Re: [Blackbelly] ABB Rams fighting video
Bottle rams are dangerous. The harmless behavior is not harmless anymore after enter a rut season. They cannot help themselves, and have no inhibition with people when they should. Much safer to castrate all bottle babies. On Jan 7, 2014, at 4:01 PM, blackbelly-requ...@lists.blackbellysheep.info wrote: On Jan 6, 2014, at 6:45 PM, R. Natasha Baronas meadowskuv...@gmail.com wrote: Wow! Great video! I only have one adult ram and he occasionally takes a cheap run at me. He's a bottle baby and all I have to do is take his collar and its over. British Columbia, Canada ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] mismarked...
lambing season has arrived... perhaps a bad breeding decision on my part... had some of the most beautiful lambs ever last season. But chose a ram for his size and twinning, and didn't adhere to marking/ color... he was a little off... so... have now two lambs with loin chop shaped black in front of their flank... muahahahahhaah. Robust, good size, one set of twins. sigh since mostly they end up in the freezer or grazing blackberries.. I suppose it is fine. But I sure think I'll get a new ram for next year, if I'm still in sheep. Afraid I might have to do a dispersal sale : ( ...but hoping... I love my ladies...and do have a darling ram left over... was hoping to use him next year or the year after. Tracy Wessel Intention Hill Farm Sandy OR ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Coyotes
My ram is ferocious, but really in a predator situation, all evacuate. What has protected my sheep this year is the ponies. This has not been ideal. Some of the ponies enjoyed chasing the sheep and I had some lameness. Donkeys will sometimes do this too. Finally I put an escape route - a paster with a raised fence the sheep can go under to get away from the ponies. Wish the ponies could have protected my ducks...Now my ducks are locked in a dog kennel at night. I have friends with Great Pyrenese and Llamas. Honestly... I can't imagine my sheep tolerating a big white dog, but perhaps a llama. And I LOVE blueberries! Tracy Wessel Wessel Farm (Blackbelly sheep, Welsh Harlequin Ducks, various chickens and fine Belgian Shepherds) http://tracywessel.com/sheep/2008_sheep.htm I have read that donkeys, llamas, and Great Pyrenees dogs are good at protecting the sheep. What are your experiences with any of these? Is an adult ram a good protector? I have a young ram (about 10 months) in with the flock where the ewe was killed and adult ram with the other flock. Your advice in dealing with coyotes and guardian animals or other protection methods will be most apprciated. Eat more blueberries! ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Blackbelly Digest, Vol 4, Issue 101
John, I lost one weather in Southern CA to what several sheep folks, including the Cal Poly sheep manager, felt was Johne's. He wasted for more than a couple weeks. Maybe months. He was several years old. I was the caretaker and couldn't get the owner to euthanize. Came from an original flock in the high desert area. Since moving to Oregon, I've had good luck with my Blackbellys until recently. This Winter I had several sheep get sore behind. I assumed it was the doing of King Henry, my ram now in the freezer :0. Then I notice one ewe began to lay down a lot, and finally had what looked like pink eye in one eye. I hit her with LA200. Several folks suggested coccidia. This ewe came to me about 6 months prior to falling ill so anything my sheep could have been carriers I suppose. In any case, the ewe recovered, lambed, then 3 weeks later, died after several days of wasting and appearing to stagger and be drunk. I did try the LA200 but too late. I was okay with it until I cam home and found her twin lambs, who had kept away from her for several days of their accord, lying with her body. She'd been alive that morning, but failing. That just broke my heart. Nobody else appeared to fall ill. Possible she could have retained a placenta or gotten an infection from lambing, but there was no discharge or smell. When I had my sheep in Amity they thrived. Over the last year, I've had them back in Boring where they originated, I have had the problems, such as this one, lameness behind (still assuming it was the ram) and then my one ewe that gets sick every Spring. i.e. The farm had sheep on it years back.. don't know what kind or how long ago. Each year there were a few sheep here that got scours and got really thin. The vet felt that those individuals were eating a toxic plant (something yellow, like Buttercup). Other cattle/sheep people I talk to feel that some sheep just can't handle the Spring grass. I have one ewe that just gets sickly each Spring and I keep thinking I'll butcher her. But this year after the