After the market, we're left with only the ones we're keeping here on the farm for breeding in the fall.   Mia and Jaeger are doing great.  Jaeger has been a lot slower to mature than Mia (but she was exceptionally fast) and he's still not allowed unsupervised with the sheep, but we're slowly working on it.  

Mia is now a year and a half old and weighs 77 lbs her weight is down a little but she has been working harder lately.  She is always happy to see me but is very serious about protecting her sheep.  She tries to chase birds out of the sky and will even run across two pastures to keep the little birds from landing in her grass.  I can't see what happening in the pastures at night but so far as I know nothing has gotten into one of her pastures.  She spends most her days sleeping somewhere in the middle of all the sheep or high up on the hill so she can see them all.  Nothing happens around here without Mia knowing about it.  Also, she has a very intense dislike for the medical helicopters that fly over every once in a while. 

Jaeger is now a year old and weighs 108 lbs.  He like Mia is always happy to see me and he always wants to give hugs no matter how muddy he is.  He's not allowed alone with the sheep yet, he wants to snuggle with them but they aren't so receptive of his love.  We are working on it slowly, patience is important with these things.  Jaeger is a big boy and still growing although he is not as agile as Mia.  Mia gets around all the pastures by jumping through the gap at the top of the gates.  Jaeger doesn't jump.  So, I'll be working on installing jump gates in the next few months so he can get around the pastures after he's safe to be alone with the sheep.     

Regarding the sheep, towards the end of April and most of May now, I've been dealing with a lot of sheep with diarrhea.  Mostly the ewes that lambed this year.  I've dewormed a few that I felt needed it and treated some for Coccidiosis.  Still haven't found the culprit, could just be the fresh spring grass.  I plan on adding Probios to their water, maybe that will help.

Also, my scales broke in April, so I ordered a new set, once they were delivered I built a platform for them and used them once before Mia, Jaeger, or both decided to help me out and took care of a wire that was sticking out.  I got one good weight on the sheep and dogs before that and have ordered a new wire.  Hopefully, that will be here soon.

From March, the severe case of mastitis.  She's was on Banamine, LA 300, and NutriDrench but that wasn't working so the vet put her on 1.5 cc of Baytril and Spectramast DC for five days.  Unfortunately, the udder continued to blacken and it moved across to the other udder as well.  We were unable to improve her condition so we ended up putting her down before the 5 days were over.

On a more positive note, I sent 9 ram lambs, 1 ewe lamb, and 1 ewe to market.  I used a UT Extension program out of Hawkins County to send them to the New Holland Market in Pennsylvania.  A couple of weeks later New Holland sent me a check directly.  The lambs went for $270 each and the older ewe went for $135.  Not bad, however, if the lambs had been there just a couple of weeks earlier, before Easter, I would have done significantly better.  So, this coming year instead of waiting until September to start breeding I'm going to start in mid-August.  Hopefully, I will do better at the market and my numbers will be higher as well. 

I started leaving my sheep out in the pastures overnight, no more coming into the barn at night!  That means Mia's and Jaeger's jobs just got harder. 

Also, my daughter and I made a trip to Ohio to pick up a new ram (Walter).  He's just 4 months old at the time of purchase but he'll be used to breed the ewe lambs that were born this year if they are ready in August or September.  First time Ewe's should be at least 70% of their adult weight before breeding.  My Katahdin ewes at a time of year when they are not pregnant and are fully recovered from nursing have an average weight of 150 lbs.  This means that first-timers should be at least 105 lbs before breeding.  

It has been a rough March and we are only halfway through. 

In the last week of February, a couple of the lambs got Orf (aka Sore Mouth, Scabby Mouth, or Contagious Ecthyma).  It is very contagious so I immediately isolated them and their mother, however, now it seems that new ones are showing the first signs of it in their noses almost 3 weeks later.  After hours of research I've found that there isn't any treatment for it and anyone who owns sheep should expect to have an outbreak every few years.  There is a vaccine, however, its short supply and short shelf life make it an unviable solution. 

I also had one developed Bottle Jaw, which I've now learned is a symptom of severe anemia, however, the FAMACHA score wasn't bad so that's a mystery.  Previously, I've read and heard people speak of bottle jaw being related to barber pole worms.  I misunderstood this to be a direct symptom of the worms and didn't realize it is a symptom of severe anemia.  I've treated her and one that looked like she was starting to have an issue with a dewormer from each class (Ivermetic Sheep Drench, Valbazen, and Prohibit).  Prohibit should work for Barber Pole worm if that is the culprit.  In the days after deworming, she'd look great in the mornings and have bottle jaw (not as bad) in the evenings.  I spoke to the vet and she said this is caused due to anemia and she needs B12 and Iron to help build back up her red blood cells.  Per the vet's advice, I've given a 5 ml subcutaneous shot of Vitamin B Complex which has B12 in it repeating once week for a month as needed.  She also recommended a 1 to 2 ml intermuscular shot of Iron Dextran (Iron-100) once a month as needed.  I plan on giving this shot tomorrow.   

And hopefully the last problem I have to deal with this month.  A severe case of mastitis.  She's on Banamine, LA 300, and NutriDrench.  She's not eating and not moving around much and her udder started turning purple yesterday.  We are keeping a close eye, but it's not looking good for her right now.    

I'm looking forward to easier times!

Lambing began on the 27th of January and ended on the 25th of February.  13 ewes were bred resulting in 23 Lambs (4 singles, 8 twins, and 1 set of triplets).  Of these lambs 14 were ewes and 9 were rams. 

Three births required assistance:

1) With one of the single births when lambing was discovered there was no water bag and only the front feet were visible.  After seeing no progress for about 20 minutes, I stepped in and was able to pull the lamb and it did great, however, there was no appearance of afterbirth or other birth fluids.  I used lubricant to ensure the head was in position and then gently pulled the lamb by his front feet.  After contacting the vet the ewe was given 1.5 cc of Oxytocin and 2 cc of Lutalyse.  

2) The first of the triplets was not progressing past the tips of its front feet.  The Mom was struggling more than I've seen others.  I was able to verify the lamb was in the correct position and pulled the lamb by its front feed fairly easily.  The second was delivered without assistance and I was pulled the third which was breach.

3) One of our first-time moms experienced significant swelling in the days before lambing.  When it came time to lamb she struggled for a while with no progress beyond front feet.  She was becoming tired and appeared to be putting less effort into pushing.  I verified the sheep was in position and began trying to pull the lamb.  It was extremely difficult, I pulled as hard as I physically could and was making very little progress.  It wasn't until my Mom stood at the ewe's front end to stop her from being pulled around that I was able to pull enough to make progress toward getting the lamb out.  The second lamb was not as difficult as the first but was still very difficult. 

There was one ewe lamb that had problems with her back hips that delayed her ability to stand for nursing and to move around efficiently.  She along with her Mom will be culled since this is the second lamb with hip issues born from the same mother.