Worms Not Foxes
Yesterday I noticed that one of the merino ewes had a small patch of flystrike on her rear end, so I arranged to have them crutched. My neighbour and shearer were very understanding and came to do the crutching today. With the sheep in the shed I realised that the two sheep that had died were both lambs. I mentioned this to the shearer and he immediately checked the sheep's eyes and gums. They had worms. The lambs that died most probably died from the worms and the foxes ate the carcasses. The condition of the sheep was so bad that he returned this evening with a drench for the sheep and with lots of help I drenched all the sheep. I think this possibly saved their lives. Time will tell. They are now in a clean paddock.
All this time I have been very careful to move the sheep to the next paddock after about four weeks, mostly less. I had avoided drenching for worms up until now and I had been lucky because I have been rotating the sheep regularly, but I think the worms have caught up with me. I will have to look into what drench to use and plan to check the sheep and drench as needed. This has been a very expensive lesson, loosing two very good lambs in the process.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Two Sheep Dead
I went up to talk to the sheep today, as I had been paying more attention to the cows lately. I have been up the hill and checked the troughs every day, but I hadn't stayed for a 'chat' and a head count. This afternoon there were two missing, so I started walking over the paddock to find them. I found them all right, in pieces. The rest of the poor sheep had been in the same paddock for possibly days and been in danger of further attack. Russell and I had gone for a walk last weekend and counted them then, so they were killed over the last week. I moved the rest of the sheep down to the 'Triangle Paddock' next to the shed and then with a list of names in my hand I went through a process of elimination and I think the two dead sheep are Pinky and her daughter Little Pinky. I could tell that one was younger and had a red tag, but I couldn't find the tag of the other one and couldn't tell how large it had once been. Russell will bring his rifle up next weekend that we are here and try and get rid of some foxes for me. I was worried about doing that before but now it's different, I've lost two very good sheep that shouldn't have died (plus 'Cross' about six months ago from the same paddock). Now I have 18 sheep and one ram (soon to be sold). Three of these sheep are wethers but also some are non-productive. There are possibly 11 potentially productive ewes, including some lambs from last season. This loss brings the numbers right down.
I went up to talk to the sheep today, as I had been paying more attention to the cows lately. I have been up the hill and checked the troughs every day, but I hadn't stayed for a 'chat' and a head count. This afternoon there were two missing, so I started walking over the paddock to find them. I found them all right, in pieces. The rest of the poor sheep had been in the same paddock for possibly days and been in danger of further attack. Russell and I had gone for a walk last weekend and counted them then, so they were killed over the last week. I moved the rest of the sheep down to the 'Triangle Paddock' next to the shed and then with a list of names in my hand I went through a process of elimination and I think the two dead sheep are Pinky and her daughter Little Pinky. I could tell that one was younger and had a red tag, but I couldn't find the tag of the other one and couldn't tell how large it had once been. Russell will bring his rifle up next weekend that we are here and try and get rid of some foxes for me. I was worried about doing that before but now it's different, I've lost two very good sheep that shouldn't have died (plus 'Cross' about six months ago from the same paddock). Now I have 18 sheep and one ram (soon to be sold). Three of these sheep are wethers but also some are non-productive. There are possibly 11 potentially productive ewes, including some lambs from last season. This loss brings the numbers right down.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
My Very Own Cattle Yards
Yesterday the panels and gates for my cattle yards were delivered and today Steven and Lucy came and helped us put them together. I haven't tried getting the cows in there yet but when we finished I opened all the gates and let the cows and calves get familiar with the yards. I have included lots of photographs of the yards, including photos of inquisitive calves. They're gorgeous. The white pair are just over six weeks old.
I have also included the plan for the yards. I found the plan in a commercial cat
alogue but had the panels and gates custom made by the son of a local, who has set himself up in business making yards. I had the panels custom made with two extra lower rungs to accommodate sheep for when I have so many lambs that I have to sell them. The yards here cost $6,000. I have not ordered the ramp yet, as I need to recover from this cost before I can outlay more, plus I don't need it just yet. I plan to get an adjustable ramp made, again to accommodate loading sheep onto a trailer, as well as cattle onto a truck.
Yesterday the panels and gates for my cattle yards were delivered and today Steven and Lucy came and helped us put them together. I haven't tried getting the cows in there yet but when we finished I opened all the gates and let the cows and calves get familiar with the yards. I have included lots of photographs of the yards, including photos of inquisitive calves. They're gorgeous. The white pair are just over six weeks old.
I have also included the plan for the yards. I found the plan in a commercial cat
alogue but had the panels and gates custom made by the son of a local, who has set himself up in business making yards. I had the panels custom made with two extra lower rungs to accommodate sheep for when I have so many lambs that I have to sell them. The yards here cost $6,000. I have not ordered the ramp yet, as I need to recover from this cost before I can outlay more, plus I don't need it just yet. I plan to get an adjustable ramp made, again to accommodate loading sheep onto a trailer, as well as cattle onto a truck.Purchasing the yards is very timely, as I heard only yesterday that the property where we took the cows to the yards before when Harry was taken to the butchers is on the market and may not be available in the future.
Over the next few weeks, I will purchase a 5-in-1 injection kit and arrange for someone to help me inject and tag the four calves and 'mark' the two boys. That will be a whole new experience, as I didn't actually do this last time. I need to learn to do these things myself, but I don't think I'm ready to do it alone just yet.
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