Pasture Renovation Update

There is much work still ahead on the renovation of our pastures.

The sheep and goats have been busy munching away on the brush. Fall is the best time for seeding (by end of Sept) so it will soon be time to get out the roots and stumps in prep for seeding.

Our new brush hog to mow pasture after grazing worked great. I had been trying to scythe down the tall weeds left in the paddock when I moved the sheep. But the brush hog works so much better.

Took a bit of work to get going. Alan had to grind/sharpen blades the blades to get a decent edge.

And add a rubber edge (in place of the mangled up back edge) to prevent projectiles.

That man does love to tinker.

The other big pasture work will be reseeding. I sent off soil samples so we could correct any deficiencies now in preparation for reseeding. Now I am just waiting for the results to arrive.

Quarantining the Quarantined

Poor Hazel had been limping occasionally since we got her. On Thursday she began to limp more often than not, was grazing on her front knees, and was laying around a lot. Alan and I were finally together and caught her to look at her hooves. Both her front hooves were a little over grown and had an area of redness and irritation and a smelly yellow/gray discharge between her toes. We trimmed up her hooves and treated her with a zinc sulfate solution. She got a repeat treatment yesterday and then today I trimmed her hooves again; then put a gauze pad soaked in zinc sulfate solution between her toes and put a small baggy with the zinc sulfate solution over each hoof. Then I wrapped each baggie in livestock wrap and loose duct tape. She is soaking now and due to have everything removed after one hour.

She looks very stylish in her little make-do treatment booties.

Yesterday I worked 16 hours so her treatment was done by my husband and daughter. I had not seen her hooves since my original examination 2 days ago. I was relieved to see great improvement. No more odor, no more redness, no more limping.

All the reading I did about foot scald and foot rot on the internet was very pessimistic. Hazel's symptoms were similar to foot scald, except for the odor. Though with her rapid recovery I am hopeful it is just foot scald. She is not very happy being separated from her buddies so I will probably let her out of the barn tomorrow. But this has allowed us to have some "quality bonding time." And I was able to get a good assessment of her condition. She must have not been grazing well for a while as she is very thin. I can now get her supplemented so she can improve her condition score.


Some helpful websites: 

http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/asc/asc129/asc129.htm

https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/As/As-596-footrot.pdf

http://agriculture.vic.gov.au/agriculture/pests-diseases-and-weeds/animal-diseases/sheep/footrot-in-sheep/footrot-in-sheep-2.-diagnosis

https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/410/410-028/410-028.html

Great post about using LA200 and DMSO to tx foot rot
 https://colliefarm.wordpress.com/2011/11/03/foot-rot-fight/

http://www.farmfoodcare.org/pdfs/animal-resources/sheep-foot-rot-june-2010.pdf

Moving the Sheep, Again

The ewes have really gotten used to being moved. This last move was a little more complicated than most of the others they have experienced though. Usually they move into the next area, but this time we moved into a whole new area, out of one paddock, down a hill through the woods, and across another pasture. They are happy with their new grazing.

By evening their rumens were stuffed!

That's Clara's huge rumen sticking out on her left side (on the right of the photo.)
The pasture they are in now does not have any shed in it so I rigged up a shelter for them using two cattle panels, two t-posts and a tarp.

Most of our cattle panels have been cut in half then rejoined with hinges bent in the wire ends. This makes it easier to carry and I can make this teepee structure easily. The right side is pushed up against the old trailer and held on with a ratchet strap. The left side is up against the t-posts and pulled out with another ratchet strap. The sheep were totally freaked out by the tarp when we were unfolding it. I was afraid they wouldn't go in their little structure based on the way they acted. No problem, they went right in for their mineral trough.

Shop Update

Alan has been on a push to get his shop finished. In the past month he got all the drywall up and spackled.

He bought a door and jamb to replace the antique interior door that was being used as the back door for the garage. Now to get the jamb and door installed.

Next up is paint, then cabinets, workbench and electrical conduit. The cabinets have been sitting in the garage for over a year. And Alan picked up a great stainless steel sink.

