Ringo’s Lambs! Baymule’s 5th Lambing

[Baymule]

Thanks Mike!

 

[Baymule]

Yesterday I castrated the ram lambs. The black one is looking so good, that I hated to cut him, but a mutt ram is not what I want at this time. Since BJ banged himself up unloading lambs at the packing house, I had a neighbor come over to hold them for me.

Taking Lambs To Slaughter

Our lamb loading has a lot to be desired. We have invited our friend over to help us catch and carry lambs to the trailer, it took 2 or 3 of us, that worked, not great, but it worked. I have tackled them in the lot, slipped a halter on them and led/dragged them to the trailer with me pulling and...

www.backyardherds.com

Neighbor had never seen the process of castration, he was a little uneasy. He held them tight, very little wiggle, it was quick, over, sprayed the wound and set them down to run back to Momma. I checked on them a few times and by evening, they were maybe not bouncing around, but not walking spraddle legged either. I closed the dogs out to give the wethers time to heal. The dogs always have a "lick fest" on the sheep, it made me wonder if the dogs licking their little behinds would retard healing or speed it up. Anyone?

 

[B&B Happy goats]

@Baymule, contrary to the belief that dogs licking a wound (on people or themselfs) Is good....a dogs mouth is very germ filled a nd nasty...., I would think that after licking ones own bottom and then a lambs open num num incision, that would be a recipe for a nasty infection

 

[Baymule]

@Baymule, contrary to the belief that dogs licking a wound (on people or themselfs) Is good....a dogs mouth is very germ filled a nd nasty...., I would think that after licking ones own bottom and then a lambs open num num incision, that would be a recipe for a nasty infection

That is my thoughts too. The dogs are closed out. When I put Sentry up last night, he curled up in the hay as close as he could get to Ringo in the other pen.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

That is my thoughts too. The dogs are closed out. When I put Sentry up last night, he curled up in the hay as close as he could get to Ringo in the other pen.

SENTRY is going to be one special dog, you can see the way he reacts to all you have been teaching him. I think you got another heart dog in your life

 

[Baymule]

BJ and I were talking about him last night. I've had some really smart dogs, trained them to all sorts of voice commands, hand signals and tricks. Sentry is brilliant smart, but he will never be a "trick on command" kind of dog. He is so smart that he transcends doing tricks, he is so above that, not in a snooty way, but in a wise way. He is not my sidekick, he is my partner. We are equals.

 

[Beekissed]

Bay, have you ever tried banding for sheep? I've never really discussed that with sheep people, but did my first lamb via cutting and vowed never to do THAT again. Seriously bungled that job and figured I'd band from now on.

 

[farmerjan]

If a ram lamb needs to be wethered, they get banded. We either band the calves young, or they get banded bigger with the "callicrate" brand bander that you can do even 800 lb bulls with. But the ram lambs do not get banded as many are sold as older rams with their large horns for the hunting preserve. Sometimes there will be one that doesn't grow much for horns, but with the ethnic markets, they prefer the males to be intact so we seldom band any anymore. Band at birth to 2 days or so, as soon as the testicles descend. Give tetanus ANTITOXIN, not toxoid, if you feel the need to. Many do not do anything more than band. Don't do any cutting unless one has a nut that didn't descend and it can be felt/found later on. It can be a tough job. For just cutting a calf it isn't so hard, but we have had some pretty bad experiences, with vets doing the cutting.... so we just prefer to band.

 

[Mike CHS]

We had the vet castrate ram lambs during our first season but we had multiple problems with them. After that we went back to banding any we are going to keep for meat and leave intact any that we are going to take to market.

 

[Baymule]

I have never banded lambs. I cut them and have never had a problem with any of them. What problems have you had @Mike CHS and @Beekissed ? I cut them young, they run back to momma, by that evening they are pretty much back to normal.