ARE YOU READY? BE PREPARED…
Lambing jugs made with panels are fast and easy to set up and take down, and they need only a little storage room.
Are you ready? Be prepared...
For us, summer slows down when we're not shifting flocks between paddocks or baling hay. This fleeting lull allows us to take stock of what supplies we have on hand and gives us an idea of what we'll need in the upcoming months.
Since we have both pasture and indoor flocks, we need a little bit of everything.
| • |
Crooks are always needed. Whether directing the flock between paddocks or fetching a lamb out of a jug, crooks are invaluable. |
| • |
During lambing Pritchard teats and tubes earn their keep with their first use. |
| • |
We always keep a few prolapse harnesses on hand, even though we hope they're never needed. We'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. |
| • |
If you have sheep, you'll likely need to drench and vaccinate them. For small flocks, simple needles and syringes and a small flock drencher are all that's needed. As the flock grows in size, you're likely to prefer the Phillips Drench Gun and PrimaTech syringes. |
| • |
If our pastured flock is near a hydrant for a hose connection, we provide water for them with a Kane Waterer. The waterer is easy to clean and doesn't run dry. |
| • |
Ear tags. Animal identification is imperative for good record keeping. Knowing which animals are production and which aren't saves $$ over time. |
Breeding season is just around the corner so don't forget to check your supplies of marking harnesses, crayons or raddle powder.
A lamb drinking from a Kane Waterer. The waterer is easy to move and clean, so the watering hole does not become a mud hole.
Feeding orphan lambs? A Lamb 'N' Kid feeding bottle with a Pritchard teat comes in handy when starting lambs on an artificial nipple.
|
 |
|
Adult hair ewes
Approx. 400 Premier top-quality replacement ewes for sale
Adult hair ewes
|
Why are these ewes available? Why aren't we keeping them?
Because we will be short 2 farm hands by winter. It's not likely we can replace these fellows soon. So we're reducing the flock for 2015 from 900 ewes to less than 500 to match our labor supply. (I'm getting older!)
Are these ewes rejects (ewes we don't wish to retain)?
No. These ewes are identical in every way to those we retain. We would, if we had the labor (see note above), not sell any ewes. For committed buyers we will simply drive the master flock (be it wool ewes, adult hair ewes or yearlings) and sell the first ones through the chute.
Yearling ewes
Breed:
| • |
100 wool Border Leicester/Ile de France open wool adult ewes. Mixed ages. Lambed in February. |
| • |
200 Dorper/Romanov/Katahdin open 2-6 year old ewes. Lambed through April. Not all are "full-shedders." Most are white. A few are brown (Katahdin genetics). |
| • |
100 Dorper/Romanov/Katahdin open yearlings. Born spring 2013 and lambed (singles) in May 2014. Will be weaned (and available) July 30. |
Background:
| • |
All born at Premier. |
| • |
All lambed in 2014 (or December 2013). No details will be provided re who lambed singles, twins, triplets or quads. |
| • |
Our lambing system for 2014 was detailed in a prior newsletter. We jugged most of our ewes immediately before lambing and did not check them during the night at all. |
| • |
Wool ewes live lambing % was 190% last year for ewes 2 years or more of age. |
| • |
Adult hair ewes (excluding yearlings) live lambing % was 215% for ewes 2 years or more of age (higher in months of February-March than in December-January). |
| • |
We assisted less than 5% of the hair ewes at lambing and less than 8% of the wool ewes. The rams were of similar genetics to the ewes. |
| • |
None are registered. All are commercial ewes. |
| • |
All were recently foot-trimmed. We don't normally need to trim the feet of ewes if out-wintered. But these were kept inside all winter on bedding. |
| • |
All hair ewes and yearlings that don't shed 100% were recently "trimmed" by shearing. Our wool ewes were shorn in February. |
| • |
All were shed-lambed from December-April. We sold as culls all those that did not lamb -- and tagged all problem ewes for culling. |
| • |
Will be sold gate-cut. That means no sorting by the buyer save for hair ewes by color. |
| • |
All ewes were checked for mastitis in May and those with this were marked for culling. |
Adult wool ewes
Known genetic problems:
| • |
Lambs from wool ewes, when bred to their sibling rams and born in a shed have entropion (inverted eyelids) at a 5-10% rate. We noted that the entropion % is much lower when pasture lambed and, obviously, when bred to unrelated wool rams that lack genetics for entropion. |
| • |
Our hair ewes and yearlings, because of the 25-40% Romanov genetics, have a larger "flight zone" than than wool ewes. |
Prices:
| • |
Less than 10 ewes - $225 |
| • |
10 - 40 ewes - $205 |
| • |
41 - 100 ewes - $195 |
| • |
101 - 400 ewes - $180 |
Availability:
| • |
First come first sold. We need time to get health papers for them if the move is out of Iowa. |
| • |
Note: We offered Premier ewe lambs in a newsletter in December 2012 . They sold within 24 hours. |
If you are interested, contact Stan Potratz spotratz@premier1supplies.com by email inquiries only. Don't call or leave a voicemail.
|
|
