Tag Archives: flock

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Frelsi Farm Icelandics
Bringing New Sheep Home

 

You have just bought your first sheep…or, maybe you have a flock of sheep and now it’s time to add some new and different sheep. Here are a few tips to make the transition easier and safer.

 

Biosecurity is a word you will hear more and more often. It simply means keeping your farm and animals as safe as possible from disease. Be sure the seller has had the sheep you purchase checked by a veterinarian within 30 days of the sale and has the current health certificate for you. Ask about OPP testing. Was the flock tested? When and where was the test done? If the sheep are being purchased at a fair or festival, be sure the sheep have been secured in pens so that nose-to-nose contact with sheep from other flocks was not allowed. Ask about footrot…you don’t want to bring home any health problems.

 

It is always safest to separate or quarantine new sheep. All sheep have their own “germs” and they go along happy and healthy with these germs and are just fine. But when they mingle with new sheep they can share their germs and catch a cold, just like sending kids off to school and they “bring home everything”. You want to be able to watch the new arrivals and be sure they are healthy, that the stress of the trip from one farm to another didn’t cause them to get a cold or pneumonia, or upset their stomachs.

 

For these same reasons, you want to be sure that everyone who comes into your barn or pasture has thoroughly disinfected their boots or shoes at your farm, or wears disposable boots or your own farm boots. This means everyone, even the vet, even your best sheep friends. It only takes a few minutes and it keeps your animals healthy and they don’t take your farm germs away with them to other animals. Biosecurity just makes sense.

 

A small area that is easy to get to and close enough to keep an eye on the new arrivals is handy. Keep them away from your home sheep for at least 2 weeks, a month is even better. It is good practice to avoid walking from the new sheep to the old sheep with the same boots, or at least with dirty boots. Have a disinfectant wash and brush handy or a separate pair of boots. Don’t share buckets or feeders between the new arrivals and the home flock. It may sound fanatical , but it is easier to prevent than cure a problem.

 

Don’t make any drastic changes in the feeding of the sheep. If they were only on pasture and you feed mostly grain and a little hay, make the change slowly. Keep those rumens happy. Don’t forget that all sheep need salt and minerals that are specifically formulated for sheep. The salt and mineral mix needs to be available at all times to all the sheep. Do not give cattle mineral mix to sheep, it has too much copper and can be fatal.

Ask the seller when the sheep were lasted treated for worms. Worms, or internal parasites, are a fact of life for sheep. The sheep need to be dewormed with a sheep approved medication (antihelmintic) on a regular basis. To find out if your sheep have internal worms or parasites, you will need to bring a fecal sample…yes, some sheep poop, to your veterinarian. Just put some fresh “berries” from several sheep in a baggie and take them to the vet .There are several different dewormers; talk with your vet or the seller or another shepherd about what works for them.There are several good sheep health books, and it is a very good idea to have at least one or two. You want to try to keep any new parasites from being introduced into your flock or pasture.

 

Watch the new arrivals, sit near them and get to know them and let them get to know you…watch how the eat, are they eager to eat, are their eyes clear and bright, are their ears up and perky. A sheep that doesn’t feel well often will have droopy ears, be reluctant to get up, cough, have a runny or snotty nose. Be sure they have clean fresh water. Be sure they have shelter from the hot sun or freezing rain and wind.

 

When you have seen that they are just fine, and it has been at least 2 weeks, although 4 is better because some viruses have a 10-14 day incubation period, it is time to combine them with your other animals or give them a larger area to graze. They should be just fine. Spend some time every day just watching them, you will be amazed at how much they teach you.. And never hesitate to call the seller to ask questions.

 

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Frelsi Farm Icelandics
The Healthy Flock

 

Here at Frelsi Farm we innoculate our sheep against rabies, they get an annual CDT (Clostridial Disease and Tetanus), they are OPP (Ovine Progressive Pneumonia) tested each year. We deworm our sheep on a regular basis. Our lambs get an injection of Selenium when they’re born. We are enrolled in the VSFCP (Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program). And our sheep are foot rot free.

 

Which, if you’re new to this, is absolute Greek.

