Mud and Pregnant Ewes

[Sheepshape]

February is a wet/snowy/windy/cold and generally unpleasant month over here. My lambs are due from about 15th March and are having to endure horrid weather. Today we are seeing sun for the first time in about 10 days, so I thought I'd take a few pics.

Mud

More mud

Yet more mud

And more

BrownSpot Expecting triplets in 5-6 weeks

And the fathers.......taking a well-earned rest in the sun

Sorry about the focus...must be the fault of the mud!

 

[Ponker]

My neighbors have an area that gets very deep mud. He has a lot of hoof problems and lameness during the wet season. Do your sheep have any problems with mud packing their oil gland on their feet? Or scald from the mud? My neighbor is forever treating for both.

You have beautiful sheep and lovely pasture for them.

 

[Sheepshape]

Surprisingly few hoof problems,Ponker. Thank you for the kind comments about the sheep! The worst we get is from sprains due to slipping in the mud/on icy mud. I tend to deal with lameness promptly if I see it following the local guidelines (don't trim the hooves, iodine spray for scald, and a long acting tetracycline for foot rot).

The last 'real' foot rot I saw was over 6 months ago, and only one ewe then. We have far more of a problem from scald when the grass is long and, inevitably, wet. If scald starts getting a problem, then I use a formaldehyde foot bath to harden up the hooves (usually once every other year).

Given the amount of mud, inevitably 'laced' with urine and faeces, it's a miracle that their legs don't rot off!

 

[Latestarter]

That does look very sloppy. I'd be afraid to take a tractor in there for fear it would get sucked under and disappear. I guess you have to brave it everyday at least once to fill their feeders. I can't imagine that to be too pleasurable for you either. So glad they and you are having a little sun shine! Hope it lasts for a least a few days for you. It's amazing how much the sun helps after days of gloom... just improves everything, including mood. You do have very nice looking sheep! They aren't as muddy as they could be considering. Nice that they have the elevated field areas to go lay in the sun. Thanks for sharing the pics

 

[Sheepshape]

Latestarter......I have fallen over in that stuff once....it smells SO bad!

 

[babsbag]

UGH!!!! that is a lot of mud. Makes me thankful for my 30x15 patch. I can't even imagine falling in that.

 

[Latestarter]

Oh my Sheepshape... I can only imagine falling in that. Nothing much worse smelling than livestock sewer mud... pee, poop, mud and whatever all else is mixed in... Do you ever move their feeding area to give those trampled areas time to recover? Just curious.

 

[Sheepshape]

Do you ever move their feeding area to give those trampled areas time to recover? Just curious.

Yes, I usually do, but they're stuck in the gloop right now. After the girls have had their breakfast I'm moving them out of that field and towing the feeders (via the hose!)with the quad bike to a hard standing area. The sheep will then have to walk along a broad passage way to the hard area. The passage way inevitably turns to gloop.

In about three weeks the ewes expecting singles will be moved into the muddy field which should have cleaned up by then and the girls expecting multiples will be in a field which has access to the shed where they will spend their nights.

As we have this type of thing annually we have become pretty accustomed to coping with it....doesn't make it any the more pleasant, though.