Topics

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Weak yearling ewe

« on: February 07, 2017, 03:25:25 pm »

So last Thursday, we had a weak yearling ewe, bred to lamb the beginning of April.  When she stood, her back end was very shaky and she immediately laid down again.  She didn't have a temp but was shivering.  She continued to get worse throughout the day but continued eating well, didn't look in pain, and was very alert.  The vet finally got back to us and was pretty clueless about what it could be so had us give her A,D, and E, Bo-Se, propylene glycol, and penicillin.  She continued getting weaker.  Early Saturday my daughter was able to connect with her former university prof who said that the lab farm had a ewe like that last year and to give her calcium gluconate either IV or just under the skin.  Within an hour she was showing some improvement and has continued to steadily improve to the point that she gets up easily and walks short distances just a bit stiffly.  The sheep are getting decent grass hay with some alfalfa in it.  We have never had a calcium issue before and are stumped as to the cause but happy that she is on the mend.  The prof said if anyone else looks weak to mix lime and salt to get them extra calcium. 

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Off ewe

« on: October 21, 2016, 04:41:08 pm »

I have a 9 year old ewe that is not bred yet.  She was always the pet of the flock and the biggest pig!  The last couple of months, she just hasn't been herself.  She doesn't come for treats and hangs back while the others eat. Often she is lying down away from the rest of the flock.  Her feet are good as are her teeth.  We have temped her a few times over the past few weeks and no temp.  We penned her with some market lambs a month ago and she was eating well and acting more normal so we put her back with the ewe flock and she started acting off again.  Today we  noticed her ears were cold and her temp was at 100.2.  Any thoughts on what could be wrong with her?

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Barn Ideas

« on: July 29, 2015, 01:26:13 pm »

We lost our dairy barn in a fire a few weeks ago.  We sold the cows and are implementing our long term plans of going into a cow/calf beef operation and increasing our sheep flock from 20 to 50 ewes.  We are working with UW-Extension and UW Madison on site planning and building design.  The Ag Engineer we are working with wants us to come up with a dream list of what we want our new facilities to contain.  So sheep breeders, what do you have in your sheep barn that you couldn't do without or what don't you have that you really wish you did?