> THINK there is a shot (medication) you can give them once a year to help > prevent the overeating which I have never used.
What you refere to here is clostridium. Clostridium can be controlled by vacinating with CD&T or other vaceines for clostridium perfringes type C&D. In my experience, animals that have contracted clostridium usualy bloat, become lathargic and die. I have also seen more cases of clostridium in young lambs than in ruminating animals. Clostridium is what most people refere to as over eating deseise. In ruminating animals you are most likely to see acidosis which occures when an animal eats way more grain than it's rumen is adjusted to. Acid levels change the chemestry in the rumen causing lose or runny stools, the animal will go off feed and eventualy toxins can enter the blood stream and cause death. A bicarbinate such as baking soda can be given to help releive acidosis. Some dairy farms that feed high levels of grain add bicarbinate to their feed ration to help control acidosis. High levels of grain can be feed succesfully if the animals are started on a small amount and increased gradualy over the coarse of a few weeks. Currently, we have a group of 250+ mature ewes, wooled and hair type, that are fed high moistier balage, 1 1500# round bale and dry hay, 1 1000# round bale per day. All hay is grass legume mix. Bales are rolled out on the ground. These ewes also get six five gallon buckets grain per day. Grain is a mix of two parts rye and one part shell corn. They also get six five gallon buckets of poudered cheese or dairy products that I purchase as animal feed from a local cheese drying plant. We also have a group of about 90 ewe lambs (yearlings) that have free choice access to high moistier round bales and are given two five gallon buckets of grain mix and two buckets poudered cheese. All have free choice access to a mineral/vitiman mix. It is important to note that my sheep are working girls and not pets. I am feeding them to gain wieght. I want them gaining wieght through lambing and into lactation. I plan to milk my ewes and will be pushing them for maximum production. Our ewes will start lambing Feb. 10. Next week we will sort and seperate those to lamb first and start feeding them alfalfa hay silage along with balage and grain/poudered cheese. Milking ewes will also get 1/2 pound of dairy ration per milking in the parlor. Dairy ration is rolled corn, soybean meal and premix. Larry Meisegeier River Ridge Stock Farm Bruce, WI 715-868-2285 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.sheepmilk.biz =============================================== This message is from the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep mailing list (http://www.awrittenword.com/listserv/index.html). To respond to this message, send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or change your membership options, go to http://lists.coyotenet.net/mailman/listinfo/blackbelly To search the archives, go to http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
