Rehabilitating Our Skinny Pregnant Ewe
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 มี.ค. 2018
- Our katahdin ewes (and the katahdin x east friesian) are about a month away from lambing. The feed requirements for a ewe changes as they progress through the sheep gestation cycle. It is time for us to increase their protein, especially for Fiji, our oldest ewe. She is losing condition (getting skinny) which is dangerous to her health being so close to lambing. If she doesn't have the proper condition, she won't be able to support her lambs with nutritious milk.
Dr. Tess Hahn, Keeper of the Sheep, reminds us about the nutritional cycle for gestation in sheep and I supplement the ewes with certified organic alfalfa pellets in order to boost protein intake.
If you have received any value from this video, please consider supporting our work through our amazon affiliate link and/or through Patreon
Patreon link:
/ grassfedhomestead
Amazon Affiliate link: www.amazon.com/shop/thegrassf...
![เจ้าผู้เดียว - ดิด คิตตี้ [OFFICIAL MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/q0NLCYKBOTo/mqdefault.jpg)
Thank you, Dan, for sharing all this information about the lambs, kidding, and their different nutritional needs during the different stages of their pregnancy. Love watching you and Little Buddy interacting with the livestock pets. I think it is great that you give each one a name, I do the same thing. May God richly bless your family and homestead!
Thank you Dan for the update on the ewes, I'm super excited to see all the blessings come your way! :)
Good to see all is well. Enjoy your vids.
Wow little buddy has grown so much. He is taking his multivitamins!,, such a beautiful son. I am sure your ewes will have wonderful kids. Bless you alll great luck.
Thank you Marian :)
Thank you for sharing that mix. I have heard of people using Icelandic kelp and I will try to find some for our future dairy goats. Eventually, we will have some sheep (Tunis) so extra goodies good for them as they are wool/meat breed. Claire is soo funny running around like a good farm pig. **** the haters, you are doing well. I love how your sheep just dig hanging out with you while you film. Ha! Cheers, mate.
I LOVE how Blue wags his tail, only a little, in the beginning. It will be fun to see how these preggos will develop. :)
Great video. You are a real inspiration to my future homesteading endeavors. Clara is a so cute!
Great to see an update. Can’t wait to see lambs!!!
Yaaay, goodies from the Grass-fed Homestead! I was going to say the only thing missing was the chickens, lol, but there in the end they popped in! Grand time visiting you guys, thank so much for all the great info...still taking notes! Will be praying Fiji comes around and comes up clean on the test! Bet you're excited about the kidding time! can't wait to join you! Smiles and blessings...
Clara needs her own you tube channel or maybe a children's book.
Love all you share about your critters and I for one understand why you give all the information you do. One because you’re trying to help others and two to try a stave off some of the negative Nancy’s who will always show up and question what you do on your farm with the animals you know best!!! (Can ya tell the know it alls bug me? LOL)
Loved LB running with the pig. So cute with the music. Plus his encouragement for everyone to pet Penelope was precious. TFS God Bless ~Lisa
Thank you Lisa ;)
@@TheGrassfedHomestead , just curious, and I've had trouble finding an answer to this sort of funny question, how come some sheep's baaas are vibrato and some aren't? Like why do some sheep go "ba-a-a-a" and others just go "baaaa"?
Time to retire Fiji to freezer camp after this lambing. I'd also check her teeth. Older ewes loose teeth which makes eating difficult and leads to weight loss. Here in Australia we call them "broken mouthed ewes". The solution if you don't want to cull her is to remove the rest of the front incisor teeth yourself with pliers and feed her concentrates and good quality chaff. She'll still have her back molars to chew with. Cheers, ~D.
"If you're interested in fecal samples, I made a really cool video on that." I bet you'd never thought you'd say those words a couple years ago.
haha! It seems different when I read it in text!
Thanks Dan, my daughters and I love your vlog. Have you considered wearing hats from other TH-camrs? For instance, maybe you could try a Justin Rhodes style hat...
I would if I had any!
That pigp was hilarious but Fiji doesn't look too good skinny hips means difficult
lambing
Are her teeth OK? When older horses loose weight Dr Pol ("The Incredible Dr Pol" on TV) usually finds "points" on their teeth that need filling down. In other words, I don't really know a thing about it. Looking forward to seeing all the new lambs. Will this be your first lambing season on the Grass-fed Homestead?
She probably has very few teeth left due to her age. That doesn't inhibit eating though. The gums get really hard and sheep are still able to mash up the grass well enough to eat. She's also still eating the pellets without issue. Yes, this will be our first lambing!
This Fiji situation seems like one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't scenarios... She needs extra feed and nutrition due to her advanced age, but sorting her from the other sheep would be too stressful on her being "alone" - Is there a way you can sort her, like with Blue's feed area, and let her eat extra while you do the other chores, then turn back in with her friends?
