Nora had a ewe lamb last night

A return to the cold this Sunday

I heard the weather forecast and its calling for some bitter weather Sunday and Monday. Thursday was pretty mild here. We have more mud than snow presently. None of the other ewes have lambed yet. I hope they hold off until latter in March when there are few of these sudden changes back to bitter winter. I have four ewes to go. Two are Scottish Blackfaces and two are crosses that are part Blackface.

It is a conspiracy....

This is too funny

PGS all hands on deck to get shearlings ready!!!

This looks like a Boxer washing some Wensleydale lambs.

Characteristics of flock structure in Sheep

Characteristics of flock structure.

Research has shown
that different breeds have different flock structures
(Arnold et
al., 1981):
1. Merinos are a tightly knit flock and rarely form subgroups.
They graze close to each other and disperse
into sub-groups only under extreme food shortage,
when sex and age groups segregate out.
2. Southdowns usually form a few sub-groups and are
closely associated when grazing, but not when camping.
3. Dorset Horns always form many sub-groups.
In cases where sub-groupings occur, the flock maintains
a social entity because membership of sub-groups
is constantly changing. The identification of a flock
structure is important to understand when managing
sheep. One important aspect is that, irrespective of
breed, flocks of sheep drawn from different sources do
not readily integrate into a socially homogeneous group
(Winfield et al., 1981). This means that if the paddock is
large enough, each group will use a different area, even
if the food is better in one part. This can lead to some
sheep being under-nourished.
In a gregarious breed, such as Merinos, the flock
moves as a unit and is unsuited to grazing in pastures
that are not uniformly abundant. The net effect of such
behaviours, particularly on an extensive scale, is that to
increase or decrease stocking rate will not necessarily
lead to improved animal production of an area. This is
because the non-random spread of animals in that grazing
area makes some sectors virtually psychologically
unavailable to some individuals.



http://animalbehaviour.net/JudithKBlackshaw/JKBlackshawCh3b.pdf

Sheep have panoramic vision

Sheep have panoramic vision of 330°–360° and binocular
vision of 25°–50°. They are thought to have colour
vision and are able to distinguish between a variety of
colours: black, red, brown, green, yellow and white
(Alexander and Shillito, 1978). They have no accommodation,
so must lift the head to see distant objects. This
also means that they are unable to judge depth.
Sheep eyes possess very low hyperopia with little
astigmatism. Such physiological optics are likely to produce
a well-focused retinal image of objects in the middle
and long distance (Piggins, et al., 1996).
Sight is a vital part of communication and when
sheep are grazing they maintain visual contact with
each other (Crofton, 1958; Kilgour, 1977).



Each sheep throws its head to check the position of the other sheep.
This constant monitoring is probably what keeps the
sheep in a mob as they move along grazing.
Psychological stress induced by isolation is reduced
if sheep are provided with a mirror, indicating that the
sight of other sheep has stress-reducing properties
(Parrott, 1990).




http://animalbehaviour.net/JudithKBlackshaw/JKBlackshawCh3b.pdf

Grazing in August

I never have to mow around my house. For 24 years sheep have groomed my lawn and trimmed around the trees and buildings. This is our small flock of Scottish Blackface sheep after a brief rain shower. They also eat all the leaves that fall off the trees so there is no raking in Autumn.

The Herding

by Cale Young Rice

Quietly, quietly in from the fields
Of the grey Atlantic the billows come,
Like sheep to the fold.
Shorn by the rocks of fleecy foam,
They sink on the brown seaweed at home;
And a bell, like that of a bellwether,
Is scarcely heard from the buoy--
Save when they suddenly stumble together,
In herded hurrying joy,
Upon its guidance: then soft music
From it is tolled.

Far out in the murk that follows them in
Is heard the call of the fog-horn's voice,
Like a shepherd's--low.
And the strays as if waiting it seem to pause
And lift their heads and listen--because
It is sweet from wandering ways to be driven,
When we have fearless breasts,
When all that we strayed for has been given,
When no want molests
Us more--no need of the tide's ebbing
And tide's flow.



Cale Young Rice (December 11, 1872 – January 24, 1943) was an American poet and dramatist. He was born in Dixon, Kentucky to Laban Marchbanks Rice, a Confederate veteran and tobacco merchant, and his wife Martha Lacy. He was a younger brother of Laban Lacy Rice, a noted educator. Cale Rice grew up in Evansville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated at Cumberland University and at Harvard (A.B., 1895; A.M., 1896).

