Foot scald and footrot become much more common during prolonged spells of wet weather and they are not easy to deal with.
One of the problems that can occur when a ewe is lambing is that the cervix doesn't relax and expand fully.
A tried and true design for sheep yards built by Bruce Binnie.
Faecal Egg Counts measure the eggs per gram of faeces (epg) that pass through a sheep and hence the worm load.
Bonding between a ewe and her lamb(s) takes only a few minutes. After this she will not take a lamb that smells differently.
With today's more fertile sheep breeds, inevitably there are more lambs born, which everyone thinks is a good thing.
There are many methods used around the world to shear a sheep using hand shears or blades.
Many back injuries occur when sheep are being handled, especially when lifting sheep over a fence.
It's worth providing all the help you can in a small flock. Here are some suggestions:
Every lamb this year is going to be worth saving this year, as the demand for sheep meat is at a high.
Every lamb is worth saving this spring - so it's worth putting a lot of effort into your lambing management.
When considering the state of health of a sheep, it's a great help to know its liveweight.
Weaning is a stressful time for lambs.
Tail docking can help prevent dirty faecal dags forming under the tail.
Sheep have generally very good vision. The position of the eye allows for wide peripheral vision – with each eye they can span some 145° with each eye.
Sheep are the classical social "flocking animal".
Sheep are ruminants – and they start eating pasture from about a week old. They are efficient ruminants by about a month old.
Sheep are seasonal breeders and ewes are stimulated to cycle by the declining daylight pattern in Autumn.
A few hours before lambing, a ewe will move away from the main flock to find a quiet birth site.
To keep sheep moving, make sure there’s always a clear way ahead.
Hogget lambing is regularly promoted as a way to increase income, but results have been variable in the past.
Wool merchants are getting hot under the collar about people packing wool when it’s damp.
Every year, usually after the holidays in February and sometimes later, the owner of a lifestyle block with a small flock of sheep will realise that it’s that time of the year again.
Docking removes most of the lamb’s tail to prevent build up of dags on the wool around the sheep’s back end.
A bearing is a mass of flesh bulging from the vulva of a heavily pregnant ewe.
Maybe a good time for small farmers to start thinking about more sheep.
Saving lambs this spring is all about being well prepared, having the right gear and knowing when to offer or seek help.
If your sheep get diarrhoea, their daggy rear ends will be a very obvious sign, not just to you but to all the passers-by who look over your fence!
Occupational Safety and Health Service (OSH) now recommends that sheep are fasted prior to shearing
Lifestyle blocks are unfortunately a great place to find sheep decorated with dags.
Sheep grow wool continuously, so it is important to shear them at least once a year.
Ever eaten Weetbix for breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Mating hoggets can be quite profitable if done properly, but it has severe pitfalls which have be taken care off.
A few weeks before lambing the ewe will “bag up”. You’ll see her udder swelling.
Before you get the rings out to castrate your lambs this spring, decide if it’s a wise move to turn them into wethers.
If you get things wrong, you’ll end up with poor weaners that will be poor hoggets, and these in turn will make poor-performing ewes over their lifetime.
If you’re keeping breeding records of your sheep flock, making sure you get the correct mother at birth is critical
Rearing a pet lamb can be a great experience and it’s especially rewarding if you’ve saved a young lamb from starvation and exposure.
When a ewe is preparing to lamb, she’ll try to find a quiet spot for a birth site.
If you have to put your hand into the vagina, and then through the cervix of the ewe into the uterus to sort out a lambing problem, try this to make it easier:
Natural coloured fleece is sought after by handspinners, but the quality has to be right.
The day you are offered an orphan lamb or kid to rear for school pet day - you have to be very hard hearted.
Important points if you shear your own sheep
New Zealand is well advanced in slaughter practices in all meat works, where cattle, sheep, goats and pigs are electrically stunned before their throats are cut severing the carotid arteries.
A ram has two jobs. He has to get ALL the ewes pregnant, and then improve the next generation of the flock via his offspring.
Start to save your old bread bags to put over new-born lambs when it’s wet and cold.