 

Keeping your sheep healthy is multi-step approach which starts with the basics: don’t let them get sick in the first place. And the easiest method is Prevention. Prevention means Bio-Security.

 

Bio-Security means we’re more than a little obsessed with cleanliness. We don’t allow visitors into the areas where the sheep are until they’ve disinfected their boots or shoes (so if you visit, please bring rubber boots!). When we bring a sheep to a show, we don’t bring it home, because we are what is called a “closed flock.” To achieve genetic diversity, we use AI (artificial insemination).

 

So, from where we’re sitting, step one to healthy sheep is to practice good sanitation.

 

Frelsi Farm Icelandics

 

Step two is to provide them with the feed and minerals they need to keep themselves healthy. Your local agricultural agency will be able to help you formulate a salt/mineral blend appropriate for your sheep. No matter what your feed store tells you… you do NOT want to get solid block salt for you Icelandic Sheep. Loose salt/minerals is much better, and doesn’t risk chipping a tooth!

 

We also free feed our sheep Kelp blended with Selenium because it doesn’t exist in our soil, and Vitamin E. We maintain a hopper for salt and a hopper for kelp. Other farms maintain one hopper, putting kelp on one side and salt on the other. Kelp isn’t strictly necessary, but we feel the sheep do better when they have access to it.

 

Icelandic Sheep eat hay, and grass. The hay should be leafy green… alfalfa hay is wonderful, but not necessary. You should never feed moldy hay to sheep. You can feed in round bales if you have the equipment to handle the bales…but whatever you decide to do, you’ll need a reliable source of hay. Or two unreliable sources. You can have your hay tested for feed value if you like, 16% protein is pretty good grass hay. If your hay tests to around 8% you’ll want to supplement the hay with a little grain or alfalfa pellets, or even soy meal, which is a great source of protein.

 

Icelandic sheep don’t require the high protein diets of other meat breeds… so you don’t have to feed the same volume of grains to a Icelandic as you would another breed, making the Icelandic a “thrifty” breed. They thrive on grass. But even if your sheep are positively thriving on grass, water, and their salt/mineral supplement, putting on weight and dancing with health, you might want to feed them a little handful of grain every few days anyway. Our sheep have been bred not only for their health and other physical characteristics, but for their temperaments as well. And a handful of grain will bring them flocking around you for skritches and general bonding. And they’ll start associating you and the bucket with All Things Good! Which, can be very helpful.

 

You’ll also need a supply of fresh clean water. Sheep need a regular source of clean water. Icelandic sheep want to drink a gallon of water a day when they’re pregnant, more when they’re nursing, and in the hot months of the summer, they’ll need to replace volumes of water. Please don’t underestimate the importance of having fresh water for your sheep… but you don’t want to rely on a farm pond unless you’re willing to watch the sides of the pond deteriorate. And the sheep will contaminate the pond. You’ll find a trough system, or even buckets filled regularly, preferable to the pond.

 

Before your sheep arrive, you’ll want to have an area securely fenced for them. You can use either woven mesh, or electrified fencing, depending on your situation. You’ll also need to provide a shelter from the winter wind, and a shelter they can use in the summer to get out of the sun. We use very flexible hoop houses which are surprisingly inexpensive to build and maintain for our Icelandic sheep. Many people like to build a small barn, but the truth is that there are less expensive alternatives, and we suspect the barn is more for the comfort of the shepherd than the sheep!

 

Sheep pick up parasites, and all sheep need to be wormed. There are many schools of thought on wormers and how to use them and what works on our farm may not work on yours. You may be more comfortable talking with your local vet and taking fecal samples in for testing than simply trying the hit or miss approach. You want to worm as often as necessary… but not when unnecessary, because the worms will build up a tolerance for the wormers. However, every shepherd should check their sheep’s eyelids and gums to make sure they are a healthy pink. If they are not, treating the sheep promptly for worms is probably in order.

