Sheep Wash.

Wool. Its soft, sometimes a little scratchy and gets really dirty.
Every year just before a show we take on the task of washing our sheep for show. It can be a lot of fun but if your sheep don't like to cooperate it is not fun at all. Its a fairly long process but man do your sheep look good in the end. Here's how you do it;
Step 1; Get sheep. yes it obvious but still important. You will want to have a well-fitting halter and a secure place to tie the sheep to, preferably in the sun by a water source. Personally, we have built wash tables for our sheep. This is just a movable platform (we use hydraulics) and a neck brace for the sheep to be held (without any discomfort) and kept safe.
Step 2; Get water and soap. You will want to use lukewarm temperature water so that your sheep doesn't get too cold and the dirt will come out much easier than cold water. The soap. Here's a big hint: use blue dawn soap. The blue will partially dye the wool. No your sheep won't be blue but it will contradict the colour from the lanolin so the wool will be really white!
Step 3; Wash. Use water. Then massage in soap then rinse. It's simple but just make sure you get all the soap out. It can irritate the skin of the sheep. While washing you will want to use a damp clothe to clean the inner thighs of the sheep, the hooves, the nose and inside the ears. You want your sheep too look great everywhere possible. Just be careful not to get any soap in their eyes or too far into the ears.
Step 4; Dry. Firstly you can just towel dry the sheep to get the most of the water off. The rest you will either need to let dry itself or you can use a dryer. Kind of like a giant blow dryer. Its the same as what cattle showmen use.
Step 5; Trim it up. Using your carder and clippers you will want to just make everything even and clean even more. This is a chance where you can try and visually correct any flaws you may see in your sheep. Like leveling the topline or fixing a ewe-neck.

Step 6; Cover to protect. This is where you want to save your masterpiece. Trust me its the worst when you work so hard and the next day you go out and your sheep is really dirty again! You can buy sheep blankets or you can use plain potato sacks and cut them so they will cover the sheep's clean fleece.



Its a tough job but someone's got to do it. It will make your sheep look fantastic!!

Now for A Little Science (If you are squimish this may not be the blog post for you)

 I had the great privilege this past year to witness something amazing in the field of agriculture. Dr. Ilena offered for me to come visit her while harvesting ewe eggs for in-vitro-fertilization. This is a task that is taken on mostly by purebred breeders due to the cost of the procedure and it is easy when preferred rams are over seas. Do you do any in-vitro work on your farm? with cows or horses or goats maybe? I was able to see how to harvest eggs. See the eggs are harvested, then fertilized with semen from the desired ram, then put into the ewes for the lambs to grow. To harvest the eggs there are many steps. First the ewes go throw a number of fertility treatments to ensure that the eggs are the healthiest and it will be the perfect time to harvest. Then they are given a relaxing drug to make sure they don't go through any stress that may kill the eggs in the procedure. The first step of the harvest is to give the ewe anesthesia so they won't feel any pain. They are quickly shaved of their hair on the lower side of their abdomen. Some antiseptic is put on the site where the incision will be and then a little cut. through this cut goes a laparoscope that will help to find the uterus and bring it to the outer side of the body. This is what I think is REALLY cool. The uterus is brought out of the body through the incision. OUTSIDE OF THE BODY!! HOW COOL IS THAT! sorry I get excited with science. then a small hole is made in the uteron horn the pointy long parts off the sides of the uterus. through this hole a small tube will flush some saline solution through the passage ways to another incision were a petri dish catches the fluid that is now carrying the eggs. All the incision are sewn up and the outer site is again washed with an antibacterial. they ewe is then pulled off of the anesthesia and monitored for the next few weeks to make sure they don't get an infection even though the whole procedure is kept clean and sterile. The solution is put under a microscope and all the debris is taken out of the solution and the eggs are put into another special dish that will soon be put with the semen and fertilized. I just really think this stuff is cool. And the amazing part?? The same procedure can be done on humans!!!
Have you ever done this with your flock or herd? Have you had good success?? Do you think this is as cool as I do???

