If you have been milking your sheep, you may have reached a point where you have more milk than you could use. As it would happen, sheep milk is the ideal milk for making cheese. Plus, it freezes wonderfully, so you can freeze small amounts of excess milk until you have enough to make a…
Pesticides Are Out. Biological Pest Control Is In.
On several occasions in the past, we have mentioned that pests can sometimes be effectively controlled biologically. Not surprisingly, Mother Nature has a system of checks and balances for insects just as she does for the larger ecosystem. Thus, it would be in our best interests to learn how to work with nature to control…
How To Body Condition Score Your Sheep
Today we are going to discuss body condition scoring in sheep. As someone who is breeding sheep, it is important to be able to know what sort of condition your animals are in at various stages of production—and what condition they should be in. If your sheep is either too fat or too thin this…
How To Recognize Sulfur Deficiency In Plants
Do you have plants that look yellow despite fertilizing them? Do you have legumes that look nitrogen deficient? Does your vegetable garden or pasture just seem to fail to thrive? If so, your plants might have a sulfur deficiency. Today we are going to take a closer look at sulfur deficiency in plants, discuss how…
How To Build A Portable Shade Structure For Your Sheep
If you read our articles on barber pole worms, then you know that proper rotational grazing can significantly reduce the worm burden your sheep are exposed to. Realistically, rotational grazing can be tricky to implement for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons is shade and or shelter constraints. So today we are…
The Best Passiflora For Pollinators
Many people are interested in planting wildlife friendly gardens. Often, one of the main things that people focus on is planting pollinator friendly plants. These pollinator plants are wonderful sources of food not only for honey bees, but also for a myriad of native bees that provide us with valuable pollination services. So, for those…
How To Recognize Photosensitivity In Sheep
Her head is red and swollen, her eyes are puffy, red and closed, her ears are droopy and she is itching her face excessively. What’s going on? What is this? Diagnosis: Photosensitivity. You must act immediately One afternoon we went out to check on our dairy sheep and discovered that one of them had a…
Everything You Need To Know About The Insect Scale
Recently we received a question from someone about what to do about a severe scale infestation on some magnolias in their yard. We thought that it might be helpful to share that information with you. There are a variety of different scale species and scale affects a variety of ornamental plants such as hollies, boxwoods,…
Culicoides Hypersensitivity: Sweet Itch Doesn’t Just Affect Horses
Do you have a sheep that has developed bald patches on their belly or sides during the summer months? Or patches of thickened bare skin they itch and itch and itch, often until they produce raw bleeding spots? Despite having these odd itchy spots, you can find absolutely no obvious reason for the irritation. Did…
How To Help Plants Blackened By Sooty Mold
Help! Its unsightly. It looks like a horrible disease that is suddenly covering multiple plants in my garden. Its even starting to show up on my patio furniture. You have just described sooty mold. Thankfully it is a non-harmful condition that will resolve it self when the root cause is eliminated. So what is sooty…
