Sheep Showing Essentials
As club lambs have become increasingly Hamp-influenced over the last few years, shearing and fitting sheep has evolved into an art form.
Education
Poisonous Trees
Recent storms downed many trees throughout Ohio, some of these pose a threat to livestock. Poisoning is most common when grazing is scarce, such as periods of dry weather coupled with thunderstorms that down trees during the mid to late summer months.
Common Poisonous Plants
While most plants are beneficial, some are hazardous to animals and human life. Ohio has about 100 toxic plants and some of these are responsible for deaths of domestic livestock every year.
Managing pastures for sheep
The pasture resource is often the most neglected part of the sheep enterprise, yet it usually provides the majority of nutrients to the stock. Well-managed pastures that are properly grazed have the potential to minimize feed costs and increase profits. Pasture is the most natural diet for sheep and other ruminant animals.
Summer Management of Replacement Ewe Lambs
Department of Animal & Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech Successful development, breeding, and lambing of ewe lambs is one of most important tasks of the shepherd. Summer is a critical time for the development of replacement ewe lambs as they make the transition from weaning to members of the breeding flock.
Planning Sheep and Goat Fencing
Thinking about putting up fence? Before you build, make sure you know where and what you want to install. The link below offers helpful insight into design and construction for Permanent, Semi-Permanent and Temporary fences for sheep and goats. Produced by the University of Illinois.
Ewe Lambing
A video of one of our ewes lambing (unassisted) in a lambing jug. Video was cut down from 1.5 hours.
Warm-Milk Feeding for Orphan Lambs
Back in the 1970s when I started raising sheep, I soon learned that to be successful I would need a workable, efficient orphan-lamb feeding system. After studying the methods used to feed veal calves, I adopted a warm-milk feeding system. My goals were to use hand-feeding labor efficiently, have healthy orphan lambs, use the least amount of […]
Optimising Lamb Meat Quality
Recommend practices for optimising lamb quality. Eblex – Optimising Lamb Meat Quality (EBLEX exists to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the English lamb and beef sectors. It is funded by a statutory check-off paid on all beef and sheep animals slaughtered in or live animals exported from England.)
Review of literature and unpublished research on factors influencing lamb quality
The below PDF is from Eblex. Uk lit review (complete) re. lamb quality EBLEX exists to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the English lamb and beef sectors. It is funded by a statutory check-off paid on all beef and sheep animals slaughtered in or live animals exported from England.