Sheep
When my mother passed away, she owned a herd of
about twenty American Blackbellies. We always called
them “Barbados”, but just recently I met a very special lady that taught me some
new things about this type of sheep. Valerie Hard is in the business of raising
sheep and goats for sale. She sold registered stock up until she lost her main
breeding ram. She explained to me that Barbados don’t
have beautiful horns, and females rarely have horns at all. Americans did some
selective breeding, and produced an animal that doesn’t need to be sheared,
produces excellent meat for human consumption, and both sexes have horns like
Rocky Mountain big horn sheep, the male’s horns curve into a spiral, giving
them a majestic appearance. (A look at
both https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbados_Black_Belly)
(more info- https://www.blackbellysheep.org/
and some photos https://www.blackbellysheep.org/about-the-sheep/photos/
) also If you have questions about either breed, you
are welcome to send them to info@blackbellysheep.org.
And http://www.barbadosblackbelly.com/
for more info.
I was unable to attain my mothers herd, and now, twenty one
years later, I have started my own herd, with animals purchased from Valerie. I
am starting with two yearlings and a four year old, all females, and possibly
pregnant. They all are registered stock, and the offspring will be traceable.
Valerie brought them late in the evening of June 12, 2017,
just before dark. We locked them in the mini-barn that I built, and let them
out early Wednesday morning. I recorded their release and uploaded it to YouTube.
(see https://youtu.be/wGqTJAlVngs)
Below are photos of the barn construction.
I had a portable deck beside
the pond. I moved it for the barn, and uncovered mama duck’s nest with a bunch
of eggs. She supervised the entire construction, and managed to hatch those
eggs.
YouTube https://youtu.be/wGqTJAlVngs
we open the door and let them out for the first time! But, they don’t want to
come out right away! They are very nervous, and could easily jump over any one
of my four foot fences, but if they did, they would still be on the property.
They would have to clear five feet, six inches (barb wire, ouch!) to leave my
property. The Fourth of July is near, and they have already been spooked by
illegal fireworks (rockets), set off by my neighbors. I worry they will set
fire to my field.
YOUTUBE
https://youtu.be/_kdVBwS5XKw
I tried to fence off the area behind the
storage sheds, but they slipped through two converging wire fence sections. I
went out today (7-9-2017) to mend the opening, and I noticed that they had
rubbed off most of their remaining winter “wool”, squeezing through the
opening. If one were collecting the wool to make yarn, it would be simple to
build a device that would comb them as they passed through it for a treat. The
fence is mended, and the sprinkler is on. The grass is getting greener every
day.
The girls, relaxing in the shade under the mister.
Five spray nozzles make a
fifteen foot curtain of micro-fine mist, that runs 24 hours a day. I got it up
before our ten day heat wave.
The squirrels don’t run away
any more! There’s a million of them always getting into the feed.. L
Momma duck is still on her
eggs in that hot barn. She has been there since the sheep arrived. Today is
7-9-17. Almost a month.
Some wool caught in the fence.
Fixed that escape route today.
Looking back from Mike’s boat,
you can see all three girls, lying under the mister system that I hung from a
branch of the giant willow tree.
You can see our lone Canadian
Honker approaching the sheep, and she walks right by them within inches. This
bird never leaves. We don’t know if it is unable to fly.
Anita says, “If you feed a
Canadian, they will never leave!” J
Fixey
fence, fixey fence, fixey fence! I am
going to stand under the mister! It’s 102F today!
We are back to milder temps. Mid
to high 90s. A couple YouTube
videos of Denise hand feeding. 7-18-17
https://youtu.be/NBFSvnQAxng and https://youtu.be/VMPxlScgMkg
I found another mother duck with a nest in the
vegetation on the fence. She hatched out at least fifteen babies. Here, only a
portion of the eggs have hatched. Mom put her newly hatched babies in the sun
to dry, and she went back on the nest to hatch the rest.
Here’s a
youtube video of her gang-https://youtu.be/WW9Sb-I_KWk
And one more of the
girls grazing.
https://youtu.be/tipVc2CaunI
The first tragedy
9/8/2017
When I woke up this morning (7:30), I looked outside
to check on the girls. They were standing at the gate, which is unusual. They
usually wait for me at the sliding gate, to let them into the main pasture.
I went out right away, and I noticed a strange
object at the front of the barn. A
closer look revealed two baby sheep. They were dead. One was dry, and one was
still very wet. I looked at mama, and I could see the cord dragging behind her.
In shock, and not knowing what to do, I went ahead and opened the sliding gate.
The acted like they wanted to go through, but as I walked back to the main
gate, they followed me, so I gave them a coffee can full of sweet feed
(pellets). As usual, May was the first one to start eating, and, as usual, the
other two waited for me to go back through the main gate. I started a grave,
but the ground was hard and dry, so I soaked it, and came in to contact
Valerie.
babies
11:37 AM
To Valerie Hard
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Dear Valerie,
We have been enjoying our new family. The girls have done very
well here. For a while, we thought that all three were pregnant, but as time
went by, it was only obvious in the oldest female. I was thinking that they
should be due in mid or late October. When I went out this morning, the older
female had given birth to two. They were dead, most likely stillborn. I was
unprepared for this, and was hoping you could shed some light on this tragic
event. enclosed are photos.
