There are of course a multitude of commercially available automatic waterers. Most of which in our experience using them are not only expensive, but also leave something to be desired. And then there are water trough float valves available, most of which are designed to be attached to a garden hose. This is the easiest solution. It also leaves much to be desired. We wanted permanent waterers with buried water lines. And we were going to figure out how to do it in a way that we liked and could afford.

The first thing we had to do was decide on our goals.

After studying the commercially available waterers we decided on a simple, easy to replicate style that uses ground heat rather than electricity to keep the water open in the winter. We decided to install a couple more elaborate insulated winter waterers where we overwinter animals. Then we just installed easier warm weather waterers in summer grazing areas. The summer waterers can simply have the water shut off and be drained and removed/covered during the winter.

The winter waterers are insulated with waterlines trenched below the frostline. In our climate this is sufficient. They lightly freeze over at night but can be dumped in the morning and stay open during the day while the animals are using them. In a colder climate or with fewer animals you would most likely wish to add a heat source to the base to ensure nothing important freezes.

So let’s build a waterer!

First, you’re going to need supplies. The hardest part to find is an appropriate float valve. We opted to use ¾” Apex xtraflow long tail trough valves, with a pipe thread to garden hose thread adapter. We have been happy with them. They will set you back about $70 a piece. While they are admittedly one of the most expensive components, they seem to be durable and reliable. Plus, your float valve is really the heart of your waterer. A quality one is a must.

These valves are installed in the bottom of 5 gallon buckets. We are using 5 gallon buckets as they are cheap, readily available, and easy to replace if damaged. They are also a good size. They allow multiple animals to get a good drink without having to wait for a small bowl to refill, but not so large as to be hard to handle to dump and clean.

For each waterer, you will need two 5 gallon buckets.

One to install your valve into. One you need to cut the bottom off to set into the ground. If you can find 5 gallon bucket dimensioned 3 gallon buckets to install your trough valve into even better. That will give you extra space between the two buckets for your plumbing fittings.

You will need a hose lead to connect the trough valve to your plumbing in the ground. This allows you the very important feature of being able to remove and dump the waterer to clean it. You will also need plastic 55 gallon barrels and waterproof insulation if you want to make insulated waterers.

Lastly you will need water lines.

If you are making winter waterers, what you use is dependent on what your water lines are and how you will be tying in. You will need to attach to your water lines either below the frostline or indoors somewhere. In our case, our waterlines are PVC.

For warm weather waterers, we opted to use ¾” mainline irrigation tubing as it is inexpensive, durable and easy to work with. Irrigation line can withstand being frozen with water in the lines. The only caveat is that you have drain them enough to depressurize them. You also need to leave valves open to give space for the freezing water to expand.

Once you have your needed materials, you can trench your water lines to the desired locations.

If you need the waterers to be functional in freezing weather, they need to be trenched to the same depth as your houses waterlines. If they are just for summer use, a shallow trench is sufficient. We used a single bottom plow to dig a trench about 12” deep most of for our water lines. Then laid out the irrigation line and reburied the trench.

At the location of each waterer, you will need to dig a hole big enough to bury your 5 gallon bucket in the ground. Your waterline should come into the bottom of this hole. Fit the end of the irrigation tubing with a hose end fitting (and a shut off valve if desired) that you can screw your hose lead onto. Hook everything together and settle it all in the hole so the hose isn’t crimped. Voila, you have an affordable automatic waterer in your far pasture!

To make an insulated waterer, you need to do the same thing but on a bigger and deeper scale.

Please keep in mind that we live in a very mild climate. We only have a few weeks a year that the ground freezes and its not above freezing during the day. Its hardly worth even owning a heated bucket here. Therefore, “heating” waterers without electric is much easier for us than most people.

The principal on which these ground “heated” waterers work is that once you get down deep into the soil the temperature is stable, and this heat keeps your water from freezing. They also rely on your animals drinking water to keep the water moving as that also brings warm water from deeper in the ground. If you live in a colder climate or have few animals, you will need more insulation, much deeper insulation, and will probably do best with some added heat.

Please consider this and adapt according to your climate!

For an insulated waterer, you will need to dig a hole big enough to fit a 55 gallon barrel inside the ground instead of just a 5 gallon bucket. This hole needs to be deep into the ground, and the bottom of it needs to be below your frost line. It needs to be down to the depth of your water lines or further for it to work. So if you live somewhere cold, you may need to stack several barrels, use a piece of culvert, or some other tube instead of barrels.

You need to insulate the inside of this barrel to below the frost line. You do not want the frozen ground radiating cold into your waterer. Then you will install the same 5 gallon bucket waterer we made above through the top of the barrel. It is a good idea to insulate the portion of the 5 gallon buckets sticking above the side of the 55 gallon barrel. We did this by cutting the bottom off a large plant pot that would fit over our 5 gallon bucket and sandwiched insulation between the two.

If you wish to use heat inside your waterer, it is easy to do. There is plenty of space inside your hole for a heat source. Even if you are going to try this without heat, it is a good idea to install something like a heavy duty extension cord before you bury everything. This makes it easy to add heat later if you change your mind. Lastly, we highly recommend installing a shut off valve between the waterer and your water line, particularly if this is directly attached to all the plumbing in your house.

In closing, please note regarding the insulated watereers:

Because your waterlines are exposed down in the hole. It is essential that these waterers are on and being used in the winter. If you turn them off and dump the water out without insulating the hole your pipes will freeze.

We hope that gives you some ideas on how to simplify your life without breaking the bank! If you’d like to read more about how we get things done on our farm, please sign up for our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Build A DIY Automatic Waterer first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

As you might already know, a livestock guardian is only as good as the area they can access. Many a farmer has lost animals to predators who were savvy enough to work out where the dogs could and couldn’t access. Jump gates give your dogs the freedom to do their job while keeping your other animals in their designated pastures. They also allow you to set up dog feeding areas where you don’t have to worry about conflict arising around your stock stealing food from the dogs. Jump gates are also good in the sense that they don’t teach or encourage your dogs to breach your normal gates.

So what exactly is a jump gate?

Jump gates are simply gates designed with a dog sized hole in the middle. The hole is typically sized and shaped in a way that discourages livestock from thinking they can fit through it. There are as many different jump gate versions as there are farmers. However, many of the same principals apply to make them work regardless of the exact details of the gates.

