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Instant Jellyfish posted:He had been sick so the wool was broken and wouldn't make a usable pelt, even if I had been up to skinning him after putting him down. I took some wool to make a cord and I'll take his eartag (he was number 0002 of course) to make a charm for it. I do have his brother's pelt. Roman's owner gifted it to me after having to put him down, they kept the skull for themselves. I think the charm is a wonderful idea.  That's a very sweet and beautiful memento. I'm sorry if my question was too personal or too insensitive. You've collected some beautiful pelts in the past and haven't been shy about it, so I thought it was a safe question. If not, I'm very sorry!
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Feb 23, 2021 05:07
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ILL Machina posted:Hey sorry just seeing in your previous posts that you're an owner, too. Sorry if what I said was insensitive, I'm not as close as you guys are. She made it really clear that she didn't want to do those things with him. So yeah, friends. Just zen. I own Katahdins and Shetlands but this is IJ's thread and I sure as hell ain't makin' one.
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Feb 23, 2021 05:14
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You're all fine, it was just a hard loss and I'd rather not think about hacking him to pieces after already having to be the one to put him down. Two was a special dude. Maybe someday I'll drag his skull in but for right now he will return to nature and get the local wildlife through the end of winter. Fun new science in the news today, they found out what gives 4 horned sheep the extra horns (but call jacobs goats). Spoiler alert: it's always HOX genes. You can read the actual paper here. Also here is an extremely circular sheep. 
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Feb 23, 2021 18:19
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Good lord, how many buns are in that oven?
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Feb 23, 2021 18:54
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Instant Jellyfish posted:You're all fine, it was just a hard loss and I'd rather not think about hacking him to pieces after already having to be the one to put him down. Two was a special dude. Maybe someday I'll drag his skull in but for right now he will return to nature and get the local wildlife through the end of winter. In an ironic twist it turns out it's all wool rather than lambs  .There has to be two in there, if not triplets. 
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Feb 24, 2021 13:59
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Neddy Seagoon posted:There has to be two in there, if not triplets. She's only ever had twins so that's what I'm guessing she's got in there. She's 9 and has had many lambs over the years so I think she's just stretched out a bit  A friend wants me to go in on an ultrasound machine with her and a few other farms so maybe next year I'll have a better idea of what folks are carrying.
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Feb 24, 2021 19:00
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Instant Jellyfish posted:A friend wants me to go in on an ultrasound machine with her and a few other farms so maybe next year I'll have a better idea of what folks are carrying.
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Feb 24, 2021 20:26
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Oh, how cool! Would that let you know who's likely to have a difficult birth? It would let me know how many lambs each was having (assuming I got any good at reading ultrasounds) so I could be more targeted in my nutrition. Those carrying singles don't need the same level of nutrition as those carrying twins or triplets and especially my cormos have a habit of ending up with huge single lambs. My plan for this year is to try to breed for January lambs but this would let me know who is actually bred and who I'll need to put with a cleanup ram for March lambs without having to draw blood on everyone. My share of the ultrasound machine would be about what I would pay for blood testing for 20 ewes even with pulling the blood myself. My sheep are seasonal breeders so I have no idea if I can even get them cycling for January lambs.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:21
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I love "cleanup ram". An analogy with a cleanup batter?
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Feb 24, 2021 21:30
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I love "cleanup ram". An analogy with a cleanup batter? I dunno, I know more about sheep than baseball  It's just the term I've always heard for when you need a ram to tie up loose ends for you.
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Feb 24, 2021 21:45
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Getting close to lambing! I'm hoping they go their usual 147 days so I can do some shearing Monday and Tuesday when it's going to be in the 50s before they should start lambing on Wednesday. I don't think Sassafras or Dianthus are actually bred but the others all seem to have udders going. We will see next week!
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Mar 5, 2021 21:14
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Yesssss so excited. Good luck to you and all the ladies and littles. Hope things go as smoothly as they can.