Hi Pete-glad to hear most is fairly
well! Sorry about the rough introduction to your sheep farming re-start. 
So that does happen
(obviously)--here's a bit on a likely cause:
Campylobacterisis is a common cause of abortion in ewes. Abortion during the
last month of pregnancy, stillborn lambs, and the birth of
weak lambs are common signs of vibrio abortion. The organisms
which cause abortion are Campylobacter jejuni or
Campylobacter fetus. Ewes are infected by oral ingestion.
As far as younger ewes: they could
be pregnant. As 1st timers they won't show much. My ewes still haven't lambed
so you still have time I'm thinking.
Valerie
Sent from my iPhone
Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campylobacter
Dear Valerie
I
have 100 Questions for you!
History-How many pregnancies in past? Any stillbirth? Any preemies? What
was earliest possible date she was impregnated? Are these babies normal sized?
One was still inside amniotic sack. Both were males.
Twelve
hours later, the umbilical is still dragging the ground.
Is
that normal? Is there something I should be doing?
What
was the earliest due date for all three females? I think May is pregnant. Not
sure about Sable.
May looks pregnant!
It was right before you got back in
touch with me so I think it was late April to early May (exact date is at
home).
Overall
pregnancies? 100's
That ewe? 3rd or 4th (data at home)
I've had a couple stillborn and one premie over the years.
I saw the one didn't get out of sac
if it wasn't dead already then it was weak--I think it was dead already...
She's been a very good mother so not
like her to not get it out (or usually they do it on their own of
course)....it's eyes look sunk in so I think it was stillborn and the other one
was probably also but the mom tried to clean it.
The mother needs to pass the
placenta. Nursing stimulates that process so if she still has not passed it I'd
catch her and milk her out some.
If she still has it after a couple
days you might need some hormones and antibiotic injections---I've never had to
do that with a sheep but did with a goat.
Sent from my iPhone
The mother pawed the ground around the babies.
This one was stll in amniotic sack.
So tiny!
Pee-pees! Two little boys!
Such tiny faces! I’m thinking
“preemie!”
Born in the dirt. L
Tried to get view of
umbilical, still hanging.
These are from my phone.
Better camera.
You can see umbilical here.
May looks pregnant to me!
Disaster #2
On Oct 8, 2017, at 7:15 PM, Terry Peterson <pete@thepetersonranch.com> wrote:
Valerie,
May gave birth to a healthy baby boy today. I have been checking
on them every couple hours during the day, and today around 3:00 I noticed that
May was in labor. I watched her for some time, and she seemed to be struggling.
When she stood, I could see that things were not OK. When I finally got close
enough, I could see the head and one leg. I watched her for quite some time
while I tried to contact you. I also called the vet. I got no response, and
after about an hour, I started to follow her until she laid
down. First I pulled on the leg I could see, with no effect, and I finally
reached inside her and freed the other leg. She got up and ran away, and I held
onto the legs, and the baby slipped out. I was unable to reunite them, so now I
have a bottle baby. I never heard from the vet either, but I thought I would
let you know that you may expect babies of your own, very soon.
Terry
I've been wanting to let you know we've
started having lambs (7 so far & 1 that didn't make it.)
So is that one total? Almost sounded like she had 1 and 1 had to
be pulled but I'm thinking it was just the one. Boy-you've had a rough intro!
They really are easy??!?? Sounds like a challenging presentation but hard
for me to say for sure if she needed help---and ideal and is putting them
together (in a "jug"/small pen) for him to get colostrum and good
milk (I hate milk replacer---there are recipes with cows
milk if you can't get goat milk).
Good luck with bottle lamb!
Did you have any twins? How far apart can they come? I'm not sure if Sable is pregnant or not. She is big, but not much bigger than May after giving birth. What are some replacement brands that I should look for?
Yes some twins but lots of singles.
They traditionally come within minutes to an hour. If placenta is
gone she is done.
I don't suggest any milk replacers - better luck with cows milk recipes (I use straight goats
milk now that I have it but have used cows milk
recipes with great success)
Powdered replacers frequently gives
scours and so I don't suggest them.
Here's a recipe and schedule that looks fine:
http://www.blackbellysheepbook.com/lambing/7-caring-for-bottle-lambs
I took a short video of
the new baby within an hour of birth. Uploaded to YouTube.
https://youtu.be/pBdu97EjvyU
A few stills of our bottle baby!
Some pecans from my tree. Baby boy about five
hours old.
The dogs don’t know what that
is!
The goose that won’t leave has a broken wing.
He/she stays close. J.C.’s friends pick on
him/her.
That’s how the wing got broken!
To be continued!