Yeah, like our now tom cat, as a kitten @Proverbs3.5 called it Fluffy, then we saw that it was a he, so I just started calling him Fluff Doodle
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Milking hair sheep. The ultimate prepper food converter
- Thread starter Joleneakamama
- Start date
Our son named a calico can Fishel. We used to have a supremely obnoxious nubian buck we called duckydoodle. He was the kind ya love to hate. Now we have ONE Spanish Goat buck on the hoof.....and I have two Oberhasli bucks in the nitro tank in straws. I find they eat less and smell better kept in the tank.....and there are fewer accidental breedings too. So far zero accidents from straws climbing out of the tank and breeding does. With so many nice animals available for AI I could almost think about keeping dairy goats again.Yeah, like our now tom cat, as a kitten @Proverbs3.5 called it Fluffy, then we saw that it was a he, so I just started calling him Fluff Doodle
National breed leader quality here.
Does that milk 5000 lbs in a year...
They have lots of bucks available...
Bucks in Straw
mammkey.com
This fine specimen was abandoned at our house, and she came with the moniker of Dallas.
Trying to explain over and over that Dallas is a she, I decided to rename her, but something that she would accept.
I deemed Alice as a reasonable alternative.
Ali is not amused.
Brilliant!
So, with lambing season the barn and pens are full of little lambies, and I'm bumping this in case anyone is interested in sheep.
I have more than I need and would love to re home animals to someone interested in milk and meat from amazing animals.
Here is a story I recently shared in other circles....this happened this past Saturday night....and It was so remarkable I took time before sleeping to write down what I saw.
I saw something amazing tonight.
My son and I were milking and he was milking Lolly. She started acting strange on the milk stand....and I recognized the same behavior I had observed with her this morning. We just got a load of fresh cut alfalfa....and the guy we bought it from warned us it was fresh....and might bloat animals. Well, sure enough....she was a pig this morning....and then was a pig again tonight. Her barrel was taught and hard...and she was starting to act like she couldn't breath! That was the weird jerking he was feeling while milking her. We just turned her out the chute, into the out pen of animals we had already milked and I watched to see if she even made it to the end. She did...but was still doing the choking thing when she walked into the out pen. Well, she must have annoyed Blondie and Friska because they started pounding her. Our son and I watched a bunch of them....but mostly Blondie just beating on her. Head down, just ramming her hard....making her run around the pen. I'm thinking... well, that might be good for her. My husband was taught to run the goats growing up to help them get over bloating. So then we wondered to each other "Do you think they are doing this on purpose...to help her?" That would be cool. As we were milking and watching I saw Blondie take a run at her again....and we had been noticing the ewes were targeting her distended barrel. This blow from Blondie literally knocked Lolly off her feet! The ewes were all just taking turns smashing her....right in the gut!! And he said he heard her belch after one good blow. By the time we milked another 3 pairs the pounding had stopped...and Lolly looked better! Then I went to turn them out. I had thought about holding Lolly back in that end of the barn away from the hay for a while...to let the other ewes eat the rich alfalfa leaves .....but her belly was all deflated and looked NORMAL!!!
I am now sure that those ewes recognized her distress and helped her deliberately.
God made them so smart....it's almost strange that we eat them.
Someone commented they were sheep doing EMS on Lolly. I agreed and commented that ....
...They were like sheep EMT's in action....it wasn't the
Heimlich ....but it was as close as sheep could do not having hands or arms.
I just wish we could have ewes like that in every pen....and it would be nice if the cows learned how to do that too. Blossom bloated a bit on the last load like this a few weeks ago......but walking her worked it out. I also hip bumped her belly to help with the gas. That's proof I'm as smart as Blondie and Friska!!
( ...but really I learned that from my mom who did that to my colicky horse once)
I could also tell the story of a hypothermic lamb from ten days ago....but we had another this morning that I need to go care for.
I hope people enjoyed this little story....it wasn't a miracle as people think of them, but it surely reminded me of the wonder and marvels of YHWH's creation and His infinite wisdom and love for His creation. If a sparrow doesn't fall without him knowing....
I have more than I need and would love to re home animals to someone interested in milk and meat from amazing animals.
Here is a story I recently shared in other circles....this happened this past Saturday night....and It was so remarkable I took time before sleeping to write down what I saw.
I saw something amazing tonight.
