Hello all,
I wanted to (belatedly) thank Woolyshepherd for her advice when I phoned her (on two occasions!) out of the blue because my local 'sheep expert' and vet were unavailable and I was in a panic.
Sorry for the extended absence from TAS but i was offered 3 months of computer work and couldn't afford not to take it (working 8-6 every day in front of a computer + 1 3/4 hrs commute - I couldn't face spending my personal time on the computer too).
I got the three (Shetland) ewes in December and borrowed a ram around March, for about 6 weeks - I didn't note the dates - which proved to be a mistake.
In accordance with the laws of Sod, everything with the
had been blissfully uneventful since their arrival right up 'til the point when I was up to my ears in work.
Then, one evening (near end of July) I noticed that one seemed to be some distance from the others, and moving around under the hedge - unusual - but I thought she
might be near to giving birth, and wanted to be somewhere quiet for the birth - so I made the decision to leave her be and check on her the next morning.
That proved to be a mistake as the next morning she was obviously unwell. It was fly strike. We tried to treat it but she died later that day.
We rounded up the other two ewes - one of them had a small patch of strike too. Curiously, although this particular ewe is by far the tamest (she will come up to me and let me run my hand over her back), she's an absolute bugger when it comes to any kind of handling (hoof trimming/ shearing, etc), and as a result, shearing and crovect spraying was quite stressful for her. To make matters worse, whilst we were inspecting the 3rd ewe (who was fine) and checking on the 1st (who wasn't), she got into the feed store and gorged herself on ewe nuts.
The next day she was off her food and just lying under the hedge. Determined not to lose another sheep I called in the vet, who gave her vitamin and antibiotic jabs. that night she gave birth to a premature lamb - he was too weak to stand and despite tube feeding him & keeping him warm he only lasted until noon. The good news - the ewe started eating again and has been fine ever since (once she got over to loss of the lamb).
So far my first sheep breeding season wasn't going too well.
Anyway, following that episode I decided to try and tame the remaining wary ewe a bit so I could inspect both ewes closely every day (part of my decision to leave the first ewe be was because she was very wary, and a bugger to catch). To that end I've been hand feeding them every day - just a small pinch of sheep mix - and it's working - I can now run my hands over her neck at least without her reacting.
And on the 27th August - I came out and found her in the shelter (shed). Her water had broken but she was still standing and looking very relaxed. I thought I'd leave her to it for 10 mins whilst I walked the dog - when I came back she was still standing but there was a head and a hoof sticking out - she turned to look at me - and so did the head.
He came out without any trouble - his mum didn't bother to lie down and he was soon on his feet. A big lamb - once he'd leaned to stand he could put his chin on his mums shoulder. Then I was worried about whether his mum was producing enough milk - she only seemed to produce a small amount of milk from one of her small 'vestigial' teats (hence my 2nd call to Woollyshepherd). Turned out I was worrying over nothing and he's put on weight quickly over the following weeks.
So that's where I'm up to now - after my first sheep breeding season I've gone from 3 ewes to 2 ewes and a 6 week old ram.
Still, I've learned that if one of the sheep looks like she's even
thinking about behaving differently to normal, then she gets inspected closely whether she likes it or not.
And those greenish-backed flies get NO MERCY!!
mab
Topic: thanks Woolyshepherd (Read 1724 times)
