Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

Poor Mel. Could it be allergies?

They did a blood test and it was bacterial. This has been fairly expensive this year since this is the third time but we will do what we need to to keep him healthy.

 

[Mike CHS]

We aren't quite sure what to think about our breeding and lambing results. There was 32 days in between the 1st set of twins born and the second set of twins and now they are being born in what seems like batches with Pepper being the latest with triplets.

 

[Baymule]

I guess it took awhile for Oshi to get warmed up!

 

[Mike CHS]

One of Pepper's lambs didn't seem to have any idea of what she was supposed to do and even after a half hour or so of trying to persuade her to latch on to a teat, nothing happened. Teresa went to mix some colustrum and it turned out it was out of date so we went into town to get some replacement.

By the time we got back home, all three of Pepper's lambs had nursed and they were happy but at least we have some good colostrum for any that need it.

This lamb gives new meaning to being slow minded. She is extremely long legged and when I was trying to move most of the sheep to an adjoining paddock, the lamb joined the rest of the flock in running to me. This is when the lamb is only an hour old and it went at full speed AWAY from her mom. We wound up getting Pepper and her lambs all in a stall and plan on keeping them there for a couple of days to start getting Pepper back in condition and the lambs bonded with her. She had one ewe lamb and two ram lambs.

 

[farmerjan]

Store the packaged colostrum in the freezer... it is freeze dried anyway. It will hold it's "value" for several years after the "expiration date". This is from a vet that told me the same with bovine colostrum. He said that the dates are on there to protect the companies from any liability if is should be mixed and checked with the special meter they have to determine the strength of the colostrum... if there is no date someone could have some that was 10 yrs old, stored in hot conditions, and it will lose some strength... several of my dairy farmers will check colostrum from their animals, before they start to save any and freeze it...
ANY colostrum that has been stored responsibly is better than none... it is not just the antibodies that are important... it is also the consistency and several enzymes that are present that help the lambs/calves to pass the meconium and get the gut tract to working.... Granted, if it is convenient to go get more that is great... but any is better to get some in the baby... often that will get them "up and going" better and then they can latch on and get some of mom's too...

Glad that they got it figured out, and that you got them in to bond with Pepper better...

 

[Baymule]

I had a stupid lamb once. Her mom was stupid too. That lamb crawled through cow panels to follow Trip around. I guess a big white fluffy Great Pyrenees looked better than mom. Trip did not like stupid lamb trying to nurse on him. I had to chase Stupid down and put her back with mom. I even found Stupid following a chicken, bleating her fool head off. I took both to auction.

 

[Baymule]

Congratulations on the triplets. Pepper gave y’all a nice surprise. What do you give her for “extra” to help her feed her babies? More feed? Or do you have a something special for triplet moms?

 

[Mike CHS]

We supplement with a grain blend that is 16% protein and they digest it well.

 

[Mike CHS]

Two more sets of twins this morning. I was really happy to see that our #92 ewe had given birth as she was about a month away from being culled since she is pushing two years old and these are her first lambs. We really would have liked to have gotten a ewe out of her but both lambs are rams. Her body composition is unique for our sheep and she really looks like a Texel with her stocky and muscular build.

 

[farmerjan]

Maybe her unique build was also a factor in some later maturing "genetics"... and may contribute to longer lasting in the herd. One of my dairyman had a "family of cows" that were genetically real good on paper... yet as 2 yr olds they were mediocre in the production... but after the next lactation, they really came on and made tons of milk for many years. They were just a little slower to fully mature and come to their potential. They also produced daughters that were basically the same way... yet there were several generations in there when he sold old nearly 2 years ago... some in the 7-8 yr old brackets... and most dairy farmers do not want to buy "old cows" but the farm they sold them to... all 200 went to one place... all agreed on about 25-30 that needed culling and when it came time to look at the older cows, the buyer said, no, do not cull just on their age... they have very good records...
Twins first time out is good if she has what she needs to raise them.... and now that she has physically matured, you will hopefully have some females in future lambings. With her tendencies to "build" and such.