A big question that a lot of new sheep owners have is what mineral supplement should I feed my sheep? Most people know that they need to feed a mineral supplement, but have no clue what one to use or why. Even a lot of more experienced sheep owners are not very informed about animal…
Category: Sheep
How To Select Good Hay For Your Sheep
When we talk about feeding our sheep, typically the most important component is quality hay. As you probably know, sheep are designed to eat a diet mainly consisting of grass, and need to do so to stay healthy. Unfortunately while hay is a critically important part of your animal’s diet, it is often the hardest…
How To Make Halloumi Cheese
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
Cobalt Deficiency: Anemia Isn’t Always Parasites
If your entire flock of sheep are chronically anemic, it could be a cobalt deficiency. Not too long ago, our entire flock of sheep had severe anemia, as in they could drop dead any moment FAMACHA scores. Yet fecal egg counts repeatedly came back with low to no worm count. We dewormed our sheep anyways…
How To Do A Fecal Egg Count At Home
If you are interested in reading other parts of this series: Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants Barber Pole Worm Series Part 2-Controlling Worms Without Dewormer Barber Pole Worm Series Part 3-How To Properly Deworm Barber Pole Worm Series Part 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep Throughout our series on barber pole…
How To Get Started Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep
If you are interested in reading other parts of this series: Barber Pole Worm Series Part 1-The #1 Killer Of Small Ruminants Barber Pole Worm Series Part 2-Controlling Worms Without Dewormer Barber Pole Worm Series Part 3-How To Properly Deworm Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count Looking to breed…
