Messages

1

All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Anybody out there?

« on: October 10, 2020, 04:32:24 pm »

Hi, not much traffic here anymore unfortunately. For a show lamb, alfalfa or a good grass hay will work. We feed one large handful with each feeding.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Best Rams for Lai that dominantly throw balance and correctness

« on: December 29, 2018, 02:53:20 pm »

Honestly, all the rams I have seen advertised for LAI are pretty dang good structurally and should improve most flocks overall. I would be looking for the ram that works the best genetically with what you've got while fixing the specific areas you need to improve. Extension and neck set? Rib and pin width? Find the buck that is the most lined up with your ewes that will fix those specific areas.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Recurring Choke

« on: November 27, 2018, 11:37:41 am »

I have had some choke issues in my sheep in recent years. It almost always is with grain though, not hay. There DOES seem to be some genetic component that I have noticed. One ewe, plus her daughter and granddaughter will all do it. I am not sure if it is a defect in the structure of their throat or if they are all just gluttonous hogs that eat too fast. I have have had a couple sheep over the years that would do it repeatedly on hay and then quit. I suspect in those cases it was caused by an injury to the throat. Maybe from swallowing something too big or sharp? Pipestone has suggested that the puking/cud spilling that can accompany choke may be a vagus nerve issue. I wish I had more answers for you! If they are bolting grain, you can slow them down by wet feeding, but ewes that choke on hay are harder to manage.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Pregnecol / PG600

« on: May 18, 2018, 12:18:16 pm »

Have not used Pregecol. Did try PMSG this year. Seemed to have similar marking rates to the PG600. I would certainly follow the refrigeration recommendation on the label. I did hear that Merck will be releasing more PG600 at the end of the month.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: How Do You Stop Wood Chewing?

« on: January 14, 2018, 01:20:02 pm »

I would agree with giving them some long stem hay each day. Something that satisfies their need to chew. A lower quality grass or grain (oat, wheat, rye, barley, triticale, etc) hay will probably put an end to their wood chewing.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: How Do You Stop Wood Chewing?

« on: January 05, 2018, 11:07:31 am »

We have a lot of wood and our sheep never really chew it. I am guessing maybe they are needing more fiber? Are you feeding enough hay?

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I figured out, i cant make any money on raising sheep

« on: January 04, 2018, 10:59:16 am »

Sounds good. It usually takes them a couple days to figure out that they are supposed to eat it, but once they get used to eating wet feed, they really like it. It is especially good as a lactation feed. They milk really well thanks to the high protein.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I figured out, i cant make any money on raising sheep

« on: January 01, 2018, 01:00:20 pm »

Like any feed, it has to be part of a complete balanced ration. It averages about 26% protein and most of the starch has been cooked out of it. So it is not really a replacement for grain but really more of a protein supplement. It does allow us to feed a lower quality hay (grass hay instead of alfalfa) plus lets us cut the amount of corn we feed about in half. We feed the ewes up to about 4 lbs of the wet grain a day (which is the equivalent of about 1 lb of dry grain). Basically one heaping shovel full. We feed it to lambs too (keeper ewe lambs and butcher lambs, not show lambs). They won't eat quite as much. The only problem we have had with it is that it is high in phosphorus, which caused some fairly major lambing issues before we started supplementing calcium. Ewes that wouldn't push and prolapsed uteruses. Once we started adding additional calcium, we had no more issues.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I figured out, i cant make any money on raising sheep

« on: December 30, 2017, 04:44:26 pm »

Honeytree, I get the brewers grain from a couple microbreweries. It is a great feed, high protein, moderate energy. But since it is about 75% water, it is very labor intensive. Very heavy and spoils quickly. Or freezes solid in the winter. We collect it in 35 gallon barrels, which end up weighing over 150 lbs full. It will stay fresh a week tops in warm weather. Lasts longer in the winter, but if it gets really cold it will freeze solid. It's a lot of work but has cut our feed bill by more than half, so it is worth it to us. Wish we had almond hulls here. I hear they are great feed.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Bottle Babies

« on: December 30, 2017, 04:37:07 pm »

We usually only end up with one, maybe two bottle lambs a year lambing out 40-50 ewes. For just one, I usually end up bottle feeding it. However if I do end up with more, I prefer a lamb bar bucket. It is a huge time saver as you only have to fill it once a day. Lambs grow well on the free choice cold milk replacer.

I strongly prefer the Pipestone milk replacer over all others I have tried.

As far as culling factors for ewes, any ewe that rejects a lamb would be gone. I have no tolerance for ewes that won't raise their own babies fortunately, in 17 years lambing, I have only had that occur once. A ewe that is fed well but doesn't have enough milk for her lambs is also gone. Aside from that, it comes down to quality. Since we are raising show lambs, a ewe that does no raise show quality lambs is moved out. We do also sell good ewes every year simply to make room for our keeper ewe lambs. These ewes are normally our older genetics, often very good proven mothers, but since we have to keep moving forward, they are sold.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I figured out, i cant make any money on raising sheep

« on: December 27, 2017, 11:30:57 am »

It is really tough to make money on these guys, Jim, at least in California where feed expenses are so high. If you have good grazing that definitely helps to cut down on the expenses. We further cut our expenses by feeding brewers grain, which is quite labor intensive but we get it for free, so it is worth it for us.  Most small breeders will tell you that they are happy to break even. If the expenses are too high but you love them too much to get rid of them, which I totally understand, just cut back on your numbers. Heck, look into Dorpers. They are hot right now. They get by on almost half the feed and registered lambs are going for as much or more than club lambs. Not sure how long these prices will last, but I don't foresee them dropping in the near future.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Manure Disposal

« on: October 24, 2017, 03:30:36 pm »

Best thing we ever did was buy a tractor yesterday. Made it SOOOO much easier to stay on top of keeping the pens cleaner. Now we pile it up, compost it, and then spread on pasture.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Manure Disposal

« on: October 20, 2017, 04:02:47 pm »

Local gardeners are always begging for my manure. But I am a hog. I use it all on my pastures. List on your local FB page or Craigslist. Except then you have to be prepared to for potential weirdos coming onto your property.

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: I am kicking around the ideal of A.I.

« on: September 28, 2017, 07:42:12 pm »

That sounds pretty exciting!

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All Sheep and Lamb Discussion / Re: Sheep stand

« on: September 28, 2017, 07:39:48 pm »

When I saw it, it was around $800. That was two or three years ago. We have used a homemade version and yes, they do work. Helps especially in breaking lambs that are heavy headed or pull back.