Firstly, you want to size your hole as small as possible.

What’s appropriate will vary depending on the size of your dog. If your dogs are 80lbs, don’t size the hole for a 200lb dog. This is particularly important if you have goats as they are more apt than sheep to try things. Measure your dog, and try to size your hole to be just large enough for them to comfortably squeeze through.

Secondly, you want your hole to be up a couple/few feet off the ground.

The idea here is to place it too high for your sheep or goats to be able to just step through the hole without jumping. Dogs are athletic and capable. They are easily able and willing to jump through a small hole a couple feet off the ground. Sheep, not so much.

Thirdly, the shape of your hole matters.

A triangular shaped hole is more deterring to livestock than a square one. Orient your triangle so the wide part is at the top and the bottom is the point. Triangular shaped holes look tiny at the bottom (and thus looks to your goat or sheep like they absolutely wouldn’t fit). However, there is actually plenty of shape for your dogs shoulders to go through the top of the triangle.

There are many different materials that you can use for jump gates.

Some people use wood, some people cut holes in cattle panels and reinforce the opening with boards. Some people make portable ones, others are fixed in permanent fence lines. Our personal preference is to use bright white PVC pipes to make jump gates like those pictured in this article.

We think that this is one of the best options if you are rotationally grazing using electric fence and moving your fence lines frequently. PVC jump gates are lightweight which makes them extremely portable. They are non-conductive so we do not have to worry about them accidentally grounding out our fence. Simply pound a couple fiberglass stakes into the ground between 2 sections of fence and slip the jump gate over the top of them.

Additionally, our PVC gates are highly visible to the dogs, and they do not look anything like any fence or gate we want our dogs to stay behind. This way our dogs are not confused, nor are they encouraged to climb through our other gates or fences. This is an important consideration as you design your jump gates. You cannot undo teaching a dog something. You do not want to accidentally teach your dog how to breach your perimeter fences.

Training your dog to jump gates is easy.

Put the dog on one side of the gate (with no other escape route) and put something they want on the other side. Encourage them to climb through the hole and reward them for doing so. It will likely only take them a few tries to start using it. If your dog is new to the concept of jump gates, you may want to start with a bigger, square hole positioned lower initially. Once they are comfortable with the concept you can move to your final jump gate style.

Because there are so many variables in fences, and the size of animals, we cannot really say what style or dimensions are best for jump gates. What exact jump gate works for your farm may take some trial and error. It will depend on how ambitious your animals are about getting to the other side of the fence. Try to take into consideration how difficult your livestock is to contain as you are designing your gate. Goats are going to be harder to keep from using the gate as are animals confined to smaller areas. Regardless, hopefully this gives you a good starting place!

Next time, we are going to discuss how we made inexpensive automatic waterers. If you don’t want to miss out on that article, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Using Jump Gates To Help Your Livestock Guardian Dog first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

In our opinion, the ease and labor savings of feeding whole round bales is worth it under 2 conditions. If feeding it outside, you’ll need to be able to use a round bale in less than a week to avoid it being spoiled by rain. You also need to be able to feed them without wasting the majority of the bale.

Unfortunately, preventing waste is not as easy with small ruminants as it is with cows and horses.

Left to their own devices sheep can waste 50% or more of a bale if not fed in a feeder. This is economically unacceptable in our opinion. However, most round bale feeders are designed for cows and horses not sheep and goats. Thus, they do not work very well, or at all for small ruminants. Either the sheep can’t reach the hay, or they can get inside the feeder defeating the purpose. Some feeders like many cradle feeders can be dangerous to use.

There are a few round bale feeders designed with sheep in mind. In many cases they are prohibitively expensive or difficult to obtain. Probably one of the most common DIY designs is using a cattle panel with larger holes cut in it wrapped around a bale. This is certainly better than nothing, but we thought there had to be a better solution.

The result is our corral panel feeder.

The idea of this feeder is to incorporate the collapsible nature of the expensive sheep feeders we’ve seen with what we’ve learned over the years about slowing down hay waste. This feeder is simple to make, easy to move, and works well for our flock.

We typically feed 4×5 bales, so this feeder is suitable for similarly or smaller sized bales. You may need larger corral panels, or a 4^th one if you feed different size/shape bales. We like this feeder because it works well. It’s inexpensive, durable, and portable. It also doesn’t require having a tractor capable of lifting bales over the ring.

To make this feeder, you will need a few simple tools, mainly a drill and a way to cut chain. Then you will need three 12’ corral panels, three boards 1x6x12 (or 2x6x12), lengths of chain (like that used on pipe gates), bolts to attach the boards to the corral panels, and snap clips. You will also need an optional round bale hay net.

To make the feeder:

Start by drilling holes and attaching the board to the bottom of the corral panel as seen in the picture below. This is to help keep the hay inside the feeder, and their feet from going under or through the bottom to step on the hay inside. Without it your bale net and hay that has collapsed down near the bottom are likely to get trampled into the mud.

You will need to cut your chain into 6 pieces that are long enough to wrap around 2 corral panel tubes and be clipped together to support your panels. These are to allow you to shrink the feeder as the bale gets smaller.

Once you have done these two things you’re ready to set up the feeder.

Put a bale net on your round bale and place it out into the field. We typically put the bale net on after the bale is almost in place, right before we set it down. That way we can cut and remove the twine without worrying about the bale collapsing as we are transporting it. Our preference is to place the bale up on a pallet rather than setting it directly on the ground.

Once your bale is in place you can set up the feeder around it. Arrange your corral panels in a triangle around the bale. Initially, you can probably just use the corral panel pins to hold them together. The bale is likely large enough for the sheep to reach. A tarp can also be easily thrown over the top of this feeder and tied off to help protect your hay from rain or snow.

Once your flock has eaten most of what they can reach, you can start shrinking your feeder. To do this you will pull one end of each panel out past the next panel like a pinwheel. Use the pieces of chain to secure the panels to each other to prevent them from falling. You can also do the same thing with 4 panels instead of 3 if you’d prefer. When the bale is gone, simply un-clip the panels, drag them to your next location and start again.

We find that these feeders provide an acceptably low level of waste.