grass died, she started laying down a lot. I was going to hit her with LA200 and was concerned she'd fallen to the same fate as the one that died. But she's suddenly appearing better, and has recovered her weight and no longer has scours (until next Spring, unless the new prop erty they are going to has a more agreeable pasture). Which by the way... I couldn't get the sheep on the stock trailer. Anyone in my area willing to come help? Neither of my dogs could do better than getting them to stand in front of the trailer door and any further pushing only created chaos. Tried grain. Would appreciate the help. I'm in Boring, OR Re the vet fee what you might do in the future if you lose one is get it to the vet school right away for a necropsy. The previous owner of my sheep had a ewe and two lambs drop dead and she did that... they suspected digitalis which does grow here. Tracy Message: 8 Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:17:18 -0400 From: Pantalone, John A \(GE Infra, Energy\) [EMAIL PROTECTED] I originally suspected Johne's Disease, but the latest victim is only 6months old (I think that would rule out OPP as well). My understanding is that JD takes several years to manifest. Worming: Poisons: I may have to bite the bullet and take it to the vet... I have had 3 sheep in the last two months die from progressively wasting away. From the moment I notice thin ribs and hips, it takes about 1-2 weeks for them to die. I noticed another one today and am at a loss. I have tried administering antibiotics (LA200 and B12), but they seem to die within a day or two anyway. From: Dayna Denmark [EMAIL PROTECTED] Just reading up on Coccidia. Could be another possibility given the age of the sheep and the weather you have been experiencing. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] down one and another ill
I posted a few weeks ago about a ewe that had been ill. She'd been down while pregnant and had a swollen and cloudy eye. One dose of LA200 and she was right as rain. She lambed out fine and all seemed well for about 4 weeks. I noticed her lying down again and three days later she was dead despite a dose of LA 200. I wondered if she'd retained a placenta or had a dead lamb in her, but no discharge or smell. In any case I now have a lamb with a swollen eye (have treated) not hers, but the lamb of a ewe that came from the same place as her. I'm wondering... despite really no signs, is this sounding like chlamydia? All my other sheep are healthy and robust. The ewe that died was really wobbly the last day. Appeared to have some neurological disfunction. I do have a foal in hospital with joint ill. Brings about suspect common bacteria. Perhaps if I knew which was affecting the sheep, we could save the foal. Tracy ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] BB Minerals Lacking?
I'd never heard that specifically, but had learned from Amish country that when the cows were eating the fences/trees to put Apple Cider Vinegar in the feed (or was it water?). I noticed some of my youngest lambs have a liking for some old RR ties in the barn and thought about offering some. I used the unfiltered, undistilled variety. I've run out of minerals, so that will be the first order of business to replace. Tracy Boring, OR Does anyone know what mineral (or?) might be lacking in diet that causes the ABB sheep to eat the bark off oak trees? ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Blackbelly Digest, Vol 4, Issue 42
Thanks everyone. The LA200 helped her a lot. The swelling is gone and just the cornea is cloudy. She ran and bolted into a gate a few weeks ago, so could have had a trauma from that. In any case, she is on her feet more and looking happy. Perhaps she had a fever and was feeling crappy from that. Hope she continues to improve. My sheep are quite feral so daily treatment would necessitate a lot of stress for the sheep. I've been feeding them all Winter and hoping to calm them a bit. I've been putting ewes in the jug as soon as they lamb, and have at least got all the babies letting me pet them, and one of the ewes. As soon as this ewe lambs, I can move her and her lamb into the jug for five days or so, then maybe evaluate things. She's not bagged up yet and I only vaguely recall when she was bred. I think she is still 2-4 weeks out. I don't really used udder size as a determinite because I have one ewe that bags up a month before and have a couple others that bag up 2 days before. I more watch the muscle tone at the sacrum and beside the dock area. Generally appears more relaxed in that area just before. I also watch behavior, although some have fooled me. I'm sure it will be a rainy day in any case LOL! Tracy. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] Ewe behavior - unwell or over pregnant?