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Mar 5, 2021 22:46
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"Butternut Salvation" is the BEST name for a stud.
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Mar 6, 2021 00:22
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Good luck on the lambing, hope everyone comes out okay!
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Mar 6, 2021 00:38
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I spoke too soon! Went out to feed dinner and found some goo. Goo was coming from a very blue little nose emerging from the backside of an otherwise oblivious sheep. Pulled the lamb and surprise, he was alive! Rubbed him down and he pinked right up. Mom didn't have milk or care about him at all and he is a bit premature so for now he's in a box in my bathroom. He's a cormo/merino cross   He should be at 142 days gestation, survival is very unlikely at days 138-141 but at day 142 they usually do fine. Sheep really are down to the wire with fetal development. Fingers crossed for the little dude. I tube fed him a bunch of colostrum and a new antibody product so he just needs to mature a bit now. Next feeding I'll see if he'll take a bottle, he didn't seem to have a big suckle reflex at his first meal.
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Mar 6, 2021 01:01
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Good luck little guy!! That's really fascinating there's such a sharp divide between making it or not.
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Mar 6, 2021 01:09
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Good luck little guy we're all rooting for you! But yeah it's crazy how fetal development works.
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Mar 6, 2021 02:01
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ah man. my wife and i had a premature (human) child this past year, so I'm pulling for the little dude.
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Mar 6, 2021 03:01
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Instant Jellyfish posted:I spoke too soon! Went out to feed dinner and found some goo. Goo was coming from a very blue little nose emerging from the backside of an otherwise oblivious sheep. Pulled the lamb and surprise, he was alive! Rubbed him down and he pinked right up. Mom didn't have milk or care about him at all and he is a bit premature so for now he's in a box in my bathroom. He's gonna have to learn real fast how things are done around there. Ain't no quitters in Jellyfish's farm  . He's adorable and I hope he pulls through to become the mischievous little troublemaker he appears to be with that sweet little face. 
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Mar 6, 2021 03:28
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He sucked down a bottle on his own and is standing a bit so it's looking good so far! He's got no body fat but that should improve quickly. He's going to hang out in my nice warm bathroom until he's better and there are other lambs around.
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Mar 6, 2021 03:46
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He got upgraded to a big tote He's a little snuffly today but it's in his upper airways, not his lungs, so it should be alright. He's walking and eating and pottying so things are looking good!  He's a sweet little dude  
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Mar 6, 2021 18:28
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C'mon little guy, you can do it! You've got a bunch of weird apes from all over the place cheering you on. Having a good giggle at "dog stuff'. At what point do you think he'll be stable enough to downgrade out of the luxury suite? You mentioned the days that premature lambs seem to turn the corner health-wise and have better odds, so is there a good time amount that the early birds tend to 'catch up' if they are going to thrive? Or do you just go by weight/activity? Hope his airways clear up and he's just having a case of the "aaa it's cold and so my nose and throat is snuffly"s
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Mar 6, 2021 20:00
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Have to name him Dog Stuff now.
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Mar 6, 2021 20:09
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He's right. It's BodegaCat law.
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Mar 6, 2021 20:13
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Glory to Italia!
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A month or two ago after seeing some pictures in this thread, I had a dream that I began raising sheep on the side as a hobby. I live in Arizona though so in my dream they were Navajo-Churro sheep. Big and fluffy, with 4 horned rams. 
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Mar 6, 2021 21:58
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Chaosfeather posted:Having a good giggle at "dog stuff'. At what point do you think he'll be stable enough to downgrade out of the luxury suite? You mentioned the days that premature lambs seem to turn the corner health-wise and have better odds, so is there a good time amount that the early birds tend to 'catch up' if they are going to thrive? Or do you just go by weight/activity? I don't want to put him out until he has some more body condition and there are other lambs out there. I'm hoping that by Tuesday-Thursday when the other cormos start to lamb he'll be sturdy enough to move out with those babies. My cormos are notoriously dumb and almost always have singles so there's a chance I could convince one to take him in. Even if not I can bond him with another lamb so he has a snuggle buddy. Right now it's only 28F out so I don't want him all alone out there when he's so skinny.