The level of waste from these feeders is probably on par with the waste from our other feeders, but with massive day to day labor savings. Our waste is well less than 10% if we are feeding decent quality hay and use a bale net. While we said a bale net is optional, it does really help cut down on waste. It prevents the sheep from dragging large chunks of hay off the bale and out of the feeder.

Keep in mind also that the quality of your hay will directly affect the amount of waste you get. Good quality hay will produce the least waste. If your hay is full of weeds and straw, it doesn’t matter what feeder you use, they will pick through and leave the inedible parts.

We hope that this idea will help you to save time and money on your farm.

If you would like to learn more about how we do things on our farm, don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post The Best Round Bale Feeder For Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Feed costs are one of the biggest expenses livestock producers have. How you feed your animals is likely the biggest factor in whether they are profitable or not. Thus, it makes sense to do everything you can to minimize your feed costs. On our farm, almost exclusively feeding locally sourced feed is the most logical, economical choice.

As an added bonus, we are supporting our local farmers by putting money directly into their hands and our local community instead of into the pockets of big corporations. Your local grain farmers need and appreciate community support just as much as the boutique micro green farmers at the farmers markets.

Today we are going to give you our take on feeding locally sourced whole grains to our animals.

But first let’s address the issue of feeding whole grains. There are a lot of myths floating around on the internet about feeding animals. Many of which most people have completely bought into. It has gotten to the point that if you mention online that you feed whole grains instead of pelleted complete feeds, you’re told your feed choices are the cause of all your problems. You may be accused of ‘neglecting’ or ‘abusing’ your animals. People will tear you to shreds for even mentioning feeding whole corn to chickens. So, you might be questioning whether it’s safe to feed whole grains to your animals.

The answer is yes! Whole grains are safe to feed and are typically well utilized. Did you know that pelleted feed like so commonly seen didn’t really become a thing until after World War II? It wasn’t until the 50’s when they really started to perfect making complete feeds. Not that long ago we started making this feed animals now ‘can’t live without’. Prior to pelleted feeds, animals were mainly fed whole food diets. The point being, no matter how much big ag wants you to believe that you have to feed your animals their approved brand of pelleted feed, you don’t.

Don’t get me wrong, pelleted feed certainly has its advantages.

It’s convenient and very much simplifies things particularly in confined operations like keeping chickens that do not get to free range. But it also has its disadvantages, and is definitely not required for healthy animals.

Studies have proven time and again that animals can utilize whole grains very effectively, and that they can even be safer to feed because they don’t carry as much risk of acidosis as pelleted feeds. Livestock like sheep are capable of performing well on a variety of different whole feed diets. Thus, when feeding livestock you should utilize whatever feeds are most readily available and economical—typically feeds from local farmers.

If you have a pasture based operation where your animals are getting the majority of their diet from the food they forage, you can likely very easily utilize locally sourced whole feeds. You will likely see little to no performance change. However, to derive benefit you need to understand what feed value it has and why you’re feeding it.

As a general rule, energy and protein are the two nutrients most likely to be lacking in livestock’s diet.

Lucky for us the gold standards for energy and protein are the most commonly grown grains. They are very easily sourced and cheap. Read on to see how we utilize whole grains to reduce our feed bill.

Our flock is pasture based. The sheep get almost everything they need from pasture, and a trace mineral salt. They don’t need a complete feed, they are herbivores designed to thrive off of forage only. The grass in our pastures provides almost everything sheep need for the majority of the year. We’ve done forage tests and know this to be true.

The exception being when we ask them for high production. During late gestation and early lactation, nutritional needs are very high, particularly if they have triplets. While our flock can raise lambs on a forage only diet, they will hold condition better and make more milk with some supplementation. And we want that, because that is better for them and better for us.

Energy and protein are often lacking in their diets because they cannot consume enough grass to meet their higher needs during gestation and lactation. This can easily be remedied by feeding them a mixture of whole corn (energy) and raw soybeans (protein). We source them from a local farmer, at a significant cost saving to us over bagged feed. Our lambs can also effectively utilize the same whole grains as long as their rumens are functioning.

If you are feeding omnivores like chickens instead of herbivores, you need to utilize whole feed diets a little more carefully to make sure their nutritional needs are being met.

The requirements of omnivores are somewhat more complex, and you need to have at least a basic understanding of their nutritional requirements. If you do not feel comfortable with designing a diet for omnivores it is probably best to supplement with a complete feed. Alternatively, utilize one of the available feed supplements. They are designed to be fed along side whole grains to make complete poultry/hog diets. This ensures your animals are getting what they need while you learn.

Keep in mind that transitioning your animals doesn’t have to happen immediately or all at once. You can experiment a small amount as you are able and move forward when you feel comfortable with your increased knowledge and how your animals are performing. If you can find a local mentor with experience utilizing whatever feeds are available locally, even better.

As a side note, since we mentioned feeding soybeans above, we would also like to clarify that ruminants like sheep can effectively utilize raw soybeans. You just need to keep in mind they are high in fats so can easily be overfed. Monogastrics like chickens CANNOT eat raw soybeans. For non-ruminants, soybeans need to be cooked/heat treated. You can likely get soybean meal which is safe to feed them from local feed mills.

Lastly, we want to mention the main downside we see to buying feed locally.

Availability. Most of the grain farmers harvest and take everything directly to the grain mill which means that feed is often only available seasonally. You have to get it from the farmer at harvest. Thus, it requires some planning ahead and the ability to store extra feed somewhere dry.

Storage can be as simple as trash cans with lids, or as complicated as a grain bin. Whatever fits your needs and budget. Our preference is to feed our animals seasonally to make logistics easier. We purchase wheat in July when it is harvested and use that to feed our poultry and any sheep who need some extra groceries in the summer or fall. Then in the fall we purchase enough corn to get through the winter and spring.

We hope this has given you some ideas of how you might lower the feed costs on your farm while simultaneously supporting your fellow farmers!

If you would like to read more articles about how we do things on our farm, don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Slashing Your Feed Bill With Locally Sourced Feed first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Katahdins have many traits that make them appealing over a traditional dairy sheep breed. However, one of the biggest drawbacks to milking them is that they haven’t been selected for dairy traits. They are highly variable in traits like milk production, udder confirmation, and lactation length. It is a lot more of a crap shoot to get a ‘good dairy’ Katahdin than it is to get a good East Friesian.

