2/3 – Year in Life of a Sheep Flock Flashcards
1
Q
Production targets: lambs born per ewe and lambs weaned
A
- Lambs born per ewe: 2
- Lambs weaned: 1.7
2
Q
Production targets: fertility
A
- 90%
3
Q
Production targets: lamp crops per year
A
- 1.5 (hard to do)
4
Q
Production targets: average daily gain
A
- 0.3-0.5kg/day
5
Q
Production targets: age at first lambing
A
- 1 year
6
Q
Production targets: lamb mortality
A
- 5%
7
Q
How long is gestation?
A
- 5 months (145 days)
- *need to consider if it will be a convenient time to lamb their ewes
8
Q
When do you want to lamb?
A
- Work backwards from when you want to sell
- How long will it take for them to get to that weight?
- Consider if it is a convenient time to lamb the ewes
9
Q
Start organizing yourself 6 weeks prior to the anticipated breeding date
A
- Gives you time to deal with any problems prior to breeding
o Lameness
o Poor body condition
o Infertility
o Insufficient rams or ewes
10
Q
Seasonal breeders
A
- As length of day decreases=increased melatonin=TRIGGERS ONSET OF NORMAL ESTRUS CYCLES
- *exact breeding season is dependent on breed
11
Q
Upland sheep (esp. Scottish): seasonal breeding
A
- Hardy breeds
- Short breeding season in fall
- May only cycle twice in November
12
Q
Lowland breeds (Suffolk): seasonal breeding
A
- More productive, less hardy
- Longer breeding season: September to January
13
Q
Occasional breeds (Dorset): seasonal breeding
A
- Almost breed year round
14
Q
How many rams for open range?
A
- 3 rams per 100 ewes
15
Q
How many rams if confined?
A
- 1 ram per 50-60 ewes
16
Q
How many rams if out of season or if ewes are synchronized?
A
- May need 1 ram per 20 ewes
- *breed an ewe 6 times when in estrus!
17
Q
Checking out the ram: full physical exam and pay special attention to
A
- Feet
- Teeth
- Raddle sores
o Raddle to mark the butts of ewes
o Need to do it correctly! - Breeding soundness exam (BSE) including semen evaluation
18
Q
What should you do with young rams?
A
- Always put them with a small group of experience ewes for FIRST YEAR
- 1 ram per 20 ewes
- *put young ewes with experienced rams
19
Q
Ewe evaluation
A
- Start with records
o Productivity
o How good a mother she was - Full physical examination
- Be critical and cull any problem animals
20
Q
What is the aim BCS for ewes at time of breeding?
A
- 3.5-4
- *arising plane of nutrition at the time of breeding may be an advantage
o Continue until animal is at least 6 weeks pregnant
21
Q
Controlling the breeding season options
A
- Naturally long breeding seasons (USE the RIGHT breeds)
- Light effects: set them up in dark barns for long periods over night to foll the pineal gland (use on males too)
- Melatonin implants (use on males too)
- Sponges/CIDR
- Melengestrol acetate
- Ram effect
22
Q
Melatonin implants
A
- small slow release capsules which mimic the bodies response to decreasing day length
23
Q
Sponges/CIDR
A
- progesterone releasing sponge in vagina to mimic diestrus
- at time of removal ewe may be treated with FSH analogue to stimulate ovulation (careful with dose)
o BREED specific
24
Q
Melengestrol acetate
A
- progesterone compound added to feed to have same effect as vaginal sponges
- some (esp. large producers) find this EASIER
- EXTRA-label use!
25
Ram effect for breeding season
- Works only to advance the breeding season several weeks and synchronize
- Ensure ewes have absolutely NO contact with a ram whatsoever for 6 weeks
- Put in a vasectomised ram for 2 weeks
- Sudden arrival of ram makes all ewes come into a non-fertile estrus
- Put in fertile ram 2 weeks later
- *more historical
26
Gestation
- Maintain BCS for 6 weeks
- Can allow it to fall by 1 full point during pregnancy
- *need a raising plane of nutrition in the last phase of pregnancy
27
Pregnancy: ultrasound
- *Percutaneously (inguinal region)
- Best scanned 7-12 weeks after breeding
o Rams are turned out for 5 weeks
- Scan 12 weeks after ram turn out
o Aim
o Diagnose pregnancy
o How many lambs? (if triplets=need more nutrition, put them in different batches)
28
Health issues with pregnancy
- Abortion: huge problem
- Vaccination
o Typically late pregnancy to ensure adequate transfer to the lamb in colostrum
29
Abortion
- Everything that causes it=ZOONOTIC
o Pregnant women!
