The last month we have been besieged by calls of lambs dying and struggling on pasture. These calls are not from semiarid range flocks in the west but as usual the Midwest and eastern U.S. When milk flow diminishes the lambs have trouble maintaining nutritional requirements having only high moisture grass to consume. Add the worm load and coccidiosis you have a disaster in the making. With the introduction of Ivermectin years past it become common practice just to worm and forget management and it worked until Ivermectin resistant worms developed and now without management, we have a disaster on our hands. I believe FAMACHA had a hand in this as well. Would you let your child become clinically sick before you wormed it? I don’t think so, and I don’t want to treat my sheep that way either.
What’s the solution? The most susceptible animals are lambs and lactating ewes. Solution: keep the ewes and lambs in dry lot. Feed the lambs creep containing a coccidiostat. Wean at eight weeks, lambs stay on full feed, replacement ewe lambs come off feed at 80 lbs., ewes go to pasture. If ewes were wormed coming off grass, then worming is not essential (if not wormed before going to grass.) Lambs need not to be wormed. You may want to worm replacement ewes at 80 lb. but they should be maintained on hay and have enough grain to maintain growth and condition, not go to pasture. They should not see pasture until the following summer and maintained as a separate unit. We expect dry lot lambs will have a feed conversion of about 3:1 with little death loss. If lambs go to grass and are finished in the fall 7:1 feed conversion would be good and there will be less of them.
Wormers I prefer to use are Dectomax or Levamisole, LevaMed. Dectomax is an injectable, easy to administrate and is effective on migrating larvae. Dectomax is an ivermectin so could be a problem when used in flocks with ivermectin resistant worms. It is the wormer of choice in my flock. Levamisole is effective against ivermectin resistant worms. Only effective against adult worms so in worm infested flocks may have to be repeated in 21 days. Occasionally reactions occur, seldom fatal in healthy animals but dosage should be accurate. Don’t over dose. I ignore the Tape Worm as they are not of any economic significance.
Not as complicated as it seems and certainly less complicated than having success with lambs on pasture. Basically, the idea is not new either, it’s actually Dwight Holloway’s Blue Print to Expansion. If this method causes you to have too much grass run more ewes, be profitable and help expand the sheep industry. Dwight passed years ago but he left a lasting impression on the industry, I worked with him when he founded the Pipestone Lamb and Wool Program.
