When Things Go Wrong During Lambing Season...

[@BRPFan]

I love watching your lambs run and rump around! Brings a smile to my face 😁

[@Teraperf]

Aw I love seeing Ontario channels. Love from Bruce County ❤️

[@valleyridgefarms]

Thank-you!!!

[@S_Eglington]

I had a few cases of joint ill in lambs when I started out. They need to get lots of colostrum in the first few hours. The ones that don't get it can develop joint ill a clean environment helps too. Treatment is a low dose of antibiotics a day for 10 days. Often they don't recover till the last dose.

[@brianoc7824]

Thank you for the this ! I believe the more real the content the better ,seems as channels grow they loose some of that

[@valleyridgefarms]

Thanks, will do what we can. It's the best way to learn from each other.

[@ajanismaili9061]

Qq

[@BroqueCowgirlHomestead]

Do you put iodine on their umbilical cords and bottom of feet at birth? That helps prevent joint I'll.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Yes, several people have mentioned that could help with the problem. Thanks for your suggestion!

[@tonyclack5901]

That is exactly what we do and have next to no, joint ill issues. We are just starting lambing so fingers crossed

[@RiverBirchFarm]

Thank you for this video, I have poultry and would love to have some lambs in the future, that is why I am watching videos about taking care of them. I know as anyone else that raises animals, we also lose some. The meaning that the healthy survive is true for not only us but in nature also. We do our best not to lose any and I feel that you are doing your best also so thank you for sharing the problems you are having with raising newborn lambs.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Thanks for your comments. Sheep are a great animal to farm.

[@beyondthenetfence]

I had a shearing client tell me about a trick for avoiding ketosis where they provide water with some kind of sugar in it (Gatorade, molasses, maple syrup, electrolyte mix) and kept that in the pen as an option and since they started doing that they have had no Ketosis. I tried it this spring and I too avoided any ketosis in my ewes. We normally have one. It’s worth trying. I put any ewes that were depressed after shearing in a small pen with only the sugar water and they all recovered and were fine. Just a thought

[@valleyridgefarms]

Thanks! That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Thanks for your comment!

[@wendyrowland7787]

If you have been in sheep for 12 years, I am surprised you have not addressed the problems you can do something about. Basic things like clean bedding. I also had a clean area for pens and each pen was cleared and disinfected between occupants. Do you dip the navels in iodine to prevent joint ill? Broken legs seems to be a hazard of overcrowding. Do you scan and separate according to nutritional need? You could try floor feeding concentrate pellets so that the shy feeders get a chance of getting their fair share. It also gives them a break from their boring existence as they go on hunting long after all the nuts have gone. In the UK we have to have a plan of action with our vet to be on a farm assurance scheme.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Hello Wendy, where do you farm and how many sheep do you have? It sounds like you have a very good handle on how to farm problem free and I could learn alot from you. I didn't know that farms existed that never have any issues at all. I have only farmed this many sheep in the last 5 years. The reason I have continued with sheep is that I find that I have had quite a bit of success with them. Part of the reason I have some of the problems I do is because of growing pains. We are very tight for space this year. Ideally we shear before lambing, but because of weather conditions and our barn is not insulated in doesn't always work when lambing this time of the year. (often gets to -15 degrees celcius) Can we do a better job on some things? Absolutely. I appreciate your comments, just not the way they come across. A bit arrogant is how it sounds. As I said in the video, suggestions are welcome and I don't claim to have it all together. Thanks.

[@wendyrowland7787]

@@valleyridgefarms I think you hit the nail on the head saying you are tightly stocked.

[@valleyridgefarms]

@@wendyrowland7787 yes, we are doing some serious thinking about how to address the problem. House some outside next year, or put up another facility.

[@yasminreid3036]

@@valleyridgefarms Hi, just wanted to say that I appreciate that you put videos out there to help others and you do it in a really educational, interesting and caring way. We can see you look after your animals and it's so easy for people to sit at home and watch a video and get typing. I think you do the best you can and I couldn't picture you talking to anyone the way Wendy addressed you. Your manner is respectful, humble and happy. Ignore rude people as they don't deserve to get you down. Thought I'd say my peace here. Well done on the videos, I'm really enjoying them :)

[@valleyridgefarms]

Thanks for the encouragement

[@meanderingmeadows4463]

There are different forms of loose minerals that help aid pregnancy tox. Don't know if you guys have a nutritionist for your feed, if you do ask them about products made for it to add to your flock. If not Purina Feeds sells a mineral called "wind and rain" sheep mineral. "High in calcium, Reduces the risk of milk fever, ketosis and aids in parturition success." I've also heard of farms adding the glycol to ewes water buckets to help prevent others in the group from possible going down if suspected high lamb load. Hope this helps, hope all works out for you guys.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Yes, we work with a nutritionist, we have a customized mineral with extra calcium, selenium and vitamin E for close up and lactating ewes, to prevent this. The rest question is whether or not they were eating enough of it.

[@karajo8578]

Do you dip every lamb's embilical cord in iodine asap after they are born? That will prevent joint I'll. *The disposable little red solo shot glasses work great as an iodine navel dip cup. after use on 3 or 4 lambs throw away. Clean bedding. Housing/ penning lambs together that are close in age, within 2 weeks.

[@brianoc7824]

We just started putting out a purina tubs with molasses to prevent twin disease

[@valleyridgefarms]

What's all in those?

[@user-zu2bw7ig5v]

@@valleyridgefarms it's hard for a ewe to get enough of what they need out of a lick tub. There has been many studies done of the intake.