That being said, there are plenty of Katahdin ewes out there who are perfectly suitable for providing your family with milk.

The trick is just finding them. So today we are going to offer some suggestions of what you should be looking for when trying to find a Katahdin to use for dairy purposes.

Firstly, you can try to find a Katahdin East Friesian/Lacaune cross, or someone who is milking their flock. This would be your best bet. Unfortunately, while there are people out there breeding flocks for dairy, they are few and far between and you will likely have to settle for making an educated guess out of a meat flock.

Our first suggestion is to go seek out the milkiest flock and sheep within that flock you can find. So here, we’re talking about trying to find a flock where they are selecting for a higher lambing percentage and ewes that can raise those extra lambs. Look for a flock with a lot of triplets and quads that aren’t bottle fed.

Look for daughters off an ewe that has enough milk to feed those extra lambs.

A lot of ewes don’t have enough milk to feed extra lambs, so try to seek out one that does. Her daughters should hopefully produce more milk than average. And definitely don’t buy bottle lambs from a mother that didn’t have milk to feed them.

Another thing you can look for if you are in the market to buy NSIP sheep is an ewe with a high MWWT score, and high scores for number of lambs born and weaned. MWWT is the closest thing that the NSIP has to milk production. While it is a measure of mothering ability also, an ewe with a high MWWT should have more milk than average. If you haven’t read our post on NSIP sheep selection, follow this link to learn more.

Keep in mind that high MWWT and selecting from an ewe that can successfully raise triplets or quads doesn’t guarantee that their offspring will be good milk producers. However, it should help to tip the chances in your favor. Additionally, if you can find a flock that weans late, they might be inadvertently selecting for more milk over a longer lactation compared to a flock that weans at 30-60 days.

If it is at all possible to see the dams in milk, do so.

This can help you to gauge udder volume and confirmation potential for the lambs. It is virtually impossible to predict what a ewe lamb’s udder will be like from looking at her prior to lambing. So if you can view the dam’s udders, try to select lambs from the one with the best milk production and udder confirmation.

Udder confirmation is almost as important as milk volume and lactation length. Having a lot of milk doesn’t’ do you much good if you can’t get it out. Ideal udder confirmation depends upon how you plan to milk your sheep. For most people milking a few animals, hand milking is usually sufficient. In fact, it is typically less labor intensive than machine milking for a small flock.

Since most people milking sheep in their back yard will be hand milking, we are making the assumption that you will be hand milking for the purposes of this article. Thus we need to find an udder with teats large enough to be suitable for this. Teats pointed diagonally outward are best for lambs and are most likely to be seen.

If hand milking teat location is not as important. If your ewe will also be feeding lambs and hand milking, outward angled teats are perfectly fine. You can easily use technique to remove the milk from the bottom of the udder. If you are unsure how to hand milk a sheep we have a step by step how-to article here. If you do happen to be selecting for machine milking instead, teats close to the bottom of the udder and pointing downward is best.

We find that the interaction of teat length and udder shape are the two most important traits.

Teat location and diameter are less important. Of course larger teats are always going to be easier to milk. The least suitable udders for milking are those with very small teats on flat udders. Trying to milk an udder out with two fingers is not a lot of fun. If an ewe has smaller teats and a more pendulous shaped udder while still less than ideal, it can be done. We find that teat length is far more important than diameter when it comes to ease of milking.

Now we know that Katahdins have not been selected for dairy purposes. This means that they haven’t been selected for any sort of udder uniformity. Thus, there will be a wide range of variability, and you will have to decide what you can and can’t work with. This is of course going to be a personal decision, and what we find ideal you might not. However, udder confirmation may seem abstract and hard to visualize. To help you out, below are pictures and descriptions of some of the udders we have had in our flock.

Some of these ewes are part of our milking string, some of them are allowed to raise lambs and dry off because their udders are hard to milk. This is what we prefer and find suitable for working with or not and why. Hopefully these pictures will help you to visualize what you are looking for as you seek out dairy Katahdins.

This first udder is the closest thing to perfect that we have.

This ewe produces a lot of milk over a long lactation. She is also the ewe in the other two pictures above. As you can see she has a large, well suspended udder and long thick teats. Her udder is quick and easy to empty as she has large teats with a large teat canal. They are easy to wrap an entire hand around to express a large volume of milk.

The second udder is an ewe that we also milk regularly.

While her udder isn’t quite as ideal as the first ewe pictured here, she is still very easy to milk. Her udder is pretty empty in this picture, but you will notice her udder is more flatly attached than the first ewe. In the case of this particular ewe, her teats are still thick but are not as long. However, they are still plenty long enough to wrap your hand around. She also has wide teat canals so you can again express a lot of milk with each squeeze.

The third udder is again on an ewe that we milk.

Her teats are smaller. They are not nearly as thick as the teats in the first two pictures. In fact on first glance, her teats seem almost too small to be good for milking. However, her udder is more pendulous which gives you more space to work. Once you have gotten her to let down her milk, you’ll find that her teats are plenty large enough to milk. In this case her teats are narrow, but they are long enough to wrap your hand around which still gets the job done.

The ewe in the fourth picture has an udder that we do not care to milk.

In this case her udder is small, flat to her body, and her teats are short. A bad combination. Yes her teats are wide, but it doesn’t really help. Due to the flat shape and the short teats, it is very difficult to get milk out of her udder as you cannot grab a handful of udder to make up for the short teats. And thus, you are restricted to squeezing out tiny bits of milk with only a couple fingers.

The ewe in the fifth and last picture is also an ewe that we do not care to milk.

In this case she has very, very tiny teats. They are short and narrow and only about the size of your pinkie tip. Notice, these teats are attached to a much more pendulous udder. In this ewes case, the teats are so tiny they are only big enough to put your thumb and pointer finger on.

Due to the pendulous shape of her udder, she can be milked. But, it is a pain to do so and takes a long time. Her teats are very small so when her udder is full you can only squeeze out tiny bits of milk at a time until you depressurize the udder sufficiently to be able to wrap your hand around a portion of the udder.

