[dyedinthewool]

Hi,
I've only four ram lambs to go to market next week BUT..... they did have dirty bums (some fresh grass) so I dagged and trimmed  around there back ends and tails.  I've given them clean straw in their shed but the seem determined to poo and then lie in it.....    is there an easy way to give them a bath?
  's please bearing in mind I now have a bad back from bending over dagging them with my dressmaking scissors

[Brucklay]

I think you've done all you can - hope they dry up a bit on clean bedding (they are spoilt aren't they) and keep your  - I don't think you can be cleaning them continually till they go - sorry for no real remedy - just sheep, when you need/want them to go, something will scupper your plan!!

[jaykay]

I have tied mine to the fence before and washed them the day before selling. But only if you know the weather is good enough for them to dry.

[khajou]

If they are going to market I wouldn't wash them. The grass at this time of year is very wet and tends to go straight thru sheep, hence dirty botts. Give them some hay to eat to slow down their digestive system and they should clear up.

[Foobar]

Get it to dry off then brush it out?

[feldar]

Yes get it to dry then use a plastic curry comb for horses we found that really works on ours

[dyedinthewool]

Hi,
Should have said they do have hay, surprising how much they do eat, maybe they realize this helps  - always gave my horses hay to help dry them up when grass was wet.  Plus found some damp bran sprinkled with a bit of salt worked as well, dont think you can give sheep bran?
 
The're backsides have dried up since the weather has done the same but still some 'general dirty fleece' on their tummys and legs were they lie down.
 
Hadn't thought of a plastic currycomb will pick one one up tomorrow and give it a try just wanted them to look good as Lamb prices are down at my local mart and to take them to Cardigan where prices are better won't be worth the extra mileage/time for just four boys, okay if you're selling a load it would be worth it.

[Mallows Flock]

LOL.. I hear ya on this one.
Whenever I think NOW is the time to sell a couple, they scour, start limping with a vengeance, rip their horns off so look semi butchered or do something equally as annoying to make themselves look as unattractive as possible to the potential buyer.
I washed botties over the past few days! Rubber glove, weak solution of topstock shampoo and copious amounts of water outta the hosepipe. They were not impressed at all, but then again, neither was I when i saw the british racing green slurry all over their backsides, thighs, hips, tails, inner leg... and even less inpressed when they 'reversed' into me and wiped a large portion of it up my own leg. 

[dyedinthewool]

LOL.. I hear ya on this one.
Whenever I think NOW is the time to sell a couple, they scour, start limping with a vengeance, rip their horns off so look semi butchered or do something equally as annoying to make themselves look as unattractive as possible to the potential buyer.
I washed botties over the past few days! Rubber glove, weak solution of topstock shampoo and copious amounts of water outta the hosepipe. They were not impressed at all, but then again, neither was I when i saw the british racing green slurry all over their backsides, thighs, hips, tails, inner leg... and even less inpressed when they 'reversed' into me and wiped a large portion of it up my own leg. 

Hi MF
They should have gone a month ago but got them in to do the ear tags and low and behold a real runny bum from one of them, tied him up which didn't impress him, clipped his bum gave them all a wormer drench which meant a nogo for 27 days - a week later I found a Black loose dung - coxi (farms around me had it a few weeks before - their lambs were born March so 4-5 months old) so dosed them for that.
A few days ago -same lamb- limping back nearside leg, got him in joint was warm, jabbed him with Anymycin (can't spell getting late) he was sound the next day.  Bums now clean just dirty fleece from lying down. 

How do 'big' sheep farmers get theirs to look so clean and white they can't surely wash them individually, suppose they must have a dip or something? maybe they have a big wetroom and stick them in there under the shower.    Maybe I could sneak them in and put them in the NEW wet room      don't think OH would be very impressed though.

[feldar]

Another tip is if you have grass stains on the fleece or wee stains try a bit of carpet Vanish spray, rub into the fleece and lightly tamp off this works a treat for our Hampshires. Don't get it on their skin though, just on the fleece. if you use it on a shorn sheep that's laid in mud then just wash off a bit afterwards so none is actually left on the skin. I don't think it burns them but better to be safe than sorry.
 

[JUNIOR MEMBER pufflepets]

Carr day and Martin Stain spray for horses is pretty good too... it's violet so counteracts the green but the violet doesn't stain. You can't even see it once its rubbed in. I have used this on my Charollais' before showing! But obviously doesn't get rid of the scour....just the green stain left behind!

[jaykay]

Lol, I'm guessing that post was Mum and not Puffle?

[SallyintNorth]

How do 'big' sheep farmers get theirs to look so clean and white they can't surely wash them individually, suppose they must have a dip or something? maybe they have a big wetroom and stick them in there under the shower.    

Well, this 450-500 lambs per annum farmer does not wash the sheep, no, and does present them clean and dry at market or abattoir, yes.

Keeping them wormed, fluked, mineralled, on the right ground and a little bit of cake helps.  Dagging when dirty, keeping on top of any foot problems.  Dag and bellies clipped before loading.  Inside on straw the night before travel if they're wet or loose.  If not in overnight, hunger, on straw or clean concrete, for a couple of hours before loading (so they don't make the trailer floor wet and mucky and then get that all over themselves.)  (If hungering on concrete, keep an eye so they don't lie in their own wee and poo.)

We also have, over the years, evolved ways of handling them that minimise the amount of jumping over each other and generally spreading whatever wet dirtiness they can find all about the whole batch. 

Plus, the majority of our lambs have 'tight skins', which is a big help.  The water and muck doesn't stick so badly to this type of fleece as it would to something more shaggy.

Now, in terms of preparation of show sheep, that would be a whole different story.  And showering / dipping, washing faces with weak solution of Daz, combing, you name it, it all happens!    (But not on this farm, we don't show our sheep now.)

[dyedinthewool]

Thanks for all the suggestions. 
Will give a couple a try, just to add to the list of 'problems' went out this afternoon and one of them had rubbed his head on the blocks holding up the diesel tank and knocked his 'stub of a horn'  Blood all over half of his face looked like an A&E case.  Put some gentian on it to dry it up and keep any flies off so now he has a purple blob to add to his grass stains.
SITN - do you always dag and clip bellys or is it just at this time of year that they have to be done.? Two of mine are a bit 'shaggy' not tight fleeced the other two aren't so bad. I can keep them in overnight will just have to de-straw them in the morning.

[SallyintNorth]

SITN - do you always dag and clip bellys or is it just at this time of year that they have to be done.? Two of mine are a bit 'shaggy' not tight fleeced the other two aren't so bad. I can keep them in overnight will just have to de-straw them in the morning.

We don't always clip bellies, no - but if it's a wet muddy time we do, or if a lamb is particularly shaggy and/or dirty.  Basically the abattoir won't wash them, if the belly is dirty there's a chance of the whole carcase getting condemned - so not worth the risk.  Later in the year, when everywhere is wet and muddy, the marts and abattoirs start insisting on clipped bellies.

Dagging - we always always dag anything a bit dirty, again it's not worth the risk of getting the carcase condemned.  (We send by far the majority of our lambs direct to slaughter.)