Farmfresh
City Biddy
I tanned sheep hides with the fur still on. They turned out nice and soft after being broken in. We used them as a truck seat cover to do the "breaking in". I was quite happy with the results, being a first timer and all.
Bee~ Journal of then...
- Thread starter Beekissed
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #3,332
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Farm, you are always a wellspring of excellent ideas!!! 
I like the idea of using the truck to break in a hide!
Well, went over to the Bettys homeplace this evening and visited with the nicest people in this county again. Absolutely LOVE these people....salt of the earth. Got to talk sheep with the older fella and his son until the sun went down and it was great!
I think, after talking to the son, that I will hold off breeding the Bettys until April to see if they get more size on them and to give them a better chance at turning out some great lambs. He has been experimenting with doing this and has had great results, as opposed to breeding at 7-10 mo. when this breed of sheep becomes sexually mature.
He has noticed that the ewe gets bigger if one waits for breeding, almost like breeding that early stunts their growth...which makes sense to me.
If I breed in April, I will have lambs in Sept. which is perfect for Christmas market lambs. I think I'll do the end of March instead and have a little more time to finish them out on the fall fescue around here.
I need a Dorper ram lamb......
I want to start breeding at my own place so I won't have to transport for breeding.
I like the idea of using the truck to break in a hide! Well, went over to the Bettys homeplace this evening and visited with the nicest people in this county again. Absolutely LOVE these people....salt of the earth. Got to talk sheep with the older fella and his son until the sun went down and it was great!
I think, after talking to the son, that I will hold off breeding the Bettys until April to see if they get more size on them and to give them a better chance at turning out some great lambs. He has been experimenting with doing this and has had great results, as opposed to breeding at 7-10 mo. when this breed of sheep becomes sexually mature.
He has noticed that the ewe gets bigger if one waits for breeding, almost like breeding that early stunts their growth...which makes sense to me.
If I breed in April, I will have lambs in Sept. which is perfect for Christmas market lambs. I think I'll do the end of March instead and have a little more time to finish them out on the fall fescue around here.
I need a Dorper ram lamb......
I want to start breeding at my own place so I won't have to transport for breeding.
Farmfresh
City Biddy
Beekissed said:Farm, you are always a wellspring of excellent ideas!!!
Anytime I can get a job done by sitting on my hiney I am going to do it!
When the hides were new we placed them onto the truck seat and then went on vacation. Every so often we would shift them around and refold them in different ways. Just miles of wriggling around and they softened right up.
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
Farmfresh said:Beekissed said:Farm, you are always a wellspring of excellent ideas!!!
Anytime I can get a job done by sitting on my hiney I am going to do it!
Yup, I like the way you work!!!
Farmfresh
City Biddy
I just try to always use all of my assets!
- Thread starter
- #3,336
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Well, that's definitely my biggest a$$et!
FarmerDenise
Out to pasture
big brown horse
Hoof In Mouth
Beekissed said:Well, that's definitely my biggest a$$et!
- Thread starter
- #3,339
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
Broke over and bought the Bettys a mineral block today. I just felt that, now they are moving into eating more hay and my hay is so low quality, they just might need some more selenium in their diet.
They really attacked the block and each other in competition for the minerals, so they must really like it. The molasses helps also! Up until now they have had free choice kelp meal and coarse salt mix.
Also bought my first drencher today and can't wait to see how they do when I drench them with UP/ACV (my first batch ), H2O, fresh garlic juice, raw honey.
I also realized why my sheep weren't way beyond the other sheep their age on their home place. My sheep are entirely grass fed, no ATBs, no meds, no commercial wormers, etc. Salatin says his grassfed beef grow more slowly than their feedlot counterparts, so this would explain why my gals look healthier but aren't much taller than their old flockmates.
The breeder's farm brings their sheep in each night, feed sheep pellets and other grain rations year round and use vaccines, de-wormers, and ATBs....and they lost over 20 lambs this year to various diseases~coccidiosis, worms, and something I had never heard of and can't remember the name of....
Three lost to bears.
He said they lost these lambs after they were over a month old~which usually has them out of the danger zone.
I'm going to take a fecal to the vet before the drenching and then drench monthly all winter and take another fecal in the early spring and compare the parasite loads.
They really attacked the block and each other in competition for the minerals, so they must really like it. The molasses helps also!
Up until now they have had free choice kelp meal and coarse salt mix. Also bought my first drencher today and can't wait to see how they do when I drench them with UP/ACV (my first batch
), H2O, fresh garlic juice, raw honey. I also realized why my sheep weren't way beyond the other sheep their age on their home place. My sheep are entirely grass fed, no ATBs, no meds, no commercial wormers, etc. Salatin says his grassfed beef grow more slowly than their feedlot counterparts, so this would explain why my gals look healthier but aren't much taller than their old flockmates.
The breeder's farm brings their sheep in each night, feed sheep pellets and other grain rations year round and use vaccines, de-wormers, and ATBs....and they lost over 20 lambs this year to various diseases~coccidiosis, worms, and something I had never heard of and can't remember the name of....
Three lost to bears. He said they lost these lambs after they were over a month old~which usually has them out of the danger zone.
I'm going to take a fecal to the vet before the drenching and then drench monthly all winter and take another fecal in the early spring and compare the parasite loads.
big brown horse
Hoof In Mouth
Do you rotate them? My book says that rotating them every 21 days is very helpful too when it comes to worms. I have to cross fence in order to do that, so for now it is out of the question. It is on the old "to do when money isn't tight list" at this point, it may be on the "forget about it" list.
at this point, it may be on the "forget about it" list.