We hope that this gives you a visual of what you’re looking for, and that it helps answer some of the questions you might have about sourcing and selecting a Katahndin for dairy purposes. If you would like to read more articles like this, please sign up for our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post What To Look For When Selecting A Dairy Katahdin first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

The goal of NISP is to do exactly what the name states. Their goal is to use performance based data to provide information to producers to help them to maximize their flock’s performance and profit. The way they do this is by collecting all sorts of data from thousands of sheep raised by different producers all over the country. This data is put into a complicated database where EBV’s for individual animals are produced.

EBV’s aren’t static. They can and will change as new data and new animals are added to the database. They also come with an accuracy rating. The more relatives a sheep has recorded, the more accurate the EBV’s are expected to be. A given animal is essentially ranked based on how it performs as compared to the other animals in the database.

While the EBV’s are estimates, you can learn more about the potential of an animal from this data than you can by looking at them standing out in a field.

This is particularly true for rams since you can’t see how much milk he produces or if he’s a good mother. It has been proven that by using performance based data rather than visual appearance you can make genetic gains faster.

We humans have a tendency to be attracted to the biggest fattest looking lamb out in the field. Unfortunately, while this one might look amazing, it is rarely the best performing lamb in the flock. This lamb is usually a single born from a slacker mother. By selecting the biggest nicest looking lamb, you might actually be selecting against important traits like prolificacy and ewe efficiency. EBV data helps us avoid these biases.

Note, we are going to be referring to Katahdins throughout this article as that is what we breed. Katahdin breeders have relied heavily on EBV’s. They have made remarkable performance advances as a result. However, NSIP is not Katahdin specific. It has databases for a variety of sheep breeds, so be sure to check if your breed participates.

Data is collected on a whole slew of different performance traits.

Data collected ranges from things like birth weight and number of lambs born to fecal egg count scores to carcass and wool qualities. A complete list of the traits and descriptions can be found on the NSIP website. Each animal is assigned a score for each and every one of those traits. They are also assigned an overall score. This score is the hair index for Katahdins. A sheep with a very high hair index is a very good overall sheep.

Depending on your breeding goals you can select stock that has high scores for individual traits you wish to improve or just select for a high hair index. If there happens to be a trait your flock is very deficient in, it can be highly advantageous to select for a ram with a very high score in that trait. If you are generally satisfied with flock performance and have no traits you’re desperate to improve you might opt to select a high hair index ram. Not sure what your breeding goals are? You can refer back to our article on selecting breeding stock for some basic guidelines.

EBV’s offer a wealth of information.

The image above is a screen shot of example EBV’s from a ewe we recently purchased. You can see her US Hair Index is above the 90th percentile. She is a very good overall sheep, and would generally be an excellent choice. BUT, no sheep is perfect or the right answer to every problem. Even with a hair index that high she still scored in the 5th percentile for weaning fecal egg count (WFEC), and below average for birth weight (BWT) and post weaning fecal egg count (PFEC). If your flock desperately needed better parasite resistance, she would be a bad choice.

EBV’s are a tool.

Keep this in mind as you learn. Everyone uses this data a little differently. There is no right or wrong thing to select for. It is all dependent upon your flock and your goals. That being said, generally speaking you’d want to purchase stock that is better than average at most or all the traits. You don’t want to be using a ram that performs more poorly than the breed average. Otherwise, he will not be improving your flock like he should be.

You can determine how a given sheep compares to the average by comparing its score for a given trait to the percentile reports. A sheep with a trait that scores less than the 50^th percentile is performing worse than average for that trait. Keep in mind though that there is no such thing as a perfect sheep, and you can’t improve everything all at once. Focus on selecting for a high score in what you deem the most important traits while minimizing loss in other traits.

EBV’s are a lot of data to try to wrap your head around. The NSIP website has a variety of excellent information on how to use their data effectively. If you are interested in employing EBV’s in your flock, we would encourage you to dig into the system in more depth as this is outside the scope of this article.

Next time we are going to be discussion how to select a Katahdin for milking, so don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to have that delivered directly to your inbox!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post How To Use EBV’s To Improve Your Flock’s Performance first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

So just what is a terminal sire? A terminal sire is a ram that is used to breed offspring that won’t be bred. As in all of his lambs are intended to go into the freezer. You aren’t going to save and breed any of them. You are typically using a ram of a different breed that has complementary desirable traits. These traits are usually carcass quality, growth and survival traits. His one job is to create superior lambs for market. He should improve your bottom line if you are marketing meat. However, he won’t create offspring that is desirable to breed into your flock.

Sheep breeds can be categorized into maternal and non-maternal breeds.

Maternal breeds tend to be smaller, less meaty sheep who have excellent mothering skills and prolificacy traits. They are efficient and hardworking. Non-maternal breeds tend to be larger, meatier animals, with excellent carcass quality and growth traits. But they might be prone to having a single lamb or not producing enough milk, or just being poor mothers. Additionally due to their large size they cost more to feed and maintain.

When you cross a terminal sire over a maternal breed you can have the best of both worlds so to speak. For example, let’s say you run a flock of Katahdins, who are a maternal breed. They are a medium sized sheep that performs efficiently on a forage-based diet. They are also low maintenance, parasite resistant and excel at rearing lambs. However, when compared to a Texel, Suffolk or Hampshire sheep, it becomes obvious that they are lacking in carcass quality and size/growth.

We could take a Texel ram and cross it over our Katahdin flock, and the offspring will benefit from hybrid vigor.

They will also have improved growth rates and carcass qualities because they are half Texel. This means that your lambs should command a higher price at market netting you more income. You get this market quality improvement without the increased expense or drawbacks of having an entire flock of Texel sheep. Your lambs will be meatier and reach market weight faster than pure Katahdins. Because they are not staying on your farm very long you won’t have to worry about maintenance downsides like shearing.

Keep in mind that you will also need to produce replacement ewes. If you are focusing on meat and choose to use a terminal sire, you breed the majority of your ewes to your terminal sire. Select your best ewes to breed to the best maternal ram you can find (one who meets your breeding goals) to produce your replacement ewe lambs. This way you are maximizing the market value of your lambs while also simultaneously improving the quality of your ewe flock.

Now I know that many people might be appalled by the idea of making ‘mutt’ sheep.