[@jamiestrout1991]

Dipping navels at birth is a big help with joint ill and ear tags can also be a cause

[@jeremyrobertus3632]

I learned alot from this video, my bums on the milk machine also get joint ill. I always thought I was doing something wrong. What breed of ewes do you have?

[@valleyridgefarms]

I have purebred rideau arcott.

[@sweetsmiles1001]

Do you dip their navels with iodine when they are first born? Like within first 15 minutes? I know a sheep farmer that does this and had no trouble with joint ill

[@glendajmccallum7502]

DO YOU GIVE YOUR EWES MOLASSES AFTER THEY BIRTH...THIS WILL GIVE THE MOMS ENERGY. YOU CAN ASK SANDI BROCK YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LEG PROBLEM WITH YOUR LITTLE LAMBS...SHE IS A SHEEP FARMER AS WELL...PLEASE GET IN CONTACT WITH HER. THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR VIDEO...I DID ENJOY IT VERY MUCH!!!

[@middlekingdomfarmrebeccapa5035]

Sandi is just another sheep farmer, it would be better to talk to a vet for health issues.

[@laraethompson3248]

Do you spray the lambs navels at birth? That will eliminate most of the navel ill. I use Vetericyn naval spray or you can use iodine. It is kind of a pain but I haven’t had a joint ill since I started doing that.

[@hillockfarm8404]

It should. I can lamb outside fortunately, but i spray as well when i'm early enough. Something like iodine helps drying and closing the "hole" there and therefore the access. A barn on this type bedding generates heat and that can give bacteria room to multiply. And once you have something like this in a barn/soil it tends to stick around a while.

[@rickngerricromarty7172]

How wide and long is your barn. And then how wide is your pens on each side?

[@valleyridgefarms]

This barn is 206ft long x 40 ft wide. Alley is 10 ft wide, with 15ft pens on each side. It works pretty good, but would have liked it to be wider. This was the widest that this company offered. As soon as you go to a different company with wider more robust trusses etc. the price really jumps. This was a low budget build about 6 yrs ago. Its pretty much a glorified greenhouse. It has served us quite well so far, just don't sleep super good on really windy nights/days.

[@rickngerricromarty7172]

@@valleyridgefarms thank you fir the reply. We will be sheep farmers fir a year next month. We had 800 momma cows and a feedlot. We are dry lotting all our ewes. If u are ok with it. I would enjoy connecting to be able to ask more questions. I’m learning lots. And trying not to learn the hard way. My number is 780 753 1276. We live in Alberta

[@wendyrowland7787]

@@rickngerricromarty7172 he is still learning the hard way. Find as many books as you can on sheep production, the college based ones are the most informative.

[@rickngerricromarty7172]

@@wendyrowland7787 It’s good to learn from everyone you meet. Sometimes we can learn from other peoples mistakes or troubles or experience. The more knowledge a person can attain from real life experiences the better. That’s why farmers talk so much together. To get others opinions or experience on how to deal with things. I like to meet and talk with as many people as I can to get a wide variety of information. You don’t learn anything when things go right all the time. It’s when things go awry you gain knowledge.

[@wendyrowland7787]

@@rickngerricromarty7172 agreed, but it is worth going on a course run by experts in the field rather than find out the hard way and causing animal welfare issues on the way.

[@middlekingdomfarmrebeccapa5035]

I am just catching up with your videos. (And giving you some watch hours. 😊) Did you get a solution to your joint ill issue? We started navel dipping again and it helped.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Great, thankyou! Our may lambing we only had one with joint ill, didn't do much different but it was also a much smaller group. I think at the end of that big lambing shown in this video only 3 had lasting joint ill problems, not terrible for 500 lambs being born.

[@beverlyjenkins4370]

Are you friends with Sandi Brock she has some of your problems y'all might be able to help each other

[@valleyridgefarms]

I have watched some of her videos yes. We absolutely can learn from each other. Thanks

[@davidlong39]

Wee tip and maybe you already do this dip there navels with iodine do not spray them with it totally got rid of joint I'll for me hope this helps love the video's

[@valleyridgefarms]

Sounds like that is the answer. I do only have some trouble with my bottle feeds, never those staying with mom. So I think it also has to do with passive immunity that mom passes on to her lambs on an ongoing basis

[@user-zu2bw7ig5v]

@@valleyridgefarms I believe you are correct. I usually only have problems with bottle lambs. The only thing that seemed to kick it for me was 1cc nuflor 1/2 cc banamine and 1 cc LA300 although I hate using antibiotics. One other thing I think that helps is worming bottle lambs at a week old.

[@valleyridgefarms]

@@user-zu2bw7ig5v Thanks for the feedback.

[@heathergingrich6170]

Checkout SheepishlyMe youtube she is a shepherdess with a large flock in a building somewhat similar to yours.

[@valleyridgefarms]

Yes, I have watched some of her videos. She does a great job!

[@aidanelliott6228]

Don’t like the way your sheep are losing their wool If you don’t mind me saying your ewes need dosed fluke and worm dose . Extra feed.have you mineral buckets In with them 👍🐑🐑🐑

[@valleyridgefarms]

Yea, that was last year. One of the problems was that I was off schedule with my shearing. The longer it gets the more susceptible to wool loss. We had looked into a lot of things as to why that was happening and maybe it was a combination of many small factors. That being said it was a very successful year, lambs did well, ewes recovered without an issue. Sometimes things look worse than they are...? However I agree with you, I don't like how they were losing their wool either.