 

You’ll also need to check and trim you sheep’s feet regularly, lest the nail grow out and curl under, making walking difficult and picking up foreign matter and packing it into the foot. Trimming hooves for the first time is probably easier with two people, one holding and the other trimming. Have your partner lift the sheep up, then sit down on a bucket with the sheep set down on its rump. Put one foot down on the floor between the sheep’s rear feet. Now you’ve got the sheep nice and securely. He may wiggle and struggle, but he’s not going anywhere, and you can concentrate on trimming the feet. Trim them so they’re nice and flat, taking off the excess nail on each side, off the tip if necessary, and off the heel if necessary. Praise the sheep and let it go!

 

A couple of years ago one of our new farms announced that all they really wanted was The List. The List of Supplies to Have On Hand, or the First Aide Kit List, or the List of Lambing Supplies… oh and the list of Spinning Mills too! We’re working on the list. The fact is, that while you’d think you’d be able to get your supplies all from one handy source, you’ll discover you can’t. And one of the extreme frustrations is trying to track down the things you need across multiple suppliers. I won’t lie to you, getting into sheep can be dauntingly expensive if you’re buying all your supplies in one blow, especially since very few of these places package things for small farms. And medications can add up, so you’ll want to buy prudently. We suggest you talk to your local large animal vet, even if you intend to do all your own work, to see if they’ll sell you what you need in smaller quantities. You’ll pay more per dose, but you won’t have to worry about expiration dates on a large bottle.

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Lambing for the First Time

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Frelsi Farm Icelandics

Your Icelandic Sheep: Lambing for the first time

 

Recently a shepherd who will have lambs for the first time emailed me about advice for lambing season, supplies and some advice to help him be ready. After writing back to him, I thought there might be some help in that email for other new and not so new shepherds.

 

It is getting on to the time to think about lambing. Attached is my “lambing supply list” (click here). I always have my well worn copy of Laura Lawson’s Managing Your Ewe and Her Newborn Lamb, the blue book, in the barn with me. Even though this will be our 23rd lambing it is my favorite reference and it has saved many lambs over the years. A good source of supplies is Pipestone Vet supply, they are online and the paper catalogue is a great source of information as well as supplies. I am a “hands on” sort of shepherd at lambing time. I like to be in the barn with the ewes and check on them frequently when I know they are due. I make night barn checks at least every 3 hours; it is not that they can’t lamb without me, I just like to be around. You will find many shepherds with much more “let them just do it alone” sort of attitude, but if my ewes need a hand I want to be there, especially for first-timers.

 

We have a hanging scale and a lamb sling to weigh the lambs, it is useful information. After the lambs have been licked off and gotten to nurse (they need to nurse soon or they get cold and can’t nurse, *read and re-read the information about hypothermia it is critical*) they get the navel trimmed and dipped in iodine and weighed and given two squirts of Pipestone’s Baby Lamb Strength. It is my favorite source of vitamins and a bit of energy calories. Never ever hesitate to take a lamb’s rectal temperature…it tells you more about that lamb’s status than any other piece of information. When folks call me for advice the first thing I will ask is “what is the temperature?”

 

You will want a good lubricant for when you need to “check” a ewe internally to see what is going on….I really like J-lube. I use the powder and reconstitute it in a squeeze bottle of some sort,a dish detergent or shampoo bottle works well. I don’t use gloves, but that is an option. Read and re-read the information of lamb presentations…they can get tangled or be coming backwards etc. Catch one of your friendlier ewes and note how the hooves in front are positioned, bottom of feet down if legs are stretched out in from of her and the bottom of the back hooves are facing up when the back legs are straightened out behind her, feel how the knees flex in the front leg and the back leg…so if you have to feel a lamb in the uterus you will recognize front legs and back legs…a tip * if you have to do an internal examination, close your eyes while you are doing it, you can feel things better and visualize things better. Have a portable catch pen, I use two “premier panels” tied together that I can tie to a fence or gate and trap the ewe in there and close it making a sort of triangle pen that is small, that way if I am alone I can do an internal exam if needed. It isn’t often but if you need to know what is going on, being clean and gentle and doing an exam is far better than a dead lamb. You have first time horned ewes..ram lambs can have very big horn buds that get hung up on the pelvic bones and need help…or tangles twins or tight vulva tissues that the ewe is having trouble getting the first lamb out…if she has feet and nose showing and just pushing and pushing, giving her a little help with the first lamb is fine..she doesn’t have to be heroic and has nothing to prove, she will be a fine mom and the next lamb will come out easier!! No need to have an exhausted ewe. Most of the time things are just fine…..

