We've been dealing with foot rot and foot scald in our sheep for some time now. I recently talked with a vet from UCD about it. Among the information he sent me was a recommendation to allow sheep to soak in a footbath for 20-30 minutes.
Our current footbath set up accommodates 2-3 sheep at a time. At that rate, it would take most of two days to run everyone through a footbath. Do any of you have any ideas about how to speed this up?
Dan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Guard Dog Questions
We currently have 3 guard dogs. The oldest is by far our most trustworthy - we use him with the lambing ewes with good success. The two younger dogs each pose different problems.
One dog is just a big goof ball. He plays with the sheep, roughly at times. We had him neutered last year, thinking that this might calm him down. It has to some extent, but we still can't trust him with lambing ewes. He'll chew on the ewe's ears while she's lambing, and he'll play rough with the lambs.
The youngest dog will ultimately be a very good dog, I think. He's just now 2. His biggest problem is that he is overly protective of the lambs - he protects them even from their mothers. He has injured several ewes doing this.
Since we're not with the sheep 24 hours a day, it's difficult to catch and correct these behaviors. Does anyone have a suggestion for dealing with this?
The last issue we're having with the dogs is their desire to patrol more widely than the paddocks they're in. We use electric nets to contain the sheep. The dogs have learned to jump the fence so that that they can extend their patrolling. We've started using short (5') lengths of chain that they must drag. This seems to curtail the jumping - either through the extra weight or because they've been shocked while dragging the chain over the electric fence. If we do this for a week or two, they'll stay in for awhile, but we seem to need to repeat it.
Any suggestions or ideas others have would be most helpful!
Dan Macon
One dog is just a big goof ball. He plays with the sheep, roughly at times. We had him neutered last year, thinking that this might calm him down. It has to some extent, but we still can't trust him with lambing ewes. He'll chew on the ewe's ears while she's lambing, and he'll play rough with the lambs.
The youngest dog will ultimately be a very good dog, I think. He's just now 2. His biggest problem is that he is overly protective of the lambs - he protects them even from their mothers. He has injured several ewes doing this.
Since we're not with the sheep 24 hours a day, it's difficult to catch and correct these behaviors. Does anyone have a suggestion for dealing with this?
The last issue we're having with the dogs is their desire to patrol more widely than the paddocks they're in. We use electric nets to contain the sheep. The dogs have learned to jump the fence so that that they can extend their patrolling. We've started using short (5') lengths of chain that they must drag. This seems to curtail the jumping - either through the extra weight or because they've been shocked while dragging the chain over the electric fence. If we do this for a week or two, they'll stay in for awhile, but we seem to need to repeat it.
Any suggestions or ideas others have would be most helpful!
Dan Macon
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Welcome!
For me, the term grass-farming encompasses the approach we all take to our grazing enterprises. Using animals and intensive management, I'm trying to improve the ecological function of the lands that I manage and to improve the economic sustainability of my farming business.
Everytime we get together, I learn a tremendous amount from other farmers who are taking a similar approach. Unfortunately, we're not all in close geographic proximity. While we're not in the same physical community, I'm hoping that we can start an on-line community dedicated to sharing ideas, posing questions and talking about our successes (and failures).
This blog is set up to allow multiple authors. I hope you'll participate!
Dan Macon
Flying Mule Farm
flyingmule@wavecable.com
www.flyingmulefarm.com
Everytime we get together, I learn a tremendous amount from other farmers who are taking a similar approach. Unfortunately, we're not all in close geographic proximity. While we're not in the same physical community, I'm hoping that we can start an on-line community dedicated to sharing ideas, posing questions and talking about our successes (and failures).
This blog is set up to allow multiple authors. I hope you'll participate!
Dan Macon
Flying Mule Farm
flyingmule@wavecable.com
www.flyingmulefarm.com
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