I have a ewe that is very pregnant - she looks to have twins or triplets. After breeding she had a pelvic injury as did several other ewes. I can only guess the ram head butted them as I have seen him do (he's got an appointment with the butcher but I can't move him myself, so I'm playing phone tag with the mobile butcher). Anyway, she seemed to get over being lame behind but still walks a bit odd - made me wonder if she had a dislocation or even a fracture. Anyway, I notice her lying down a lot. She looks plump. I mean aside from her belly, she doesn't lead me to believe that she is under nourished due to the pregnancy, her back has good covering and I handled her two days ago and didn't feel boney, nor obese. Anyway, I notice she is slow to get up in the morning, is slow to join the flock enroute to the pasture each morning, but does bed down with her girlfriend and the two rams. Saturday I noticed one eye swollen, cornea cloudy, weepy. I gave her 4.5ml LA200 and flushed the eye, and gave her a dab of Banamine on Sunday. Couldn't catch her this morning and didn't want her going nuts so I left the injection in the barn to try again tonight, but actually the eye looks much better. Still cloudy, but open and not weeping. Any guesses or suggestion on the eye and the frequent lying down? I don't have reason to believe that she has a dead lamb as there is no discharge or smell... I think as big as she is she must be uncomfortable. I am a tad concerned about lambing. I've never had a Blackbelly have difficulty lambing, but the only one that ever looks big like this is my ewe that always twins. But that ewe never exhibits this behavior of discomfort. Tracy Boring, OR ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Ewe behavior - unwell or over pregnant?
Oh I figured pink eye, but didn't know LA200 could cause abortion. Wonder should I not give another dose as long as the eye appears to be healing. T On Mon, April 7, 2008 10:33 pm, Cecil Bearden wrote: I would research the signs of Chlamydia and take another look at her. She may be ok, but the eye thing makes me think she may have an infection. If it is Chlamydia, the LA200 is the drug of choice. However, it may cause an abortion also. Cecil in OKla -- tracy wessel graphic web design Portland, OR www.tracywessel.com What you think of me is none of my business. The Tao ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[Blackbelly] Re. Feeding Trivia
The only danger in dry beet pulp is more for horses. Beet pulp can expand to more than six times its size, and so between the gastric juices and water consumption, there is impaction risk with horses. Following your research with interest. Could it just be that in the end all sheep are better off with the most natural diet possible, in terms of flavor and quality of meat or wool? Gains are probably slower, but what about long term flock health and such? With the horse breeding industry, particularly in Kentucky, so much has been learned even about pasture and about creating the more natural pasture rather than seeding for one type of grass. That will be my next question. What's in your pasture? There are ruminant and poultry seed mixes available, but they are hard to come by and expensive... leaving the horse pasture mix the easiest to obtain. I can't remember which university site I found that listed beet pulp as a suitable roughage for sheep. But I will have to go and look to see if it comments on fiber or meat quality. On Dec 11, 2007, at 12:26 PM, blackbelly- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Message: 2 Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:17:35 -0800 From: Barb Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] Feeding Trivia To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info The lambs are beginning to accept beet pulp. I will have shredded B/P on Wednesday (my sheep show a marked preference for un-soaked foods). In 30 days or thereabouts, I will come back and tell you what, if any, impact going to an all forage diet has on their rate of gain. The lambs presently average about 45 lb. with a .35 pound average daily gain from birth, .05 less than the minimum I would like to see. Some are over, some are under. There are nine lambs. Regards, Barb Lee ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Grain Rations (was The Nose Gets Fixed...)
I had a sheep shearer give me about that much grain advice (2 percent) for Rambouillet. I admit that my woollies really did best with grain in their diet. They were dry-lotted, so had alfalfa and grain was it for 3 seasons per year in Southern CA. I think pasture changes that dynamic considerably and would not grain animals in the Spring/Early Summer if they had good pasture. I also would not consider offering that much grain to hair sheep. In particular the Blackbellies seem to fare well on grass hay. I've seen more issues from overly rich foods with them. Like I told you before, I have one ewe who gets chronic scours every Spring on fresh pasture. She'll have to be culled this year while I have her fat, because last year she was just poor looking. The vet felt it was more that she took a liking to a particular toxic plant (he suggested buttercups). She does well on hay, and on the farm in Amity she never had scours, so it is certainly a problem with a plant on this property in Boring. She's just now recovering from a short bout of scours after I opened up another pasture, which they have pretty much grazed down. On the other hand, we could all be wrong and it could be related to her heat cycle, or some other hormonal issue. I don't think she had scours while she was pregnant. Meanwhile, said sheep are standing in the barn - I remember how my woollies loved the cooling rain. These sheep are just weanies about the cold rain. Can't say I blame them. Tracy Wessel Kylie's Shambhavi Rose, HSAs, STDsdc, JHD, CGC BasqueLaine Cat On The Scent, just a pup www.tracywessel.com/Savannah Jayanta, at the bridge, www.tracywessel.com/Jayanta Welsh Harlequin Ducks, Barbados Sheep, and various chickens that survived the skunk raid. Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 19:07:59 -0800 From: Barb Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Blackbelly] The Nose Gets Fixed, Now the Mouth Don't Work To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info I've made up a worksheet for this ration balancing act - even got through the calcium/phosphorus ratio! And it's just awful...If I were to go by the book I'd be feeding these little monkeys over half a pound of grain, about 2.25% of their body weight. ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] The Nose Gets Fixed, Now the Mouth Don't Work
Hi Barb, my flock, as well as the two lovely ewes I got from you that have settled in nicely, all fight for the beet pulp just as they would for grain. The Fell Ponies and the sheep both get hay and beet pulp twice a day. It is not traditionally what I have fed - used to feed alfalfa and COB in Southern CA, then here switched to East Oregon Grass or Timothy and Red Oat hay and a bit of COB. But here the sheep just kept diving into the horse feed, so now they just share, and love it. They have Timothy hay and the BP, plus pasture. The pasture is over grazed from the ponies, but the sheep have a warm weather feast of blackberries, which is of course their purpose for being here. Also, I used the distillers grains briefly in Southern CA when someone sharing the ranch for his cows brought some in. The cows looked pretty scrappy, and I can't say the sheep did particularly well on it either, though I had a mixed flock of woolies and hair sheep. I'm quite happy with the beet pulp. I soak the evening ration after feeding breakfast, and the breakfast ration after feeding supper. I soak it at probably 6-8 times the pellet volume of water. So basically four quarts of BP gets a full bucket of water. The soaking ability varies from bag to bag and in sub-freezing temps, I have to either soak in the house, or cook in a tin with an oat cooker (bucket heater). I feed it right on top of their hay. I can't say I'd expect wool sheep to fare well on this feed plan, but my Blackbellies look fine and lambed this year without incident. In the colder weather, I may add some oat hay or a small amount of COB, but really think they look good right now. I will say that historically I see a higher rate of twins/triplets when the sheep have been on grain (COB) over the Winter. As I'm not trying to build a huge flock, I'm happy with a lower rate of twins. Tracy Wessel Kylie's Shambhavi Rose, HSAs, STDsdc, JHD, CGC BasqueLaine Cat On The Scent, just a pup www.tracywessel.com/Savannah Jayanta, at the bridge, www.tracywessel.com/Jayanta Welsh Harlequin Ducks, Barbados Sheep, and various chickens that survived the skunk raid. From: Barb Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Blackbelly] The Nose Gets Fixed, Now the Mouth Don't Work To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Now all I have to do is convince them that BP is an Edible Substance. Corn gluten meal and distiller's dry grains are non-starch energy supplements. I just don't know how available they are. Guess I'll have to start checking the feed mills. Barb Lee In snowy Western Oregon where the paper is predicting an actual Hurricane type weather event on Monday. Yikes! ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [Blackbelly] Blackbelly Digest, Vol 3, Issue 143
I could take her. I'm in Boring. Tracy Message: 2 Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2007 16:18:17 -0800 From: Barb Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Blackbelly] Free Sheep To: blackbelly@lists.blackbellysheep.info Anybody within hailing distance of Oregon City OR want a free ewe? Two years old, small, sheds late but completely, had a nice big (first) lamb last year that was very tasty, but fat for a blackbelly, and missed breeding this year (definitely not her fault). Barb Lee ___ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] scours, adult sheep
I appreciate the archives of the list. It would appear I am not alone in having the odd sheep with unexplained scours (adult members of the flock). My flock seems to have a couple members that will get scours at one of their hillside pastures in Oregon. I notice when I moved them for a year, they never got scours, and gained weight. The one or two that will get scours will drop weight. It's a mystery and I'm rather certain it is related to a plant they are eating. It is rather lush pasture. Over the winter they will have hay, cob and beet pulp, salt and a protein/mineral block. I had them on loose minerals, but I was going through so much of them, I was certain the rodents must have been stealing, or that the sheep were just knocking it over. However they have at times had access to the horse mineral block which I have removed and I have some suspicions it's the copper in the block. My concern is to get the weight back on them. I have a ewe bagging up and I I'd rather hoped she was barren because she didn't put on much weight after having scours. If anyone has had some insite into this, I'd love to know. If it were the whole flock, I'd have great concern for disease, nutrition etc. But since it is the odd one or two, I'm rather at a loss. Tracy ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