 

Frelsi Farm IcelandicsIf it is cold I dry the lambs off with a towel after mom has had a chance to lick it…the licking stimulates lots of maternal responses and uterine contractions so she can deliver the twin if there is one. I wait for her to have a chance to nurse the lamb but sometimes they are obsessed with licking the lamb and keep turning around as the lamb just about gets to a teat…I give them 15 minutes, then take the lamb, milk a bit out of each teat to be sure the plug is removed and try to get it on a teat, even if I have to pin mom against a wall..not very graceful and usually they are fine, but a lamb with no milk is a dead lamb! Once they get a few good drinks it usually dawns on mom what this is all about. Some ewes are just great…they seem to have read the book..others need a little help to figure out the whole thing…first timers are just learning , just like first time human moms.

 

I make little pens—“jugs” for my moms and lambs—picking up the lambs and walking backwards slowly holding the lambs close to the ground so mom can see them, and lead her to the jug…she will want to go back to where she lambed if you go too fast…if she runs back, just bring the lambs back and start again. I do not pen up a ewe until after she lambs, they need to pick their place to lamb and have room to pace and dig. In the jug mom gets a bucket of warm water and Karo syrup or molasses and nice hay … do not give her a bunch of grain, she may bloat. Then I attend to the lambs as I described above and let them be. I will check them in an hour to be sure the lambs are full and warm if I have any doubts about mom or a lamb. To check to see if a lamb has nursed, put your thumbs on it’s spine and your fingers under the belly and jiggle the belly with your fingers…it should feel like a little water balloon if it is full…if in doubt check the lamb’s temperature. Little lambs sleep a lot…when they wake up…healthy warm lambs will stretch when they stand up.

Mentoring is important. I tell all the folks that have sheep from us…if you are worried, if you have a problem, call me…I am probably up anyway..it’s lambing season…call my cell phone, or message me. 

As far as medications are concerned , ask your vet for prescriptions or for the meds…oxytocin, (it can be really important if there is no vet near you) and Bo-Se (here in New England there is no selenium in the soil). You will want some penicillin on hand. You will want to get some CD&T vaccine (Pipetstone or other vet supply) and be sure your ewes are vaccinated 4 weeks or so before lambing …you can vaccinate mid March and again at the end of March to be sure they are current..they need to make antibodies in the colostrum. The lambs are born with no immunities…they can absorb antibodies from the colostrum through their stomach lining in the first 12-24 hours of life.

Save that colostrum! Just a little reminder…when you have a ewe with plenty of colostrum, be sure to milk some into a container and freeze it. Colostrum is only produced for the first 24 hours after lambing, but is getting more dilute as each hour goes by. A mature ewe with a single lamb is a good choice for a colostrum source. After the ewe’s lamb has had a good belly full, milk off some for your freezer stash. I save the colostrum in small yogurt cups or small ziplock bags, or breast milk ziplock bags, labeled with the year. I have an “Udderly EZ “ milker…it is easy to use and really helpful if you have to get milk to feed a lamb, to save colostrum or later to milk the ewes for your own use. You can buy them online…well worth the money in my opinion. But it is not difficult to hand milk, into a container. Just easy for the ewe to kick it or knock you or the container over.

If you need colostrum for a lamb, you can simple defrost it and feed it by bottle or tube feeding, if necessary.  Defrost the colostrum in its container in a bowl of warm water.  Never microwave or boil the colostrum, as that will kill the antibodies in it that are so vital for a new lamb.  You can save the colostrum for at least a year in a good freezer. Having some stashed away makes it less chaotic if you find you suddenly need some for a new babe.

A newborn lamb needs at least 80 cc’s (ml’s) per pound of body weight in the first 18 hours of life under fairly warm dry conditions, and about 90 cc’s per pound if it is cold, wet or windy and the lamb is outside.  This means that an 8 pound lamb will need at least 20 ounces of colostrum in 18 hours. You want to divide the feedings so that the lamb is fed every 3-4 hours.  If you are tube feeding, give only 20 cc’s per pound of body weight at each feeding.

