Cornell on Low Input Systems

I ran across this recent publication Low Input Lambing and Kidding, by Cornell University and found it to be really refreshing reading. It had my keen interest from the introductory paragraph describing one impetus for the study:

During a recent sabbatical in New Zealand, Dr. Michael Thonney, who is director of the Cornell Sheep Program, had been intrigued by the relaxed attitude lambing of New Zealand pasture based farmers toward lambing.

It goes on to say that their Extension program gets a lot of inquires from experienced sheep and goat farmers who are not seeking help with the day-to-day basics of small ruminant husbandry, but rather, how to make it be less labor-intensive. This white paper is an attempt to offer advice on that subject, based on a small study.

 

Culling Decisions

I wanted to write a bit about culling decisions, it’s been on my mind due to a lot of discussions on sheep discussion groups I read. For this discussion, I won’t differentiate between sending an animal to slaughter versus selling it to someone else. The former is typically done when it wouldn’t be ethical to pass on a compromised animal to someone else. Selling, however, can be fine if the animal doesn’t meet our own goals, but may be a good fit in someone else’s system; as long as the perceived detractors are disclosed, and the animal is discounted appropriately. Either way, there are times when we may decide that an animal will not be retained in the herd because she’s not passing muster.

 

In the Numbers

Here are my lamb counts for the year. I had forty ewes overwintered here. One was a late summer-born ewe, so I suspected she may not breed, and she didn’t. That’s ok. Of the remaining 39, six are not pregnant, as confirmed by recent blood tests. Five of those are ewelambs. The sixth is my Jacob cross ewe, who is two; I don’t know why she didn’t conceive. So, she will have to go this year.

 

Frothy Bloat in Grazing Lambs

I’ve had several cases of frothy bloat crop up this year. The interesting thing is that it’s appearing in regular ol’ lambs nursing on their mothers, at the age of 3-4 weeks, when they are just starting to transition to real ruminating. I’m used to seeing it in bottle lambs trained to drink of the “milk bar” bucket. They are prone to bloat because of their gorging habit when the bucket is re-filled  with milk. But I’ve never seen it before in regular, non-grain-fed lambs, and I can’t find any documentation to explain it.

 

Ordinary, Yet Noteworthy Number Seven

I like to write a lot about strange cases, anomalies, and sick animals. Though they are the biggest headache, I also find them the most intriguing. Today I will write about one of the rest: all of the perfectly normal, perfectly boring sheep which are noteworthy for capturing none of my attention at all.