Electric Rope Fencing v Electric Netting

Our new sheep came from a farm that used electric netting to split up paddocks. Since I didn't know how they would respond to the electric rope I have been using I brought out the roll of electric netting I have used for the chickens for the past few years.

In trying to set up the electric netting I realized that I have become spoiled with the electric rope system I have devised. The electric netting was always difficult for me to move around mostly due to the shear weight of the roll and the bulkiness. We bought the 48" poultry netting (164 ft long) which weighs nearly twice as much as the 36"  sheep netting (at 100 ft long). The videos of people holding the netting in one arm, walking along and sticking each post in the ground never worked for me. First, I could never carry the entire roll in one arm; second, our soil is shale with lots of little rocks. The spikes never go in easily.  Third, our ground is very uneven so the netting would never sit quite flat to the ground. There would be areas where the netting sagged onto the ground and areas where a determined chicken could climb under the bottom wire.

With the roping system I am using now I use a tough step in post to make the holes for my cheap poles. Since the rope strings through the open loops on the poles I can move the poles to wherever I need them versus the netting with the poles attached. The rope requires a little more walking but is easier for me in my situation.

And our new friends figured out the electric rope very quickly and have had no trouble adjusting. Now I wonder if the chicken could be trained to the rope.

The New Sheep

When I was first looking into getting sheep I was leery of wool breeds since I didn't know if it would be hard to find someone to shear the sheep and the market for wool is not that great. So we came upon the Royal Whites. I learned a lot about sheep management and how to buy sheep (mostly what not to do.) When I learned about the wool market for hand spinners and the great fleece the Coopworth breed has I was intrigued. There are also quite a few shearers in our area. When we went to the MD Sheep and Wool Festival in May I bought some Coopworth roving and loved the softness and feel of the wool.

Finding Coopworths, especially an adult breeding ram proved to be harder. I also wanted to buy from a breeder that I respected. We ended up finding just such a breeder, but five hours away. Martha at Deer Run Farm participates in the National Sheep Improvement Program which tracks the sheep on a nationwide database to improve genetics. Martha had some impressive stats on her sheep and seemed very knowledgeable. Just the sort of person from whom I should have bought my first sheep.

The drive through the mountains of Virginia/West Virginia was absolutely lovely. And if I wasn't worried about hauling sheep in a trailer I could have enjoyed it more.

We picked the sheep up early Sunday morning, trying to drive through the cooler morning hours, but we had such a great time talking to Martha and her husband it was hard to leave. I learned so much in the couple hours we were at their farm. She gave the lambs a copper wire bolus to help with worms before we left. I need to get more info together on using the copper wire. The brief search I did while driving home was very interesting. There is some great research out there from very reputable institutions.

Elwood was featured prominently in yesterday's post so I will introduce the ewe lambs. The older one, by only a month, is Hazel.

Hazel is white but carries color genes. It will be interesting to see what her lambs look like. She was born in mid-March and hopefully will breed in the late fall.

Ruth was born in mid-April and also carries color genes.

The fields they came from had woven wire fencing and electric netting. I tried to put up our electric netting but realized I prefer my electric rope fencing. Today the new sheep learned all about the electric rope and did very well with it.

Right now the new sheep are in quarantine for a few weeks. By then I hope to have the older ram lambs at the butcher. Then Elwood will spend some time in with the younger ram lambs until his services are needed with the ewes. I am more worried about integrating the ewe lambs in with the other ewes.  Well, at least I have a little time before that happens.

Introducing Elwood

Meet Elwood, our new herd sire.

He is a registered Coopworth. His fleece is so soft. He is two years old and has never bred so we have our fingers crossed. His mother threw many sets of twins and a few sets of triplets. We picked up Elwood and two Coopworth ewe lambs in West Virginia this morning. It's been a busy day driving and getting the new sheep set up in their new home. More to come tomorrow on the new ewe lambs and our trip to WV.