Ryan Laurie Blade Shearing

Rosebud in June - Steeleye Span

t's a rosebud in June and the violets in full bloom,

And the small birds are singing love songs on each spray.


(chorus)

We'll pipe and we'll sing love,

We'll dance in a ring love,

When each lad takes his lass

All on the green grass,

And it's oh to plough where the fat oxen graze low,

And the lads and the lasses do sheep shearing go.


(chorus)


When we have all sheared our jolly, jolly sheep,

What joy can be greater than to talk of their increase.


(chorus)


Their flesh it is good, it's the best of all food,

And their wool it will cloth us and keep our backs from the cold.


(chorus)


Here's the ewes and the lambs, here's the hogs and the rams,

And the fat wethers too they will make a fine show.


(chorus)

I

Hay delivery at Thistledown Croft

Some friends brought a load of hay yesterday and as you can see we still have a couple inches of snow everywhere.

Ewes in the mountains, Turcana sheep

Turcana sheep


The Turcana breed is well adapted in the Carpathian Mountains, resistant and the only one suitable for extensive traditional breeding. For centuries in high Romanian mountains the rural economy has been based on Turcana sheep milk, fiber and meat. Presently, this particular Romanian breed is endangered. These look like Scottish Blackface sheep in so many ways.

Surfing Sheep!!

http://www.finisterreuk.com/


Copyright © 2002 - 2011 Finisterre

Sheena and company Feb 7, 2001

Late January in Stedman

Lambs in poratable pen

This spring's lambs in September

Preventing Pasture Bloat in Sheep

This article first appeared in The Working Border Collie, Inc. Jan/Feb in 1997

by Mike Neary
Extension Sheep Specialist
Purdue UniversityBloat can be a sudden and lethal occurrence for sheep. Often, unless the livestock is being monitored closely, the first symptom one notices is dead or distressed animals.

Pasture bloat (or green legume bloat) is caused by increased pressure by the ruminal contents. Pasture bloat is usually a build-up of trapped gas caused by the failure of the animal to undergo normal eructation. Gas production in the rumen normally consists of primarily CO2 and CH4 produced through feedstuff fermentation. Under normal conditions, ruminants have a predictable sequence of eructation cycles, whereby, gas that is produced is released to the environment. When an animal is experiencing pasture bloat, ruminal conditions are such that a stable froth is produced in the rumen. This froth then "layers" on top of the ruminal contents (mostly liquid) and prevents the gas bubbles from rising to the top and dispersing their contents. This could be analogous to taking a drinking straw and blowing air into a glass of liquids and seeing the air bubbles rise to the top and bursting. Under pasture bloat conditions, the bubbles cannot burst, thus, a build-up of gas and pressure. Furthermore, the froth produced in a bloat situation can block the cardia and prevent normal eructation and release of gas through the esophagus.

Pasture bloat is often brought on by a rapid intake of immature, highly nutritious green legumes (alfalfa or clovers). These plants, when in a vegetative state, contribute high levels of ruminally degradable protein, high levels of carbohydrates and are digested quite rapidly. This causes a drop in the pH of the rumen, an increase in gas production and a binding of protein molecules into a surface film over the ruminal contents. These events contribute to the production of froth, and subsequently, trapped gas.

There are some legumes that are considered to be less of a bloat problem than others. Birdsfoot trefoil is less likely to cause bloat than alfalfa and many types of clovers, not because it does not have a high protein content, but because the rate of digestion is considerably slower. Also, grasses do not usually cause bloat, because the protein content is lower than legumes.

Prevention and Treatment

As with most sheep health problems, prevention is the key in controlling bloat. There are a number of management techniques one can use to reduce the likelihood of pasture bloat in sheep.

When turning sheep onto lush, vegetative pasture with a high legume content, try to time the placement when the dew is gone from the grass and try to fill them up on long-stem hay with a high grass content. This will result in them consuming less of the green forage at first because of physical fill and the time of day.

Try to avoid a feast and famine routine of grazing management. Once sheep become adapted to a diet and are not experiencing bloat problems, try to stick to a predictable grazing management system to encourage even, regular consumption of forage and not a grazing pattern of engorgement.

