The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Womble on June 06, 2018, 02:52:52 pm
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How about a thread to share the little things we've each learned on our journey which make life with sheep easier? You know, the things that you think "if only I'd known that when I first started!".
If you read this list and say "hey, I told him that three years ago", please know that I'm eternally grateful!
I'll start, then please add your own :thumbsup: :
- You can heptavac lambs on your own really easily if you put the lamb's head between your knees, with its bum sticking out away from you. Then use a Sterimatic, and inject over the ribcage. You can also apply fly-strike treatment in the same way.
- Sterimatic refills and stericaps are really expensive, but standard 1" Luer needles do fit the sterimatic - they just don't get sterilised in between animals.
- You can immobilise a sheep by getting it up against a wall and pressing your leg against its ribs.
- A sheep can immobilise you (well, me anyway) by sticking its head between your legs and looking up quickly.
- When condition scoring sheep, as well as pressing along the backbone, you need to press along the side of the short ribs and under them as well if you can. This will give you a much better idea of condition than just pressing the top of the spine.
- You can also tell a lot about condition by feeling the base of the tail in a similar way.
- Re-usable syringes (used for drenching) can get stiff and dry after a while. To keep them moving, just unscrew the cap that holds the plunger on, and fill the wrong side of the syringe with water. This water won't actually go anywhere, but will slide up and down with the plunger, and keep everything moving freely.
- Pregnancy scanning is well worth the money, even just so you know how many lambs to expect during each lambing.
- When tube feeding lambs, pinch their throats a little, so that you can feel the tube actually going down, and past your fingers (It's far easier to do it that way than to try and feel for the tube once it's already down). Also, mark the tube with a sharpie, so that you know when you've got to the point you should be able to feel.
- Lamb poo starts off black and sticky, then turns orange and peanut buttery (this is an indication that the milk is getting through), before turning brown again like normal sheep poo when they start eating grass. The bright orange stuff is normal, and nothing to worry about!
- Seeing tapeworm segments in sheep poo is not a cause for panic.
- Sheep can go squitty if you move them onto lusher grazing or wet grass. This should clear up after a couple of days, once their internal compost heaps rebalance themselves.
- When applying elastrator bands, there's no rule that says you can't tie a piece of string over the scrotum first, to keep the balls in place until you've applied the band.
- Sheep have a bump at the back of their tongues, and it's really important to get drenching guns (and even more importantly bolus guns) over the bump.
- When dagging, keep the shears parallel with the skin of the sheep. Don't pull on the wool, as if you do, you'll likely cut into the skin.
- A standard disposable syringe is really useful for removing splinters. Just put the nozzle over the splinter and pull the plunger out to create suction.
- Vetrap is marvelous stuff for bandaging injuries, but be careful you don't put it on too tightly.
- Udder cream is marvelous stuff too. It can even be used for udders.
- Baby wipes can be used to wipe babies of all species.
- Baler twine. That is all.
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Lamb poo: if really rich at the yellow stage, can harden around the anus and block the outlet, causing high pressure in the lambs gut. Stand back when you release it!
Baler twine: has a hateful habit of forming loops and strangling sheep, especially lambs. Check for loops every time you walk a field.
Sheep: don't want to die, contrary to popular 'wisdom'. They want to live, which means staying away from their biggest predator - us - and hiding every sign of illness or weakness until they are too bad to keep going. It's up to us to spot the near-invisible signs.
Good topic Womble - I hadn't come across the splinter/syringe scenario :thinking:
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I'm gonna try that splinter/syringe method for sure!
When working with sheep don't hurry, things always go smoother if you go slower, no matter what the job (moving, drenching, lambing, everything).
Spend time sitting and watching your sheep. Sheep are clever, watch and understand what their behaviour is telling you.
Go with your gut feeling, if you think something is wrong is probably is, so act straight away, don't leave it until tomorrow. Even if it turns out not to be a problem you will sleep better knowing that. (the exception is if you are a real newbie in which case you think everything is wrong, when it totally isn't, lol)
Don't leave baler twine in heaps on the floor/in a bag - cut off the knots and hang it up somewhere - it only takes a second (I hang a safety knife next to where I hang my twine, together with a bucket for the knots). You will be thankful of easy access, untangled twine when you need some in an emergency!
You can never have enough buckets.
Teach your sheep to come when you call (and/or shake a bucket of food), even if you have a sheepdog.
Re-usable syringes (used for drenching) can get stiff and dry after a while. To keep them moving, just unscrew the cap that holds the plunger on, pull it out and coat it in cooking oil - do this every other time you clean it.
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My sister was last seen taking a helicopter impersonating ewe across a field on a halter. I had left her with 4 ewes. Two halter trained for showing, two are not......
I asked a friend to lead the ewes and new lambs out of the barn and back to grazing. She arrived with all the ewes but the lambs had decided not to follow quick enough and lost sight of the ewes who were after the bucket of feed.
We tried moving the lambs with a bucket but at the stage they were more interested in mum than creep. Ended up with us carrying them individually back to mum.
Make sure you tell people which sheep & which method to use when you ask them to move them.
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When you think you have enough hurdles, you need at least two more!
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If using shears for dagging hard bits off their bottoms, always keep your mouth tightly shut.
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If giving a heavily constipated lamb an enema, don't look too closely to check you're pushing the syringe in right.