The lambs were weaned yesterday which means a lot of crying and baaaing on both fronts- the ewes and the lambs. However some of the ewes seem to be happy to be rid of their babies which are nearly the same size as their moms and lift the moms off the ground when they are nursing.
The lambs will be in the barn for at least a month while we condition them to being away from mom and get the replacement stock their first vaccines.
This year has been a bad year for parasites in sheep here in Ontario. We monitor our flock by fecal tests on a regular basis and deworm as necessary. We also rotate our pastures at least weekly. All that has been to no avail; whether it is parasites that are developing resistance to the products we are using or just conditions we just had to deworm the flock again before we had expected to. We are going to start selecting our breeding stock based on their resistance to parasites and it looks like we have one ewe line that will need to go. The harsh realities of farming.
Later
Laurie
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The parasite situation sounds frustrating, and not unlike the problems we are having with varroa mites (which infest honeybees) become resistant to all known treatments. They are breeding bees to be mite-resistant. Good luck with your selective breeding plan!
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