LIVESTOCK TASKS

ANNUAL PROCESS

  • Regularly view sheep feet for excessive toe nail growth and their butts for scouring (refer below for solutions to these urgent issues.

  • Every year a few weeks prior to lambing, vaccinate ALL sheep (rams, ewes, wethers - NOT Alpacas) with 5in1 vaccine.

  • Immediately after the 6 week lambing period, ear tag and 5in1 vaccinate all lambs and provide booster vaccinate 30 days later.

  • Immediately after the 6 week lambing period, apply rings over both testicles to castrate all selected little boys for this procedure.

  • At weaning all little boys (rams and wethers) go to ram paddock and all little girls go with a handful of old ewes (for guidance) who don’t currently have lambs to a paddock well away from their mothers.

 SHEEP VACCINATION (5 IN 1)

  • 1ml dose by subcutaneous injection (high on the neck behind the ear)

  • WHEN? - Lambs - Dose after all birthing completed, followed by a second dose 4 weeks later

  • WHEN? - All sheep – Annual booster dose prior to joining (includes all rams, wethers and ewes).

SHEEP VACCINATION VIDEO

SHEEP DRENCHING

  • Poor feed and worm disease are the two most common sheep health and welfare problems on hobby farms. It is important that everyone who has even just a few sheep has at least a basic understanding of worm disease and how to manage it.

  • Lambs should be drenched a week or two before weaning. It is important that after you have drenched your sheep, they are put onto clean pasture and the old pasture spelled for as long as possible.

  • Ewes should be drenched a week or two before birthing. It is important that after you have drenched your sheep, they are put onto clean pasture and the old pasture spelled for as long as possible.

We use two types of drench at Camp Ruffy…

1. Zolvix / Q-Drench - these are “quick fix” formulas and are only used when a sheep is observed scouring. Should not be regularly used as woms will develop a natural immunity.

2. Coopers Panacur 25 / Verbal Alben—these are used for normal timely drenching procedures.

SHEEP DRENCHING VIDEO

SHEEP TOE NAILS

  • Keep an eye on their feet as from time to time a sheep will grow very long toe nails making it impossible for them to walk.

  • Trim with clippers or Ryobi Battery Grinder (ask Roger to bring this up from Kilmore) when the beast is secured in sheep run

TOE NAIL TRIMMING VIDEO

ALPACAS

• Alpaca health is looked after annually by our Alpaca shearer during his annual visit.