To me that looked like a lot of loose salt, do you not still have the loose mineral feeders for putting their salt and kelp in? Plus free access to a salt lick? Animals, including humans, need Vit E in order to make the most of Selenium, which is vital especially for healthy babies. I know the area around Spokane is deficient in selenium, animals need to be supplemented, but I have no idea the selenium levels in N ID but I'm sure Tess knows.
The older sheep would be burning off more of her calories keeping warm over the long cold winter. In elderly horses one problem is teeth, so we'd feed soaked pellets and steamed grain, but sheep are different, and have multiple stomachs digestion, unlike horses with their one stomach.
I look forward to your videos, to once again seeing frisky little lambs frolicking across the Grass-fed Homestead, waggling their tails. 1 more month seems like time for that snow to melt and some green grass start growing.
Hey Dan, I'm going to be your neighbor...well not that close of a neighbor but closer than I am now here in St Louis. I am in the process of moving back home to the Treasure Valley so I will be much closer. ;-)
Awesome Terry! Yeah, you'll be several hours away still but at least in the same state. Welcome back!
Whos the lamb at the very end of the video? Shes my favorite. She has a very feminine face and she always looks very clean and like she takes care of herself
That is Connie. She is a full-grown ewe. She is the big momma at about 220lbs!
Given her age, if the organic route doesnt get her back in shape, would you consider going with a high protein commercial feed until her lambs are weened? Not a suggestion, just wondering your thoughts :)
By commercial feed you mean grain? Yes, if it meant saving her life, I would.
Hey why aren't you vlogging daily?? I miss ur vlogs...Love from India....
Interesting question that I've been curious about for a while now, how come some sheep's baaas have a vibrato and other sheep's baaas don't? Meaning, why do some sheep go "ba-a-a-a" and others just go "baaaa"?
How's your flock doing these days Dan?♥️
there is no flock currently
Given her history and current condition, have you made future plans for Fiji?
He said she would be culled from the breeding program and I interpret that as becoming dinner.
She would feed Blue for a long time.
Lamb stew is delicious too :) (by Lamb...I, of course, mean Mutton).
The Grass-fed Homestead are you going to try a live freed when the ewe are about to lamb?
probably not but I will try to get good video
Well... guess what? I just saw a commercial on TV for A2 milk. I looked at their website (it's just called A2 milk)...and it doesn't look like they are from grassfed cows but at least I can see how my son reacts to A2 milk... if I can find it.
No my son is casein intolerant. If goat's milk is A2 then I guess it's not going to work. I was thinking I read that there is still a little casein in goats milk (and he did react to it). I have not tried raw though... not legal here so not many offer it. Dan has been thinking about getting an A2 cow so I thought I'd mention it to him. Seems like he probably would already have a source if he wanted though and likely raw so even better.
Dan, I'm confused by the comment that the sheep was shedding. I'm sure it's ignorance on my part. But I thought that sheep didn't shed and had to be sheared. Speaking of shearing....how will that work with their pregnancies?
Katahdins are hair sheep; they grow a coat of wool only in the winter and shed it in the spring. They don't need to be sheared. Barbados and dorper are some other examples of hair sheep breeds.
Yes, what Jeanette said :)
Annabelle will need a shearing before lambing though since she won't shed. She is a wool sheep
You may be right too :)
So there are sheep for 3 different harvests: Wool, Meat, Milk and the Katahdin is a meat breed?
Are those alfalfa pellets the same as I feed to my rabbits?
if you feed your rabbits certified organic alfalfa pellets, yes, but I'm guessing the rabbit pellets are much smaller
Thank you
Have you checked her teeth?
Hello, when it comes to breeding do you have a male for that matter or you rent one ?
rent
Every once and a while can you stop talking so much and get straight to the point, no disrespect
Or, you could click on the gear and increase the play speed from normal to 1.5 or 2, as well as turn on captioning to read what he is saying while you watch the fast speed play. The rest of us appreciate all the information Dan is sharing with us.
I think Dan is a really good teacher. And many of us want the longer version. I appreciate that much of this is stuff you already know. But the majority of us don't know it...so I'm glad that he goes into detail. Skip to the information you find helpful. That's what I do when anyone in youtube videos speaks to long or indepth or on a topic I find uninteresting.
I think what you might be asking for is a more scripted video.
My concept of Dan's content is that it's more a "play by play" production with some measure of scripting where he feels it important and as his time allows.
Productions that are even more scripted take a lot of time to write and shoot, and are probably beyond the scope of what he & Ashley are usually looking to offer.
Enjoy the window into the life of a "regular guy" running a small scale beyond organic grassfed lamb operation - not everyone is naturally a documentary narrator or they'd be... narrating documentaries ❤
Cee be I am a real person and I have blackbelly sheep so be ezzy
Cee be how many times are you going to say that I am a troll I am just saying my opinion it doesnt mean anyone has to take it seriously I love what Dan is doing and making progress daily but I would just like today see the animals more