mysunwolf - four acres and some sheep

[mysunwolf]

I hadn't seen it (only saw the first one) so I had to look it up... you're right!! It's really appropriate that they were going to sacrifice him in the end too, because you know if I fell over in the field all those birds would eat me.

 

[mystang89]

 

[Latestarter]

Hey there Lady... nothing from you in quite a while. Hope all is well there!

 

[mysunwolf]

Hey @Latestarter, thanks for reminding me! I'm just ridiculous and won't sit still long enough to write this all out. Here goes...

It was very exciting this year because I sold my first sheep to the auction! We shipped them with a large group up to New Holland. Of course it was a bad sale but we got enough out of our lambs to buy a new flatbed sheep trailer! Photos to come.

The parasite situation is insane and even expert help can't seem to help me. I have tried everything to no avail. Somehow was able to keep everyone alive this year, we'll see about next year. It hasn't stopped raining every single week since July. We are above average rainfall, apparently that's the new normal. Beautiful pastures. Horrible barber pole worms.

Kept 3 ewe lambs out of 5, but will probably only keep 2 long term. If these girls weren't pets I would send them all down the road and start over to see if my genetics are why I can't get a handle on parasites. I think I may start outcrossing to some hardier meat breeds in the next few years, depending how things go with my neighbors' dairy plans, so we can have less worming work during the June through September season. You all honestly don't want to know how many times I've had to worm GROWN EWES this season, let alone lambs. It's a nightmare.

Hope everyone here at BYH is doing well in their parts of the world, seems to have been a bit of a rough season for most folks.

I'll try to get you all some photos soon!

 

[Bruce]

Of course it was a bad sale but we got enough out of our lambs to buy a new flatbed sheep trailer!

That must have been a lot of lambs sold! Congratulations.

 

[Mike CHS]

We have seen more Barber Pole worms this year but we are able to catch them earlier since we started doing fecals more often and catching them when the load isn't out of control.

 

[mysunwolf]

@Mike CHS We caught them early through fecals and FAMACHA and had to worm most of the flock in June. But the loads just kept increasing all season. They always peak in August/September. We have to worm so often in the late summer, the wormers are not working in the early summer of the next year.

I'm getting really good at eyelids and can easily tell the difference between the scores, and we bring them up to check every 2 weeks, sometimes every week. And I'll say that the lambs have not had a 1-2 score since July. The adults, it varies.

That hurricane weather didn't really help us, eh?

 

[mysunwolf]

That must have been a lot of lambs sold! Congratulations.

We had a lot of boys this year! My best performer at the sale was a very nice 100+ lb ram lamb with a LOT of gorgeous fat that I was planning to keep, but decided not to based on his dam's line and history. Couldn't sell him as a breeder either so off he went. If he'd had a tail I think he would have brought more, as it was a Muslim holiday.

 

[Bruce]

I gather there is no way to break the barber pole worm cycle? Is there some intermediate host?

 

[Latestarter]

@Mike CHS recently posted on his journal that spraying the pasture with a 10% chlorine bleach solution will not really harm the grasses but will kill like 96%+ of the barberpoll stage # in the pasture.