Ha ha! Fooled ya!
Wasn't Cecil's experience awesome! I'll be proud when I can claim as much skill as a shepherd as him!
Well, here, today was Sheep Maintenance Day. Because of my pasture situation, and the results of the fecal, I decided to go ahead and worm everyone before Grand Turnout Day.
I examined the inner eyelid of all my sheep and I found the inspection intriguing. I have two ewes that I have been planning to cull - one because of heavy wool and shelly feet - oh this is my latest hot topic. Do you know how much information there ISN'T on the web about weak hoof walls? She goes lame from "hangnails" - the hoof wall peels away leaving her walking painfully on the quick every few months, despite routine trims. Anyway, upon examination, her inner eyelid was a rich, deep pink. She DOES shed out sleek in the summer, and the hoof wall problem can be nutritional from way back. She has been on an excellent diet with free choice kelp and sheep mineral. Judging from the rich color of the inner eyelid, I have decided to change my mind and keep her - see if the cross on the ram, whose feet are strong and who has an outstanding hair coat, will give me better lambs. (I haven't checked the ram yet, but I know he's not carrying a worm load because he was wormed recently.)
The next one, who is going to a friend for a lawn mower, had a very PALE inner eyelid!!! Look at that!! AND, she is the mother of the wether whose loose bowels defy efforts to tighten him up.
My other two ewes are my Star ladies. They've maintained sleek hair coats all winter. Their hoof walls are 2x the thickness of the shelly hooved ewe. They have rich, robust color in their inner eyelids. Look how it all ties in!
Between the two of these gals, they have three lambs. I have not wormed the lambs since I've owned them (last Sept), except for the Basic H water. All three have rich color in their inner eyelids, and strong, sound hoof walls. Dang, too bad I wethered them all! But their mothers have really earned their berth here!
Boy, am I getting smart the hard way!
So I have begun a really seriously important database. For me, this kind of stuff is vital particularly as an American Blackbelly breeder, because my sheep all have a one generation or less pedigree and I don't know how much of the Barbados Blackbelly legendary resistance to internal parasites they've lost or retained through the generations and the influence of the wool sheep in them. A few years from now, with good selection, I think I should be able to claim a truly resistant flock.
This wasn't such a big deal to me yesterday. Now it is!
The other thing on my mind is this animal with the squits. I have treated him three times now with Sustain III calf boluses for cocci. I found a puddle of pea soup this morning and took a sample and ran a fecal. All those little orbs that looked like cocci oocysts are GONE. There's also not a worm egg to be seen.
So, I petition the gurus of sheep keeping to suggest a way to firm him up. I thought I had him on the mend so discontinued probiotic, but I will start that back up again. He is lively and active with an excellent appetite. I'm going to butcher him if I can't clear this problem up.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming...
Barb L.
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