So, save that colostrum! You can use up quite a lot on just one lamb.

Lots of stuff to think about,…email with questions, anytime. And, do know that you can always call me during lambing, in the day if is it not an emergency or anytime in an emergency. that is the mentoring part of the price of our lambs…you need a mentor, I did too.

 

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Lambing Supplies–The List

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Frelsi Farm Icelandics
The List: Supplies for Lambing

 

Laura Lawson’s Book, Managing your Ewe: online or Frelsi Farm often has a few.

Digital Rectal Thermometer-must have: baby thermometer available at any pharmacy

Scissors to cut cord: small and sharp 

Iodine for naval 7% or “gentle ” iodine: feed store or pharmacy

“Iodine Naval cup”, “Naval Dipper” yogurt cup: feed store, online or just a small jar

Clean old towels: ask friends and family for old towels 

Baby Lamb Strength or NutriDrench: Baby lamb Strength from Pipestone vet supply (my favorite)

Colostrum or Colostrx or Kid ‘n Lamb Kolostral: or your own frozen supply is best

Lamb Milk replacer: feed store (make sure it is for lambs)

Emery board or small nail pumice stone: pharmacy (for sharp lamb teeth)

Feeding tubes: online, Pipestone, PBS animal health, feedstore

Catheter tip syringes 20 cc & 60cc: Pipestone, PBS, other online vet supply, pharmacy

Pritchard Teat nipples (these need to be cut, they have no opening when new) or other lamb nipple: Feed store or online (fits soda but not water bottles)

Soda bottle or other bottle that fits nipple: grocery or friend (Coke bottles work very well)

Scale (handy but not necessary): vet supply online 

Lamb sling for weighing in hanging scale: online, Pipestone, PBS animal health, feedstore

Obstetric Lubricant “superlube” or J-Lube: Pipestone or other online vet supply

Clean nitrile gloves-optional: pharmacy or online supply feed store

Lambing ropes-make your own: see Laura Lawson Book

Antimicrobial soap: grocery or pharmacy

Clean bucket for soapy water 

Soft small bulb syringe: Pharmacy in baby section, small rubber not with plastic tip

Hair dryer for warming cold lambs

Syringes and needles: feed store , online, PBS, etc. check your state regs

Penicillin: feed store or online

BO-SE: prescription

Lamb ear tags: Premier animal supply

Veterinarian’s phone number

Sheep mentor phone# 

Karo syrup or molasses for ewe in warm water: grocery or feed store.

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Barn/Jug System

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Frelsi Farm Icelandics
Using the Barn/Jug system of lambing … and why it works for us

 

This April of 2016 will be our 20th lambing here at Frelsi Farm. Our first lambing produced 13 lambs and our total live lambs born here so far is now 905. We have used the barn and jug system of lambing each year. Our ewes have 24 hour a day access to the barn from breeding season through lambing. In most years, weather and snow permitting, they can be outside when ever they want, in fenced paddocks each about a ¼- ½ acre in area. The paddocks are protected by electro-net and plastic deer mesh fence inside the high tensile perimeter fencing. Inside the barn is a heated water tank and the feeders, outside are the mineral salt/kelp meal feeders.

 

We separate the ewe lambs from the adults and yearlings, to allow the ewe lambs to have all the feed they want and not be pushed aside by the big girls. The set up will vary depending on the number of ewe lambs and adults/yearlings. The water tank is available to both groups of ewes. We have found that they drink far more water if it is warm and available 24 hours a day (and I hate dealing with frozen water buckets). Our barn has an open southern exposure with woven wire doors, and the northern side has woven wire doors, inside sliding wooden doors. The siding on the barn was going to be board and batten, but we did not get the battens on before winter our first year. We found that the air that moved through the barn through those ¼- ½ inch spaces between the boards was actually good, keeping the air quality good and keeping the moisture down, so we have left it like that. There are large windows on the east and west sides so the barn is light and pleasant inside. The floor is packed dirt and reprocessed (ground up ) concrete. The waste hay is bedding with added straw as needed.