This country as a whole has an obsession with papers and pure bred everything. However, as the saying goes ‘you can’t eat papers’. Don’t be afraid to make quality crossbred lambs for market. Many profitable commercial meat flocks are an amalgamation of many breeds of sheep. This is also true of some of the newer sheep breeds such as the Rideau Arcott.

Why? Because different breeds of sheep excel at different traits. No breed excels at everything. Also breeds that have closed herd books tend to suffer from genetic bottlenecks. Crossbreeding creates hybrid vigor and produces offspring that are healthier and better performing. We create a high-performance commercial flock to meet our specific environment and market demands by mixing and matching.

So maybe we add some Finn for prolificacy, some East Friesian for milk production, some Suffolk for size, some Katahdin for parasite resistance, etc. Then, we select the ewes that perform best for us and seek out rams that add traits we would still like to improve. All the breeds available today are a result of doing this process repeatedly in different places around the world.

We hope this gives you some food for thought as you work to maximize you flocks performance and your profit. Sometimes we forget this, but keep in mind that your rams are your single most important investment. The breed doesn’t matter most, performance does. Your ram will be the majority of the genetics in your flock within a few generations. Don’t let a crappy ram stand in the way of your success!

Next time we will be discussing a little bit about the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) and how we can use it to improve our flock. If you don’t want to miss out on that article, please sign up for our newsletter to have it delivered to your inbox!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Terminal Sires Can Maximize Production and Profit first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

It doesn’t matter how healthy you think the new animals are or how reputable the breeder. You should always quarantine new animals up on arrival. This is particularly true if you had him shipped and he was exposed to other animals on his journey. You should also quarantine anything that has gone off farm (like to a show or fair) and returned. Yes, quarantining a new animal takes extra effort, but it can potentially save you a lot of headache and expense in the long run.

Quarantining new animals goes hand in hand with farm bio-security.

Every farm, no matter how small, should have a bio-security plan in place. If you don’t have one, we would encourage you to spend some time doing research. Think about how to best protect your animals (and subsequently your profitability).

Of course, the best way to avoid introducing a disease into your flock is to keep a closed flock. A closed flock is a flock that has no external animals coming into it. Unfortunately for most farms, keeping a closed flock is not practical. New rams will need to be brought in occasionally to introduce new genetic material. However, doing your best to minimize the number of animals you bring in can help to protect your flock. You should also keep in mind that goats share many of the same diseases with sheep, and cows and other animals can sometimes also share diseases. They should also be quarantined accordingly.

It is never a good idea to purchase animals from a flock that shows any signs of disease whatsoever

Hopefully in the process of selecting new sheep, you took our previous advice. You did your research, made time for observation, and asked a lot of questions about flock health. Most of the time you can avoid bringing home most diseases by carefully inspecting the animals and farm they come from prior to purchase. Nonetheless, a seemingly healthy animal can sometimes be harboring a disease. Thus, it is important to treat every new animal as if it is contagious.

When you bring home new sheep, they should go in a quarantine pen where they have no contact with your flock. They should be housed as far away as possible. They shouldn’t share feeders, water troughs, or fence lines. You should feed them last so as not to expose your flock via your clothing or shoes. Additionally, the quarantine area should either be able to be sterilized or left empty for an extended time after use. This is just in case a contagious disease is brought in.

Sheep should be quarantined for a minimum of 2 weeks, but ideally for 30 days or even longer if practical. You need to give time for diseases to appear, and this also gives you time to do any desired testing/treatments. There is a laundry list of contagious diseases you could potentially be introducing onto your farm with new breeding stock. Some examples of these diseases include Campylobacter (vibrio), Chlamydia (EAE), ringworm, Foot rot, Johne’s Disease, liver flukes, OPP, Pink eye, Soremouth and dewormer resistant parasites. Some of these diseases are best found with blood testing rather than observation alone.

Foot rot might be one of the most commonly introduced contagious diseases.

Foot rot is extremely contagious, can sneak onto your farm particularly on young animals in dry conditions. Foot rot is a very serious animal welfare issue which can cause the performance of your flock to suffer. Plus, once established in your flock it can be very difficult, time consuming and expensive to eradicate. It is a disease where an ounce of prevention is indeed worth more than a pound of cure.

While in quarantine all the new sheep should have their feet trimmed and inspected for any signs of foot rot or abnormalities. It is also our preference to also expose the animals to wet muddy conditions if at all possible, prior to releasing them into our flock. This is because foot rot typically appears under wet conditions. Many farms choose to make the assumption that every new animal has foot rot and treats them accordingly.

Dewormer resistance is also something you’re more likely to encounter than not.

It is a good idea to triple deworm and do fecal egg count (FEC) tests on incoming sheep in an effort to avoid introducing any more dewormer resistant worms than absolutely necessary. The goal is to get your new sheep to have a FEC of 0 or as close to it as possible prior to letting them on your pastures. It can also be beneficial to discuss deworming practices and any known resistance existing on the farm you are purchasing lambs from.

In addition, something people sometimes don’t think about is the risk humans visiting from other farms bring to the flock. It is a good idea to ‘quarantine’ people coming onto your farm. Diseases can sometimes be transmitted on clothing, shoes and even car tires. It is a good idea to ask folks coming onto your farm to wear clean clothes, booties, or to walk through a foot bath prior to coming onto your farm. You should follow the same procedure yourself any time you have been to another farm or to a facility, like fair grounds, where sheep and goats are housed.

We hope this has prompted you to think about you handle incoming animals and people on your farm before you get into trouble. If you would like to read more articles about improving your flock and keeping your animals healthy, please sign up for our newsletter!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Quarantine: An Important Protection For Your Sheep first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Meningeal worm is endemic in most whitetail deer populations, and they are its target host. It rarely causes any symptoms in deer. Unfortunately, many other species grazing areas where deer have been can accidentally pick up this parasite. Llamas and alpacas are particularly susceptible and many camelid owners preventatively deworm their animals regularly. However this is generally not recommended for sheep and goats due to gastrointestinal parasite dewormer resistance issues.

So what is meningeal worm?

