In a previous blog post we discussed selecting breeding stock. Today we are going to discuss the next step. Quarantine. When you bring your new prize ram/ewes home, they should go straight into a quarantine pen far away from all your other animals. It doesn’t matter how healthy you think the new animals are or…
Category: Parasites and Disease

Meningeal Worm: How Deer Can Impact Your Flock
Did you know that whitetail deer can share diseases and parasites with your sheep and goats? Meningeal worm, also called brain worm and deer worm, is one of those parasites. It is not as frequently seen or spoken of as other parasite, but it can be deadly if not treated promptly and properly. Thus, it…

Keeping Mastitis Out Of Your Flock Of Sheep
If you breed sheep for any length of time, you’re likely to run across a case of mastitis at some point. This is particularly true for dairy animals. The increased udder volume and the larger, lower placed teats that are desirable for milking make the animals more susceptible to mastitis. So today we are going…

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…

How To Properly Deworm Your 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 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count In the next…

How To Control Barber Pole Worms Without Dewormer
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 3-How To Properly Deworm Barber Pole Worm Series Part 4-Breeding Parasite Resistant Sheep Barber Pole Worm Series Part 5-How To Do a Fecal Egg Count In our last…