Phone didn’t cooperate! One more time,
Welcome to the forum Tina! What part of Texas are you in? I’m in Trinity county. I raise Katahdin sheep. How long have you had your sheep? What do you know of their background?
Skipper looks very sick. Poor girl. It concerns me. I don’t know how much you know about sheep, you may already know this. There is a wasting disease called Johnes. It’s pronounced Yah- nees. Yeah, I know, I called it John’s, but what do I know. Has she been tested?
Bad news is, if she has Johnes, there is no cure or treatment. I’m probably jumping the gun here, but that just slapped me upside the head when I saw her picture.
I like the shelters you have made for your sheep. I moved to my place a year and half ago. So far, no barn. I’m on track to start one this coming year. I make pallet palaces from pallets and used tin. Not great, but better than nothing. LOL
Phone didn’t cooperate! One more time,
Welcome to the forum Tina! What part of Texas are you in? I’m in Trinity county. I raise Katahdin sheep. How long have you had your sheep? What do you know of their background?
Skipper looks very sick. Poor girl. It concerns me. I don’t know how much you know about sheep, you may already know this. There is a wasting disease called Johnes. It’s pronounced Yah- nees. Yeah, I know, I called it John’s, but what do I know. Has she been tested?
Bad news is, if she has Johnes, there is no cure or treatment. I’m probably jumping the gun here, but that just slapped me upside the head when I saw her picture.
I like the shelters you have made for your sheep. I moved to my place a year and half ago. So far, no barn. I’m on track to start one this coming year. I make pallet palaces from pallets and used tin. Not great, but better than nothing. LOL
Thanks Baymule
People are more familiar with Fort Worth Tx. Tarrant & Wise counties run together. I have cared for these sheep off & on for over 3 yrs. They do not belong to me. Owner was very abusive & didn't care whether they ate or had water to drink. I took it upon myself to step in to make sure they were fed & watered. Of course the more I did the more owner let me do. Only background I'm sure of is history I have with them since they were brought to adjoining property. Owner knew absolutely nothing about sheep. I researched, asked questions to all sorts of people trying to care for these sheep. Long story short Owner would bring only 1) 50lb bag deer corn a week. Bought round bales of corn stalk to take place of grass since there was too many sheep on half acre in residential area in country but we're still house to house. All sheep were starved when they arrived. Couple were from sale yards also starved too old to breed. Needless to say my 1st yr was quite an ordeal. I know tons more now than I did but never heard of that wasting disease. I was hoping from observation shes probably wormy, her twins were trying to nurse but she didnt have milk, too weak to fight her way to 1 plastic tub they were fed in & was fed pretty much trash to survive on. So hoping one on one treatment, diet full of everything imaginable to build her system back up so she can get stronger, being fed by herself to assure she gets all she needs.
I'm disable on fixed income so I certainly wasn't & still aren't financially able to provide for sheep like they should be. But with lots of friends, feed stores, endless students & many many others helping I have managed to keep us all a float. That all came to a halt when owner abandoned them supposedly gave them to a man 3 drs down from me. I hated it. I cried but hoped since that man owned dorpers he would tak care of these. Well I have never been so wrong about something in my life. These sheep have all become pets you may as well say. You can't imagine videos & pictures of "Tina's Barn Yard Fun ". I was told I could come visit them at anytime which I was very reluctant to do but had a gut feeling something was horribly wrong. My gut was right. 4) ewes had already died from starvation. 31 were in a small coral with rams. 22 are pregnant due in Jan. Dorpers being a stronger breed kept Barbados from being able to eat or drink. They were in sewer mud 2' deep from busted pipe & alot of rain. U couldn't even tell what color they were. I was sick to my stomach & cried entire time I was taking fences & gates down to let them out. They knew I was there to save them. I just looked a man said I'm taking them home if you've got anything to say about it it's probably best you don't. I hollered, called them by their names, talked them all the way home. No bucket, no feed, no corn, no chasing, no dogs.....just me & them, all 31 of them. So once I got them settled I done somewhat of an emergency inspection to figure out where & with who I had to start with. It took me 3 days to get them separated by critical status. Skipper, Barbie, Little Bit, BB, Little Miss, Wild Thang, all Barbaro ewes (carrying twins as they have pervious 2 yrs). All are due in Jan. Had I not got them back when I did Skipper, Barbie, Little Bit would be dead now. Their unborn babies were pulling them down quick since they were being starved. I have 3) orphans. 1) orphaned at 45 days old, other 2) twins at 60 days old. Very very sick.
So my critical pen started with:
6)Barbado blackbelly ewes pregnant w/twins
2)Dorper ewes (didn't know were pregnant gave birth soon after being penned
2) lamb newborns
3)wool cross orphans
4)sets wool cross/barbado twins.
I've had them for almost 2 mths & have managed to move some over to pen#2 malnourished sheep & 2) rams.
I can proudly say I only have Skipper, Barbie, 2) orphans Lucy & Graycee still in critical pen but I added Snow white headed dorper to pen cuz she's carrying triplets. I saved her & 1 baby out of triplets last yr cuz she was starving. So I want to keep close eye on her. Plus she eats licorice out of my pocket.
Pen#2
1)barbado ram
1)TX Dall Ram
4) Barbado blkbelly ewes showing signs birthing is close.
3)ram lambs
1)lamb twin
2)yearling ewes pregnant for 1st time.
Doing great! Ready for deliveries as ewes are.
Pen#3
6)black headed dorpers
2)dorper ewes should have had their babies already
1)young dorper ram
All in great condition!!
So I'm really excited about how their recovery has progressed including critical pen. In couple of those pics if you can look at them a little closer or even enlarge it you can see how much weight Skipper & Barbie have gained. Barbie was so bad she didn't even have milk bag, well none of them did really but she's due 1st. I was expecting her to deliver her twins last night & expected Snow deliver her triplets 2 days ago.
A new problem presents itself I've never dealt with...barber pole worm. Deworming very sick lambs & weak pregnant ewes is quite hard in my opinion. But managed to drench 3) orphans but not Skipper, Barbie or Snow. Their to close to delivery so I have to wait till after kidding, according to everything I read, to do them. So many of them & only 1 of me! Potentially looking at an additional 20 to add to count after all babies are born over period of 8-10 days.
There is a light at end of tunnel. 2nd man gave them away again. New owner has plans of taking them to Cleburne livestock auction once their healthy & they've had all their babies. They'll finally finally hopefully be cared for by sure nuff sheep ranchers. So fingers crossed I have all Normal births & this barber pole worm doesn't reick havoc while I'm trying to figure out how I proceed with treatment. I know this worm is bad news for sure & be quick killer of sickly ewes nursing newborns.
Wow when I get started talking about my misfits I have tendency to go on & on. Hope I haven't broke another community rule.
So have a great day!!
Time to go ck to see if I have new babies this morning!! Didn't 2 hrs ago though! LOL
Best of luck