Early in the grazing season or whenever sheep are turned to a new pasture with significant legume content, check them closely a couple hours after turnout as this is when bloat symptoms occur.

If bloat is an ongoing problem in a flock, reducing the amount of legume in the pasture is an option. However, this is often at the expense of pasture productivity, stocking capacity and animal performance. Another option would be to incorporate a legume known to be a non-bloating specie.

Poloxalene is a nonionic surfactant that helps prevent foam production in the rumen. It is the main constituent in the bloat preventive mineral blocks made for cattle. Poloxalene feeding to sheep at a rate of two to three grams/head/day can be effective in preventing bloat. If cattle bloat block blocks are used, take care they do not contain high enough levels of copper to cause copper toxicity in sheep.

Treat bloated sheep with care. The build-up of pressure in the rumen can actually cause a partial collapse of the lungs. Furthermore, blood from the body is forced out of the body cavity to the extremities and can cause a form of acidosis. Thus, stressing these animals complicates the situation.

If animals can be caught, use a stomach tube to help release free ruminal gas. Also, mild agitation of ruminal contents can aid in the release of the trapped gas bubbles. Mineral or vegetable oils can be used as antifoaming agents and help release gas. Treatment with commercially available anti-bloating agents can also be done at this time.

Some people will actually use a rumenotomy (puncturing the rumen - located high on the left side of the lumbar region in severe bloat cases) in severe, life-threatening situations. This procedure is not for the weak stomached, as the pressure will result in the expulsion of a significant amount of the rumen contents. Also, the area will need to be cleaned and sutured after the rumenotomy is performed.

There does seem to be somewhat of a genetic propensity to bloat susceptibility. Some breeds or lines within breeds do appear to be more susceptible to bloat. Thus, it may be practical to cull individuals that have a history of bloat problems.

Legumes are a wonderful grazing and hay forage. When harvested at a correct maturity level they supply high levels of protein, energy, minerals and vitamins to ruminants. However, the bloat potential of these forages is a downside to them. Planned management can reduce the potential bloat problem and enable producers to realize increased animal and pasture productivity with legum

Lush Spring Pastures in NY.

Copper Toxicity in Sheep

NEVER feed pig, cow or horse feed to sheep it can result in sudden death or liver failure. Today companies formulate feeds very specifically for the species. Sheep are unique in that they cannot excrete accumulated copper and poisoning or death will be the result of a high intake of copper. Horse feed has killed many sheep because the owners mistakenly feed sweet feed or a grain mixture designed for equines to their sheep. Often the ram or the dominant ewe will be the first to show signs of poisoning from being fed too much copper as they dominate the feed trough and eat the lions share of grain. Sun sensitivity and sun burn is one of the signs your sheep may have liver damage from too much copper.Special Note: An easy test to confirm copper toxicity is to raise the animal eye lid, if the eye lid is yellow then the animal has an excessive amount of copper in their body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Copper toxicity in sheep is more often a problem of nutritional management than it is excess copper intake. The purpose of this paper is to look at such factors as nutrient interactions, animal management, and environmental conditions that may increase the risk of copper toxicity and how the sheep producer can minimize these risks.

The importance of copper as an essential nutrient has been known since the 1920's. Copper is required for normal iron metabolism, elastin and collagen synthesis, melanin production and integrity of the central nervous system. There are numerous metalloprotein enzymes, metalloporphyrin enzymes and non-enzyme metalloproteins in animals that require copper to be biologically active. More recently it has been shown that copper is one of the key trace minerals required for an effective immune response. The bottom line is that copper is essential for life. Consequently, most trace mineralized salt products contain 0.03 to 0.04% (300 to 400 ppm) of copper to prevent copper deficiency.

Sensitivity of Sheep

Like most nutrients, excessive concentrations can cause toxicity. However, sheep tend to be much more sensitive than other farm animals. For example, growing swine are often fed copper concentrations as high as 250 ppm in the diet to improve performance. Cattle can consume diets containing 100 ppm copper with no problem, while toxicities have occurred in sheep with concentrations as low as 10 ppm (Church and Pond 1988).