30
Lambing times: facilities
- Area to hold sheep with feeding facilities
- *Individual pens to allow ewes and lambs to bond (12hrs)
- Turn out pens for ewes and lambs
- *KEEP GOOD RECORDS
31
What is the number one thing that kills lambs when they are born?
- *Exposure
o Get cold almost instantly
o Wet: need mother to lick it dry
32
Want personnel watching the flock when close to lambing
- Prevents:
o *Exposure
o Mis-mothering
o Water bagged births
- *available for dystocia
33
How do you ID a lambing ewe?
- Separates from flock
- Finds a quiet area
- Doesn’t eat
- Lays down
- May look up and purse her lips
- Vaginal discharge
- May vocalize
34
When do you need to assist in a lambing?
- Unproductive straining for more than one hour
- Obvious malpresentation
- *more experienced=less you assist
35
Obvious malpresentation
- Hindlimbs (would see soles)
- Head
- Only one limb
- Different coloured limbs (likely different lambs)
- *NORMAL: forward dive of front legs=soles should be downwards
36
Once the ewe is fully lambed what should you do?
- Place ewe and lamb in bonding pen for 24hrs to ‘mother up’
- Remove placenta (sheep can NOT eat it)
- Check ewe’s teats
- Treat navels (‘dry it up’)
- Ensure lambs have got colostrum
o Triplets: milk out ewe and divide what you have
37
How do you ensure lambs have a fully belly (or colostrum)
- Pick them up by front legs
o *abdomen should be wider than thorax
38
What do you do at the 24hr check?
- Ear tag
- Castrate
- Tail dock: check anus
- Check ewe for cleansing and mastitis
- Check lambs are eating (belly check)
- Check lamps for entropion (eyelid turned inwards)
- Turn out ewes and lambs when they have RECOVERED from docking and castration
- Maybe give vitamin E or selenium shoot (need to know what you are dealing with though)
39
Tail docking
- Rubber elastic band
- Hot iron tail docker
- *important: lambs do not have muscle to lift their tails
o They will get diarrhea at some point=if gets soiled=attracts flies
- *need to leave enough tail though
o Females: remaining should completely cover vulva
40
Castration
- Elastic band
- *need to make sure you get both testicles
o Don’t go to high=wont be able to pee
41
Adoption of lamb (‘fooling the ewe’)
- Wet lambs: ‘fresh born OR rubbed on’
o (both in a bucket with the birthing fluids)
- Skinning (of a lamb that died) and put it on the other lamb
- Adoption crates
o Stops the ewe from beating the lamb, but then once released can still hit them
- Tie legs together: fall down=newborn
- (Beating the ewe: hit her on the head (‘loud noise’))
42
What are some major diseases of lambs?
- Hypothermia
- Watery mouth
- Scours
- *COLOSTRUM
43
Watery mouth
- Less in NA
- Neonatal septicemia
- Bacterial overgrowth in abomasum
o Fermentation=distended and can’t swallow=salivate profusely
- *’rattle belly’
- DIE
44
Lamb rearing is generally simple
- Vaccination for pulpy kidney recommended
o Each lots of CHO=overgrowth of clostridium in the gut
- Must consider parasites
45
Shearing sheep
- MUST DO IT=welfare codes!
- Ideally do it in May
46
Moderate barn with temperature weather: may have benefit to shear right before lambing
- Take up less space
- If ewe cold=take lambs to warmer areas
- *Likely not in the prairies
47
Accelerated lambing programs
- 3 lambings in 2 years
- Cornell star system: 5 lambings in 3 years
- *don’t consider unless you are exceptionally good at once a year
o Management and nutrition is crucial and will make or break it
o NEED barns (weather and breeding out of season)
48
What is the name of Kosher -Kashrut (Jewish) ritual slaughter?
- Shechita
- *completed by a rabi
o In a special shot
o Long knife that is blunt on the end with a mirror finish (need to run on thumb to show it is not stretch)
o Make a single slice across throat on ventral aspect (will lose consciousness in 10s, carotid arteries)
o *death by complete bleeding
- Also need to butcher an animal a specific way (MUST remove all blood vessels)
o Many don’t do back end as it is very difficult
49
When making a slice across the throat in Shechitia they can not
- Press
- Pause
- Tearing
- Piercing
- Covering (need to be able to see the whole thing)
50
Halal (Muslim) slaughter
- Dhabihah
o Animal laid on side and feet faced toward Mecca (NE)
o Say prayer
o Cut throat
- *person doing it, must be a person of the book (Muslim or Jewish or Christian)
o Anybody can do it: don’t necessarily know what they are doing (ie. Correct knife)
- Kosher slaughter is acceptable
- *2 big holidays in the year (Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Adha)