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Mar 6, 2021 22:24
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Instant Jellyfish posted:He sucked down a bottle on his own and is standing a bit so it's looking good so far! He's got no body fat but that should improve quickly. He's going to hang out in my nice warm bathroom until he's better and there are other lambs around. I hope the little guy pulls through.
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Mar 7, 2021 05:41
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Does anything specific lead to pre-term labor? Does the absence of milk have any connection?
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Mar 7, 2021 05:59
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Mizuti posted:Good gracious! I'm not a sheep expert, but their wool does disguise their true body condition. I don't think I've ever seen one so visibly lean. He’s around 4 lbs, usually cormos are 8-12 lbs at birth. I can’t emphasize enough how very close he was to not hitting that viability point at 142 days gestation. 12 hours earlier and he wouldn’t have a chance. As it is he’s doing really well and I have no major concerns about him. In a week or so he’ll be a little butterball like all the rest. Once they get going it’s not uncommon for lambs to gain half a pound a day on average.
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Mar 7, 2021 06:00
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my cat is norris posted:Does anything specific lead to pre-term labor? Does the absence of milk have any connection? In this specific case I’m not sure what caused it. His mom has been down for a while and I haven’t been able to figure out why. I treated her for common pregnancy related issues but I wasn’t even sure she was actually pregnant. She didn’t grow an udder which is usually my main sign. It looked a little like hypocalcemia but she didn’t really respond to calcium. Hopefully not growing a lamb anymore will help her out. Her body might have just decided it didn’t have the resources to put into a lamb this year and decided to jettison him  Sheep are all about putting on your own oxygen mask first.
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Mar 7, 2021 06:11
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Triple posting because it's my thread and I do what I want. His name is Biscuit now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iMp3WBaKEg
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Mar 7, 2021 17:04
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That tail!
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Mar 7, 2021 17:14
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Which sheep was his mama? One of the two you thought might not have bred?
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Mar 7, 2021 18:26
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wheatpuppy posted:Which sheep was his mama? One of the two you thought might not have bred? His mom is Cupcake, she was due on the 10th. I can barely tell her and her older sister Petitfour apart but usually one of them lambs and the other doesn't and I was betting on Petitfour this year.
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Mar 7, 2021 18:35
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First baby of the year!
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Mar 8, 2021 01:42
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Well, good news and bad news. Good news is the Biscuit has a new sheep mommy that loves him. Bad news is that Aster had twin rams and one was dead. As far as she knows, however, the dead lamb came back to life miraculously and is only slightly weird. Biccy will have to wear his skin for a few days and he's in the tote with his new brother because he doesn't know he needs to stay with them yet but fingers crossed it all works out for him! Aster is already talking to him and licking him so I'm hopeful.  Skin grafting is kind of hosed up looking but is the most successful way to graft a lamb onto a ewe that has lost a lamb, so you do what you have to do.
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Mar 8, 2021 02:05
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Instant Jellyfish posted:Well, good news and bad news. Well that's a bit of a mixed bag, good for Biscuit though, gonna need some pics of his new brother though
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Mar 8, 2021 02:16
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That is some part sad, some part horrifying, and some part amazing. Hope it works out.
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Mar 8, 2021 02:22
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drrockso20 posted:Well that's a bit of a mixed bag, good for Biscuit though, gonna need some pics of his new brother though Good call!  Like a lot of Ashe's lambs he's got a slipped eyepatch. I couldn't remember who I had bred Aster to until I saw the white eye  Biscuit blending in. He's figured out the milk bar and is more interested in staying with the other sheep now. 
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Mar 8, 2021 02:56
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Aww, look at him thrive! This seems like a really amazing twist of fate in Biscuit's favor. The loss of the little ram is sad, yet it still seems so meant to be. 
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Mar 8, 2021 04:52
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