 

 

Before lambing, the barn is completely cleaned out and the manure and hay is composted, so that the lambs are born in clean areas.As lambing becomes imminent, we assemble “Jugs” in the barn. We built a warm room, a heated insulated space, in the southwest corner of the barn. Along that wall, inside the barn area, we build 3 jugs, each about 4×5-6 feet. We use Premier panels or cattle panels cut to length, tied together with bailing twine or wire.two panels “hinged” together this way are easy to store and move. They set up along the wall like letter “L”,each jug sharing one side, ie, LLL, the final side is a corner of the barn or another panel.If the ewes are bothered by the other family wil put a piece of ply wood between the jugs. You do not want the lamb sticking it’s head through the panel and getting bopped by the other mother! We add more jugs as needed along the other walls. When we did LAI (laparoscopic artificial insemination) we needed more jugs because many adults would be lambing in a 2-3 day period. With the VAI (vaginal artificial insemination)and natural breeding, the lambing is spread out more evenly over a few weeks, so fewer jugs re needed. Each jug has a hay feeder, a water bucket, and clean deep bedding. The jugs are cleaned and limed and re-bedded between families. Our ewes decide where to have their lambs. About 80-90 % choose to have their lambs in a protected area inside the barn. If it is nice weather, there seems to be more lambing out in the grassy areas of the paddocks, closer to the 20% figure. In a cold rainy spring it is closer to 1 in 10. Our pastures are so full of rocks and boulders, it would be impossible to find the ewes and newborns if they were to lamb out in the pastures. And, I like the hands-on lambing, watching the lambs being born and pampering mom for a little while. The ewes are moved from the birthing area to a clean jug. I just pick up the lambs and holding them in front of me, walk backwards to the jug and mom follows along. Most of the time, if I walk slowly and hold the lambs close to the ground, mom comes right along. Once in the jug, mom gets a few flakes of our best hay and a bucket of warm water with Karo syrup or molasses added for quick energy. The lambs are weighed and the navels are clipped and dipped, and they get a few squirts of “Baby Lamb Strength”, we call it candy. It is a Pipestone nutritional supplement similar to “Nutri-Drench”. We make sure each lamb gets a good bellyful of colostrum, check mom’s udder, and, if all is well, leave the family to rest and bond. An experienced ewe with twins may spend just a few hours in a jug if all is well and the space is needed, but usually has at least 24 hours to rest and eat and drink in peace. Triplets get a longer time, so that I can be sure all are getting enough milk, especially if one is smaller than the siblings. First time moms get at least a day and, preferably, two or three. I want to see that the lambs are nursing well, that mom is accepting all the lambs and that she has passed her placenta. Within the first 24 hours, the lambs get BO-SE and Vitamin E injections and an ear tag. Mom gets a dose of dewormer . When that is done the family moves to a “Mothering –on pen” or nursery. She will stay in this larger area for a few days, get her hooves trimmed if needed, then out to the pasture behind the barn. This intermediate pen is good for the first-timers, they get to have the lambs running around and yet they are still contained. I check the udders daily and watch the lambs for any signs of being under-fed or out of sorts.When the ewes are in labor, I will often watch from the loft stairs or from the hayloft. I like to be around for the births, not because I have to be, just because I really like to be there. It is thrilling to see the lambs being born. Our warm room is very cozy and I have been known to there at night on the cot, with a few good books and a radio during the peak of lambing time. I found that putting a few red light bulbs in the barn lets me do a barn check at night without disturbing anyone. In the warm room I have my “lambing kit” and a few buckets of warm water. We have had a very low lamb mortality rate. I like not being out in the elements, April can be very cold and rainy and even snowy here…no fun trying to find moms and lambs in between the incredible number of rocks and boulders. The ewes seem to like to lamb in the barn, they choose it most often. I like “hands-on” lambing, it suits my nature. Our flock is small enough to know each ewe well, and being there for the birth of her lambs feels right to me. There is no right or wrong way to manage your lambing. It is important to be comfortable with what you choose and to make your decisions based on what works best for you and your flock. Best wishes for a great lambing season!

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