Ewe & I Farm

Thursday, January 30, 2020

Lambs first day out of the barn and into the snow

Nathaniel Dorset

'Nate'

Our 10 month old Horned Dorset

Watching the lambs outside for the first time.

Tess (llama) with Roscoe Romney, Tiny Tim,

and Hancock and Ruggles the 12 year old Shetlands.

He is so fascinated by all the bouncing going on.

Tess is ever watchful of her charges.

I think I will just boing out of the barn!

If you are going to dream, you might as well dream big!!

https://www.landandfarm.com/property/Outdoor_s_men_Paradise_186_Acres-9513198/

$300,000 At the very top of my budget. This would be the perfect 'new' farm for Ewe & I Farm. We could greatly expand our Horned Dorset flock and easily raise enough meat with other animals to feed us and my daughter. 186 acres would be enough room for a house for my daughter and a year round farmer's and artisan market between the houses. The end of the road. Close enough, but not too close to neighbors. I could handle it!! Happily.

But, first we need to finish this house and get it ready for the market. I am decluttering as much as I can and organizing what I'd want to move from NH to KY. The wool business is going to be a lot to move. Equipment and displays alone with fill the horse trailer and the 1 ton cargo van!! Never mind hubby's garage and the building equipment downstairs.

The good thing about cleaning out and organizing is I am trying to take pictures of all of what I want to keep for insurance purposes. God forbid we ever have a fire, or an accident moving!! And, it will help keep me more accountable on what I want to keep and to move.

I still need to figure out how to get a mortgage before we sell this house. I wonder how much a bank would give us on this house in order to buy another. If anyone knows the answer to this, I would love to know!! Without paying an arm and a leg before this house sells.

TTFN.

Monday, January 27, 2020

Taking a break

I think when we are done with this year's lambing and sales we may be taking a break. Or we will need to move the ewes out of the barn and the winter pasture into another area on the farm. If mastitis is really contagious (first we've heard that in 27 years of raising sheep) then we will need to get them out of the barn and the winter 'pasture'.

We do have a used Rhino shelter with a new cover coming later in the spring. The plan is to put in on an area the is just gravel and no greenery in order to store hay bales on pallets. But, maybe we will move the girls down there for the spring and summer. At least until we start haying. I did buy a 10'x17' carport to put the boys in for the summer months so we could replace flooring and possibly pour concrete outside their door. If we can move the girls, maybe we will do the same thing on their side of the barn.

But, we will see. I do know I want to find the time for us to finish enclosing the barn and to get it painted. I am looking forward to getting as many projects done on this house and property as we can before hubby is eligible for retirement in 2021. I am planning to sell as many things as possible this year as well. Things that I don't care to box up and move when/if we sell this farm. Things that I've not touched in a very long time and chances are I no longer have a use for. I don't know whether we will do a one or two day yard sale, or if we will just put it on Face Book market place. Either will take time... I am so looking forward to living in a finished house, even if only for a short time, and a DECLUTTERED house.

I will be posting fleeces for sale on the fleece blog (http://eweifarmfleece.blogspot.com/) and on the Face Book page (https://www.facebook.com/WoolnEwe/).

After all my surgeries I am finally feeling healed enough to do more. I am being careful as I don't want to end up getting hurt again!!

And, if you want to keep up with news from the farm faster than my blog posts (SORRY!!) check us out on Face Book. https://www.facebook.com/Ewe-I-Farm-208179205917180/

Lambing

We started lambing long before we could get any information of the internet. The key was to know other farmers and to have a great relationship with your vet!!

If you are lambing for the first time, this website is full of great information. Some is kind scary, but most is very informative. If you go all the way to the end of the page, on the right hand side you will find more pages to peruse. Take it all with a grain of salt as it is in the UK and some of these problems do not pertain to the US, yet.

https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/pre-lambing-bulletin-ewe-nutrition-and-metabolic-diseases/

https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/lambing/lambing-part-1-the-basics/

Everyday on a farm is a learning experience...

Some days you learn some great things, and other days you learn things you would rather not have learn. Like mastitis and prolapse.

I belong to a number of sheep and livestock groups on Face Book. I learned yesterday from a farmer that when a sheep has mastitis, no matter how mild or severe, it causes scar tissue. That scar tissue can prevent milk from flowing into the teats and feeding the lambs. That might explain why we lost so many lambs last year, even though we never saw/felt mastitis.
He also said laying in the snow with full bags could cause the same thing... Ours have plenty of hay that they won't eat to lay on, but there are some who prefer the coldness of the snow. I am not sure of this reason.
This year we've had 2 with massive bags that we had to put down. One who had triplets that we bottle fed for the first 24 hours until she flattened/smothered one, and repeated it with the other two 12 hours later. We were hoping for her milk to let down so she would feed them herself. She had a big enough area, so there really was no reason for her to do this. The following day we put her down as she was going down hill physically and it was the most humane thing to do.
The other one also had a HUGE bag and was prolapsing every time she laid down. Unfortunately a prolapse paddle would not hold it in. She went into labor but was unable to deliver because of the vaginal prolapse. She was put down as well. She broke my heart as she was a favorite. Sweet sheep with great wool. Hubby sheared her for me (he offered) after he put her down.

Mastitis-
http://beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/BRP-plus-Understanding-mastitis-in-sheep-180716.pdf

I never knew mastitis could be contagious. (from the above PDF)
When one ewe has mastitis the flock is at increased risk due to its contagious and transmissible nature.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/mastitis-in-sheep-and-goats
We generally clean the girls area only once, maybe twice, during the winter months. We have found keeping a deep litter pack helps to keep them warmer. Cleaning to the floor allows the cold air to come up through the floor. But, we do put hay that they don't like or straw down to keep the floor clean.

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/livestock-biosecurity/mastitis-sheep

https://www.vet.cornell.edu/animal-health-diagnostic-center/programs/nyschap/modules-documents/mastitis-ewes-and-does
https://askavetsheep.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/mastitis/

Prolapse.
We've had sheep since 1993. We've had a prolapse in a ewe that delivered a 16 pound lamb. We had to have the vet out for that one as it was our first, but not only was it vaginal but also the uterus came out. Her placenta would not detach from her uterus which was causing her to continue pushing. Unfortunately, she also pushed out her intestines causing the vet to euthanize her.
One of the ewes hubby put down yesterday prolapsed her first time pregnant. The prolapse paddle was successful, and she delivered past the paddle as they a supposed to. She went on to deliver 2 more years without an issue, until this year... She was the 3rd prolapse we had this year. The first prolapse her uterus which tore causing internal bleeding. She was the first put down. The second was successfully put in and the paddle and harness(modified sheep coat in our case) put in and on. Two weeks later and she is doing well with the paddle still in. Then we have our 3rd with one of my favorite sheep. The paddle did not work for her.

https://askavetsheep.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/prolapse/

Some of the pictures in the following are quite graphic!
https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/sheep/lambing/lambing-part-3-vaginal-and-uterine-prolapse/

Now that you have been thoroughly saddened and grossed out, I will return to my barn to ensure there are no more surprises happening.
As of right now, we've had 5 ewe lambs born to 3 ewes and 1 ram lamb born to another ewe. I have 2 ewes that have normal udders and vulvas that are extremely uncomfortable and may lamb in the next day or two.
I see no signs of huge udders in any of the other sheep, including the one wearing the prolapse paddle.
I am awaiting the arrival of penicillin and LA 200 from https://www.jefferspet.com/ in case of any other treatable cases of mastitis. The Nuflor and the Dexamethasone will have to come from the vet. I am already waiting for Oxytocine from her.