Meningeal worm is a round worm, Parelaphostrongylus tenuis. It completes its lifecycle in deer resulting in larvae being shed in the feces of infected deer. According to Cornell University up to 80% of whitetail deer are infected in endemic areas. So there is a pretty good chance if you have a lot of deer around, you probably have meningeal worm to worry about. It can accidentally infect a broad range of hooved species including sheep, goats, moose, elk, camelids, even horses and cattle occasionally.

As with other parasites understanding its life cycle is critical to understanding how to manage it.

In its desired host, the whitetail deer, this parasite lives on the meninges (the membranes covering the brain). It doesn’t cause any symptoms or an immune response. Female worms lay their eggs on the meninges. The eggs hatch into larvae. Then the larvae migrate through the bloodstream to the lungs where they are coughed up and swallowed. After passing through the digestive tract, the larvae are excreted in the feces.

Once the larvae have been excreted, they infect a variety of species of slugs and snails. They are ingested by or burrow into the foot of the slugs and snails feeding on the feces. Once inside the snails the larvae continue to develop. The life cycle is completed when deer accidentally consume the slugs and snails as they forage. They can also become re-infected when they consume plant material covered with the slime trails of infected snails. The ingested larvae then migrate from the stomach into the abdominal cavity and up the nerve tissue to the spinal cord. They ultimately return to the meninges where they mate and start the process all over again.

As you can imagine, its very easy for your sheep or goats to accidentally ingest the same slugs/snails and slime trails as deer.

Unfortunately when this happens things go a little haywire. Symptoms usually start to appear 30-60 days post ingestion. This means symptoms are typically seen late summer and early fall though they certainly can appear at other times of the year.

When ingested by an accidental host, the larvae attempt to start the same process as in deer. They migrate out of the stomach and into the nervous tissue of the abdominal cavity. However, at this point things go wrong. Unlike deer, who mount very little immune response, your sheep have a large immune response. This causes issues for the worms who get confused about where they’re going. Instead of migrating up through the nervous system, the worms end up burrowing around in the nervous tissue causing damage. The sheep’s immune response causes inflammation resulting in more damage.

This inflammation and nervous system damage create the symptoms you see.

Depending on where the damage is occurring the symptoms can vary. When the nerve damage is happening in nerves that aren’t in the spine, you get animals that are intensely itchy. They will often itch holes in themselves where the nerve damage is occurring. If the damage is occurring in the spinal cord you will see other symptoms. You may see things like minor lameness or stumbling on a rear leg, abnormal gait, incoordination, circling, head tilt, etc. If the worms reach the brain neurological symptoms may look similar to listeria or polio. The symptoms typically get progressively worse and can result in paralysis and death if left untreated.

Usually, the infected animals are bright and have good appetites. They do not appear ill aside from the above symptoms. It can be tricky to recognize symptoms, and they may even appear to recover briefly as the worms migrate through different parts of the nervous system. However, the symptoms typically reoccur, and prompt treatment is important as the nerve damage may become permanent.

There is no test for this parasite as the worm larvae is inside the nervous tissue and there are no eggs being shed in feces.

Diagnosis is made solely based on the symptoms and response to treatment. It is very important to treat meningeal worms using the correct deworming protocol. If you are treating for meningeal worm after symptoms have occurred, they are protected within the nervous system. Not all dewormers are capable of reaching them there. A few years ago Cornell did a study on a treatment protocol, and determined that meningeal worms can be most effectively treated using fenbendazole (Safeguard®) and Dexamethazone (or Banamine for pregnant animals) and ivermectin.

The recommended treatment protocol from Cornell University is to give:

• Safeguard® (10% Fenbendazole) orally for 5 days at 25 mg per kg of live weight
• Dexamethasone injectable 2 mg/mL IM at 0.2 mg/kg live weight for first 3 days and 0.1 mg/kg next 2 days. Ewes and does in last month of pregnancy are not to receive Dexamethasone. Instead, they will receive flunixin meglumine (Banamine® ) 50 mg/mL at the rate of 1 cc/100 lb live weight (1.1 mg/kg) orally for 5 days.
• Ivermectin 1% injectable administered SQ for 5 days at 0.5 mg/kg live wt. *It is thought that ivermectin can be a beneficial treatment, but significantly increases withdrawal times.

Keep in mind that this deworming protocol comes with a very long drug withdrawal period (90 days or more). The withdrawal times can change and vary from species to species. It is extremely important to verify and follow withdrawal times for any treatment that you use. If you are raising animals for meat, you must weigh the pros and cons of deworming vs. not. Many times symptoms appear late in the season when processing dates are not very far off.

If you have mild cases where there is just some itchiness in low value animals you may be able to manage the symptoms without deworming treatment. Sheep do mount an immune response to the worm and may be able to clear the parasite from their body themselves. However, treatment should be started promptly in severe cases or in valuable animals where you are not ok with the possibility of a wait and see approach resulting in euthanasia being necessary.

So is there anything I can do to prevent meningeal worm problems?

As you might expect, the answer is yes and no. The obvious answer is of course preventing deer and or snails from accessing the pastures where your sheep graze. Both are required to cause disease in your sheep. Unfortunately, that can be extremely difficult to execute. It takes months for the larvae to mature in the snails. This means that deer need to be excluded at all times, not just when your sheep are grazing. Plus, snails and slugs do not respect fence and can move into your pastures under fences.

However, there are things you can do to help prevent exposure. You can try to minimize deer on your grazing land through utilizing things like livestock guard dogs or fencing to repel deer. You can improve drainage and also avoid grazing wet areas that are heavily infested with snails. Though the infected snail and slug species are land snails, they do still require moisture, so if you can put snail repelling things like gravel roads devoid of vegetation between where deer graze and your pastures that can help too. Free ranging poultry may also help reduce your slug and snail populations.

Unfortunately, if you live in an endemic area and graze pasture, it is likely to be an occasional problem for you.

Therefore, it is wise to get good at recognizing symptoms. Then be sure to take some time to observe your flock daily. That way you can catch and treat infected animals early resulting in the best possible outcomes. And while you will likely always see a few cases in endemic areas, your sheep are capable of developing an immunity to the parasite meaning you will likely see fewer cases over time, particularly in your adult animals.

So as fall approaches this season, take some time to learn to recognize symptoms and observe your flock so that you can catch this parasite before it harms or kills any of your sheep.

