The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Bionic on April 21, 2015, 01:25:53 pm
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I know you can get easy care sheep that loose their fleece but Ryeland isn't one of those. She was born last year and has scoured quite a lot. I am wonderinf if loosing her fleece could be something to do with losing condition?
The skin underneath looks fine, not red or itchy.
Any suggetions as to what it could be and what I should give her?
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Sometimes a stress such as diarrhoea will cause the wool to break where it is coming through as the body is busy doing other things and doesn't do the hair/wool growth as well. Some time later depending on time of year and position in the hair cycle, this will show as a break in the fleece. If the skin looks healthy and she's not itchy, that's the most likely explanation.
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I know Ronnies (inc one of mine) can 'moult' some of their fleece, ours is a yearling too and she's mostly losing it from her neck and chest. Shame cos its a lovely fleece just cast about the paddock, the jackdaws will have very comfy nests this year!
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I had a ewe lamb born two years ago with a really strange fleece. She moulted it over the first summer and after that it was perfectly normal. Odd things, sheep. :innocent:
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I have a ewe that is peeling her fleece off from the top down. No itching or any nasties or illness. I think it must be the unseasonably warm weather, she is one who's fleece always rises first and is easy to shear come shearing time in May, so I think it's just been brought forward a bit.
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We have both white and coloured ryelands and at this time of year some of them do start to look very tatty. The mums lose it because of the strain of lambing (I think) and some of the yearlings lose big handfuls. Mind you, trying to get through the hedge doesn't help!!
We had skin scrapes done last year in case it was parasites but nothing found. I'm starting to think to is a lot to do with the weather - heat (or cold), wet (or dry) - take your pick. I've stopped worrying about it now! We shear our probable show sheep as early in January as we can (not allowed to shear before Jan 1st if I remember correctly) so that they have a bit of wool and start to look tidy in time for the Spring festival (Royal Welsh) in May. The rest of them just wait (and get a bit tattier as they go) until everyone gets sheared in June (we have Greyfaces as well, and believe me they are pretty glad to be rid of their fleece by then. Carrying 10kg of wet fleece around in the sunshine cannot be too easy, but it does keep them warm in a cold snap - just like nature intended!