We survived the weather in Sedalia. Midwest Sale was strong as usual. The highlight of the trip for me was the opportunity to visit with Larry Mead. The Heartland group are doing a great job of managing the sale but there would have been no sale without Larry Mead. What a great contribution he made developing the sale for the sheep industry. Larry your contributions, energy, and effort will never be forgotten by those of us that benefitted from your efforts.
I continue to get calls from people that struggle with their lambs on grass. The worms and coccidia are eating them alive and as the milk supply decreases they suffer from malnutrition because the grass does not provide adequate nutrients for a growing lamb. This works in the West where the grazing is extensive and the grass has more feed value and less moisture content. It isn’t working well in a majority of the country. It’s pretty simple. Keep the ewes in dry lot until weaned at eight weeks, creep feed the lambs and move to full feed at weaning. Control coccidiosis through feed and water and worms in dry lot are not an issue. If you have too much grass, run more ewes. This is the blue print for expansion, more lambs reach market with less feed cost and the opportunity to run more ewes is available.
Our last webinar was a discussion about abortion. In view of pending VFD regulations, I find it extremely important to vaccinate particularly for Vibrio, Campylobacter and you should consider Chlamydia as well. Timing is important on these vaccinations and planning should be done now. If you have used products such as aureomycin crumbles or AS 700 in the past, you should purchase them prior to Jan 1. If the rules don’t get amended they will be unavailable for sheep at therapeutic dosages after that date. We have had promises for change but I am not optimistic that we can get this done. To quote Ronald Reagan, “The most feared words in the English language are: I am from the Government and I am here to help.”
For more information about controlling abortion you can go to my blog site, askavetsheep.wordpress.com or information is available in my manual, Pipestone’s Veterinary Guide to Sheep and Goats.
Membership continues to grow in our Shepherd’s Club and I would encourage anyone with interest in sheep and goats to join. The next webinar will be devoted exclusively to goats and we intend to draw on experts around the country to participate in this webinar. Our last webinar was directed at preventing abortion in sheep and goats and was well attended.
One other thought, don’t forget about ram fertility. Now is the time to be sure they are in a well ventilated, cool as possible environment, feet have been trimmed and parasites addressed. Body condition monitored, not too thin, not too fat. The semen they are making now makes January lambs.
I am going to take the liberty to talk about Katahdins. When I switched to the breed after a short run with Dorpers and previous experience with Rambouillets and Suffolks and at one time owned a good Finn ram and a few old style Dorsets, my black faced friends spent a good amount of their time looking down their nose at my new acquisitions. Every breed has its place and purpose and that needs to be recognized.
Certainly, some ewes lambing three times in two years you can easily exceed a 200% lamb crop marketed and by running more ewes because the lambs don't see grass you can easily expand your numbers. In the process the bulk of your worm problems go away. Feed efficiency is 3 to 1 instead of 7 to 1 with substantially less death loss.
If you are going to market through conventional market channels you need the larger Katahdin ewes. There are some that lack frame and structure and may work for the ethnic market but I would argue that larger ewes will get you there faster in that market. The Katahdin breed continues to grow in numbers and area. As sheep people in other areas learn to accept change, they will be a major player in expanding the sheep industry as well as the breed. I suspect on a commercial basis the ideal plan would breed enough ewes Katahdin to get replacement ewe lambs and use larger frame terminal meat sire on the balance of the ewes. Multiple births, out of season lambing, parasite resistance, no shearing and all over productivity are the reasons for the expansion of this breed.
July 6 we sold 32 Katahdin cull ram lambs, tails and testicles at the local livestock auction market, 129# average, $166 = $210 per head. Lambs were all born after February 1. A quality product on the rail. Wool breed lambs sold at similar prices, occasionally pelt prices are a factor but they weren't this day, with a 200% lamb crop marketed, this works.Recently I received a ballot from the Katahdin Association and I would encourage everyone to return their ballot and vote. A couple of the candidates have contributed extensive time and effort in promoting and contributing their time to support the breed and they need your continued support, be sure to vote.