If you would like to read more articles about keeping your flock healthy, please sign up for our newsletter to get our future articles delivered directly to your inbox!

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Meningeal Worm: How Deer Can Impact Your Flock first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.

Before we get started, though cheap is appealing, it rarely pays.

We’d like to note that a crap shoot ram off of Craigslist is unlikely to be your best option. We see a lot of people who figure they’ll buy a cheap ram, every year breed him and then eat him, repeat.

If you’re keeping ewe lambs, this is not in your best interest. That your ram is 50% or more of the genetics in your flock. If you choose a crappy ram, he’s going to drag your flock down quickly. The majority of rams belong in the freezer not breeding your flock. If the seller can’t provide any good reasons why said ram is a good candidate as a flock sire, he probably belongs in the freezer.

Now we understand not everyone is made of money. So, if you are in a budget crunch buying sheep, you are far better off to buy mediocre ewes and an excellent ram. If you breed average ewes to an excellent ram, in a few generations you will have made great improvements. If you breed excellent ewes to a poor ram, you will go backwards very quickly.

What’s the first step to selecting new breeding stock?

The first thing you need to do is identify what your flock of sheep is (or isn’t) good at. Really sit down and think. Make a list of performance traits that your flock excels at and a list of traits that could use improvement. For this article we are using an example where the flock has a 300% lambing rate, produces tons of milk, and performs well on a forage only diet. However, they are also crappy mothers resulting in high lamb mortality and the need to bottle feed a lot of lambs. Constant and repeated deworming is necessary to keep them alive.

Now using this hypothetical list of flock traits we have to select what is most important to us. What do we want to improve the most? Also are we willing to sacrifice part of any of the positives for improvement on the negatives?

It is important to be very selective when choosing traits to improve.

You need to select 1 or 2, and no more than 3 to try to improve at a time. If you are trying to improve 10 things at the same time you aren’t likely to make much progress. So the fastest way to make improvements is to select a couple. Work on improving them until your satisfied with flock performance, then select something else to work on.

So in our hypothetical flock laid out above, we have decided to focus on better mothering and parasite resistance. We are ok with lowering our lambing rate to get better mothers with better parasite resistance. After all, fewer dead lambs, less deworming, and limited bottle feeding should increase our profit despite a lower lambing rate.

Now that we have identified what we want to improve, what’s next?

Next, we need to go find ourselves a ram that excels at those traits.

But, as you do so, you need to take into consideration how other flocks are managed. Is the flock you are considering a ram from being kept similarly to how you wish to manage your animals? This is important. Why? Because all these performance traits are relative. Something like 80% of the variation in performance is environmental and only 20% is genetic.

Take parasite resistance for example. ‘Resistant’ is widely variable based on environment. The California desert, a midwest feed lot and a Florida pasture DO NOT have the same parasite challenge. That ‘parasite resistant’ California sheep might very well drop dead from parasites after a few weeks on a Florida pasture.

The same goes for management styles. An animal that performs well in a mostly grain fed situation rarely fares well in pasture-based systems. Thus, to avoid disappointment, it is important to make sure that the flock you are purchasing replacement stock from has values that align with yours. If you do not, you are likely to be disappointed by the performance of the new animals you purchased.

When buying livestock, there is definitely something to be said for ‘buying local’.

Sheep from local flocks are already selected to be adapted to the general conditions your flock is being raised in. Somebody else already went through the expense and time of culling non-adapted animals and selecting for good performance. Take advantage of that if at all possible.

Once you have found some potential breeders you’re interested in buying from, talk to them. See what they have that might fit what you’re looking for.

Now, if you have a breed of sheep that participates in the National Sheep Improvement Program, NSIP, this is the best way to select a ram.

Sheep enrolled in this program have estimated breeding values (EBV’s) that are calculated for various performance traits to help you select a ram with the traits you desire. EBV’s are a wonderful tool we will discuss more in a future article, and you should absolutely take advantage of the program if you can. Unfortunately, it’s not always an option. Not all breeds participate, and sometimes you just cannot afford to spend that kind of money on a ram.

In that case select the best ram that you can afford. Do your best to work with a breeder to select a ram that is most likely to do what you’re looking for. Many breeders with small flocks might not participate in the NSIP program, but they do have the advantage of knowing their sheep as individuals. They are likely able to tell you what each of their ewes excels at. A lot of times they also know how the offspring of a particular cross has performed previously. They may also track some of the EBV type data on their farm for their own records. This information can help guide an educated guess on performance.

If they don’t know what their animals excel at, or they make claims but have no data to back up that claim, move on.

A lot of people make claims that their sheep excel at the traits a breed is supposed to be good at, but it’s not always true. If they don’t keep data, and aren’t selecting for those traits, how do they know what their animals are good at? This goes for both registered and unregistered stock. That piece of paper means nothing. There are some very crappy registered animals out there. Conversely, there are some phenomenally bred commercial (unregistered) flocks. Don’t get sucked into the trap of thinking just because something is papered its superior.

Lastly when you are considering purchasing replacement stock from someone, you should consider the health of their flock. You don’t want to be inadvertently buying in a nightmare like foot rot or OPP. Ask lots of questions. Consider disease testing, and do things like checking FAMACHA scores. Take time to observe the flock. Look at their teeth for over/underbite, look for other gross confirmation flaws. Watch their flock for lameness, pneumonia, etc. If they aren’t willing to answer questions, their animals appear to be in questionable health, or they are seemingly trying to hide something, consider moving on.

In the coming weeks we are going to discuss related topics like quarantining your new breeding stock, more about NSIP, selecting and using a terminal sire, and choosing a Katahdin for milking. So if you’re interested in learning more, please sign up for our newsletter so you don’t miss any of these articles.

Please remember

The information provided is for general informational purposes only. All information on the site is provided in good faith, for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability, or completeness of any information on this Site. Accordingly, before taking any actions based upon such information, we encourage you to consult with the appropriate professionals. We do not provide any kind of professional advice. THE USE OR RELIANCE OF ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THE SITE IS SOLELY AT YOUR OWN RISK. View full disclaimer here.

The post Enhancing Livestock Performance: The Importance of Breeding Stock Selection first appeared on Snowdrop Farm.