Copper toxicity in sheep usually results from the accumulation of copper in the liver over a period of a few weeks to more than a year with no clinical signs followed by a sudden release of liver copper stores to cause toxicity. In these situations, chronic copper poisoning may result from excessive copper intakes or from low intakes of molybdenum, sulfur, zinc, calcium or following liver damage (Kimberling, 1988). Sheep accumulate copper in the liver more readily than other farm animals and over a period of time, 1000 - 3000 ppm on a dry weight basis may be achieved. During the accumulation phase, blood copper levels are normal in the 0.10 to 0.20 mg/dl. Toxicity results when stress conditions cause the liver cells to die and release the stored copper into the blood. Plasma copper levels then increase 10 to 20 fold. These elevated blood copper levels (500-2000 mg/dl) usually precede clinical signs by 24 to 48 hours (Kimberling 1988). The most common symptoms are anorexia, excessive thirst and depression. These are accompanied by severe hemoglobinemia, anemia, icterus and methemoglobinemia. Most sheep will die within 1 to 2 days of the onset of these signs (Merck Veterinary Manual 1979).

Molybdenum Ratio

The ratio of copper to molybdenum is the most important dietary factor affecting copper toxicity in sheep. Ratios of 10:1 or less will prevent toxicity in most cases. The exact mechanism by which molybdenum prevents copper toxicity is poorly understood. However, it is known that an insoluble complex, CuMo04, can be formed in the gastrointestinal tract thus reducing copper absorption. This theory is substantiated by the fact that increasing dietary copper is an effective treatment of molybdenum toxicity.

Molybdenum concentrations in most feeds are in the range of 1 to 3 ppm in the total diet. If molybdenum concentrations are low (less than 1 ppm), diets containing copper in the range of the normal requirement (8 - 11 ppm) have been known to produce toxicity (NRC 1975). Sheep producers who live in or buy feed from molybdenum deficient areas should pay close attention to dietary copper levels. Such feeds as distillers dried grains and soybean meal which are normally high in copper should be limited in the diet. Trace mineralized salt should not be removed from the diet because it contains zinc which also reduces copper absorption. Diets containing high concentrations (100 ppm) of zinc have been shown to reduce liver copper stores. In addition, eliminating all trace mineral supplementation may actually worsen the situation by creating an even greater mineral imbalance.

Although prevention is much preferred, there are times when mass treatment is indicated. The most common treatment is to give a drench daily containing 50 to 100 mg of ammonium molybdate and 0.5 to 1.0g of sodium sulfate per animal for three weeks. To reduce labor, an aqueous solution of the two salts can be sprayed onto the feed. This approach is recommended as a treatment procedure only if all animals are eating regularly.

Animal Management and Environment


Besides nutrition, animal management factors can affect the incidence of copper toxicity in sheep. For example, although this disease can occur in both sexes of all breeds, mature ewes of British breeds seem to be the most susceptible. In the United States this disease is most common in the western states of the intermountain region. Although the disease can occur anytime, peak incidence usually is in the fall and winter.

Environmental factors and stress can also affect the susceptibility of sheep to this disease. For example, grazing sheep in areas containing certain potentially toxic plants may predispose them to copper toxicity. Plants such as lupines, which contain toxic alkaloids, produce copper toxicity by impairing the liver's ability to metabolize ingested copper. Chronic toxicity is also common in sheep grazing subterranean clover and is associated with normal levels of copper, low levels of molybdenum and no apparent liver damage. The stress associated with shipping ewes from mountain ranges to pastures some distance away appears to make ewes more susceptible.

Summary

In summary, sheep producers should become familiar with copper and molybdenum levels of feeds grown in their area. If the area is deficient in molybdenum or high in copper, feed samples should be analyzed routinely to monitor the copper: molybdenum ratio in the diet. Supplemental feeds which are known to be low in copper should be used whenever possible. Feeding a properly fortified trace mineralized salt is essential to the health and production of the sheep flock.

by Larry L. Berger, Ph.D.
Professor, Animal Sciences
University of Illinois

Literature Cited

Church, D.C. and W.G. Pond, 1988. Basic Animal Nutrition and Feeding, 3rd Edition. Published by John Wiley and Sons, New York. pp. 196-199.
Kimberling, C.V. 1988., Jensen and Swift's Disease of Sheep, 3rd Edition. Published by Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia, PA. pp. 372-374.
Merck Veterinary Manual, 1979. 5th Edition. Published by Merck and Company. Rahway NJ. pp. 977-978.
NRC., 1975. Nutrient Requirements of Sheep. 5th Edition, National Academy Press. Washington DC.