bonbean01]

sooo....when are you getting them?

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

delete

 

[Alice Acres]

We used to grow our own hay (long story, hubby wanted the fields back in crop production ); and it was primarily alfalfa. Our sheep did WONDERFUL on it. They grazed on pasture all summer, but got hay in the winter (MN = no grazing or grass). We rarely had to give them grain, as alfalfa is so much higher value than grass hay. It's like candy to animals

As the hay fields aged over the years, they became a grass/alfalfa blend - and that was even better. It was easier to cut/dry and bale and easier to store. With all alfalfa you are always battling drying it down enough that it didn't mildew and rot, vs. too much drying and then the leaves all fall off and it's nothing but stems.

As mentioned, the surgery will take a bit out of them. Lucky it's not fly season - we always hold off on anything that breaks skin integrity during fly season. We use a blue topical spray - coats the wound and is antiseptic. Many brands out there, and most marketed for horses. (Horse are always getting themselves banged up ) Another benefit is application is easy - just spray it on. We also band tails and also band castrate - but you don't have that option now.

For a short transport like that, they will be fine. We did a couple sheep swaps with a friend this fall, and they were about that distance. As a kid, we hauled ours about 40 minutes to the county fair every year, plus the stress of the whole fair...and only rarely got some sniffles that we treated.
My main drug is Pen G too - short acting injectable penicillin. Reminds me - need to check my expiration too - and also knock on wood!! If you have it, you rarely need it!! Having some inj. B vits is always a nice thing too. If any of mine ever are needing an antibiotic shot, I usually add in the vits too - just to give them a little boost.

The poopy butts - I would just crotch them - shear out the rear end and down to the hocks. Of course 1st choice would be a whole shear if they need it. Main thing is to make sure the poop chute stays open - too much wool and dried poop can literally plug them up. That would be really rare, and pretty neglectful and unobservant on the human's part too....but it does happen.

Pictures!!!