My son and I were milking and he was milking Lolly. She started acting strange on the milk stand....and I recognized the same behavior I had observed with her this morning. We just got a load of fresh cut alfalfa....and the guy we bought it from warned us it was fresh....and might bloat animals. Well, sure enough....she was a pig this morning....and then was a pig again tonight. Her barrel was taught and hard...and she was starting to act like she couldn't breath! That was the weird jerking he was feeling while milking her. We just turned her out the chute, into the out pen of animals we had already milked and I watched to see if she even made it to the end. She did...but was still doing the choking thing when she walked into the out pen. Well, she must have annoyed Blondie and Friska because they started pounding her. Our son and I watched a bunch of them....but mostly Blondie just beating on her. Head down, just ramming her hard....making her run around the pen. I'm thinking... well, that might be good for her. My husband was taught to run the goats growing up to help them get over bloating. So then we wondered to each other "Do you think they are doing this on purpose...to help her?" That would be cool. As we were milking and watching I saw Blondie take a run at her again....and we had been noticing the ewes were targeting her distended barrel. This blow from Blondie literally knocked Lolly off her feet! The ewes were all just taking turns smashing her....right in the gut!! And he said he heard her belch after one good blow. By the time we milked another 3 pairs the pounding had stopped...and Lolly looked better! Then I went to turn them out. I had thought about holding Lolly back in that end of the barn away from the hay for a while...to let the other ewes eat the rich alfalfa leaves .....but her belly was all deflated and looked NORMAL!!!
I am now sure that those ewes recognized her distress and helped her deliberately.
God made them so smart....it's almost strange that we eat them.
Someone commented they were sheep doing EMS on Lolly. I agreed and commented that ....
...They were like sheep EMT's in action....it wasn't the
Heimlich ....but it was as close as sheep could do not having hands or arms.
I just wish we could have ewes like that in every pen....and it would be nice if the cows learned how to do that too. Blossom bloated a bit on the last load like this a few weeks ago......but walking her worked it out. I also hip bumped her belly to help with the gas. That's proof I'm as smart as Blondie and Friska!!
( ...but really I learned that from my mom who did that to my colicky horse once)I could also tell the story of a hypothermic lamb from ten days ago....but we had another this morning that I need to go care for.
I hope people enjoyed this little story....it wasn't a miracle as people think of them, but it surely reminded me of the wonder and marvels of YHWH's creation and His infinite wisdom and love for His creation. If a sparrow doesn't fall without him knowing....
Oh, I so wish I could take you up on that offer and get some of your genetics into my hair sheep!
Awesome story. Sheep with bloat are difficult, I had a few cases last year and tried various ways of treating them, with some success and some failures. Fortunately since we're just on grass it's not a major problem. But I've been in the position of having a bloated sheep and just laying into her punching her in the guts like that, feeling mean for beating up a sheep but knowing it's the best thing for her... It does help. But I've also tried stomach tubing them with baking soda and vegetable oil. I haven't done any of it enough to be sure what works and what doesn't.
When you have a serious case @Joleneakamama what do you do to treat them?
Years ago we had the flock get into some frosted forage in spring that was kind of toxic. We had nine animals bloat severely in about 15 minutes. We lost three as they were blowing up like balloons right before our eyes and so we just started sticking them. It might have been nice to have trochars....but a pocket knife and a piece of plastic drip hose shoved into the hole saved a few. We stuck six animals, and three that we stuck recovered completely. The whole deal was traumatic for everyone. One of our favorite pets that we nursed through a broken leg as a lamb died in the first few minutes. A favorite loved milker also bloated. And we stuck her, and she lived and went on to have twin ewes the following year. One of those is now a senior ewe at nine and has been a favorite in her turn. Cookie had lots of twins and triplets only slowing down to singles at 7 years....and that was when she got accidentally bred out of season while on sub optimal forage.
Animals prone to bloat often just die here. We lost two back in March to it. I cared less once I read that tendency is genetic.
Here is a ewe that just lambed today for the first time. Her udder development and capacity is what I usually see on ewes three times her age. She is about 18 months and had a single ram lamb. I'd like less wool...but she is now a premium candidate for my breeding program.
This is another ewe that lambed for the first time a couple weeks ago.
We are calling her Dolly as she has the biggest teats we have ever seen on a ewe.
My daughter is exaggerating the size slightly....but still...
This is Dolly's dam's tiny teat with zero milk pressure.
Same teat with milk pressure expanding it.
Sheep have very elastic skin .. so those teats like to shrink unless filled with milk. This is why I get excited about teats you can milk without getting milk on your hands.
Dolly's dam Licole (a favorite of mine in spite of her small teats) resting with her adopted twins....and two little bantam chicks preening on her back
This is Blondie waiting for me to release her after trimming her hooves the other day. Her mother is Licole pictured above.
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