Ok Now for the 4H

I've been reading a lot of other blogs and have come to the conclusion that talking about your 4h club is a good idea. I have mentioned it previously but never talked much in detail. This year I have the privileged of being the club president for The Wild N Woolly 4H Sheep Club of East Central Alberta.

 

We are one of few sheep clubs in Alberta that is not also a multi-club. Also we are set up a little different that many other clubs. Starting in November and ending in October makes our club literally all year around. November is when we start up, set up our executive and plan out the year. May is when we have highway clean up and June is our weigh in day where our lambs are officially put into the 4h program. Then 60-63 days later we have our Achievement Day at the end of August. Then to wrap it all up, at the end of October we have our awards night. Our meetings are once a month on the second Sunday of each month. As president I have taken the initiative to make sure all our meetings are under an hour in length. Since our club has 14 members, 3 cleavers, 3 seniors, 4 intermediates and 4 juniors, it is easy to see that our club has a fair amount of young kids with short attention spans. And to be frank long meetings bore the seniors too. 

What's your club like? Where are you located? Are you part of a sheep club too?

Pick and Choose

Yesterday I went out to the field and started  picking my lambs for this upcoming 4h year. You may be thinking "Whaaa?" See in our 4h club our achievement day is at the end of August. This may seem really weird to you cattle 4hers who just finished wrapping up your 4h year. To be frank, my year has really just started. This year my 2year old ewe Mayonnaise had twin boys. I will be bringing her back with her lambs at foot to compete again. My Yearling, Ketchup just gave birth to a big girl who I named Heinz. And finally I just picked out my ewelamb for this fall. I picked Relish. (Do you see a trend in names here?) This is when I start getting excited and begin to dread 4h at the same time. First of all I'm excited to wash up my lambs and go to the show. What I dread is the few months before that can happen. This is the time where I get to halter train my lambs. They may not be as big as cows or horses but breaking-in a lamb is not an easy task.
Over my years in 4h I have learnt that there are two types of lambs on average. These types arise once you get the halter on them and try and lead them for the first time. The first; the jumper. Holding close to its name, these lambs flail about jumping up and down and often hit me in the face (Don't laugh kamikaze sheep are terrifying). The second type; DEAD. No they don't actually die but this type plays dead. It feels the halter on them and it falls over. Much like a fainting goat they just fall, lie stiff and hope that you don't notice them. Neither of these lambs are easy to train. Either they are running around in uncontrollable circles or they simply won't move and you find yourself dragging dead weight. I'm really not going to lie here when I say that halter training is my least favourite task in 4h. Sigh. Another year another dollar right? I do suppose it has taught my patience and understanding but in the heat of that frustrating moment it never feels worth it til achievement day.

What is it like halter training calves? I never have done so. Is it just as tough or are there more injuries than I would know? Please fill me in. I'd love to hear your animal experiences.

A-Mazing!

I received this link in an email a while back. It is titled Extreme Sheep Art and for good reason! The video explains it but here's a quick summary. This is a film of a bunch of guys from Wales who, frankly, have too much time on their hands, and a lot of sheep. They use their well trained border collies to move their sheep in the most amazing patterns you will ever see! The whistles you hear in the background are the sounds of dog whistles some shepherds use to tell the dogs what to do and how to move the sheep. I don't think there is anything more I can say to show the greatness of this video. Just take a look! It will blow you away!!

Rockin Rodeo

Want an epic display of pure strength and endurance? One event at rodeos around the world is founded for kids to show their talents and rodeo ability. Yes children. Why is this on a sheep blog you may ask? Well this is simple, the event is Mutton Busting. Mutton Busting was brought officially into rodeo in the mid 1980s where the idea was that kids 5-7 years old (no bigger than 55lbs) would be given the challenge to ride a sheep for 6 whole seconds. It can be a rough and tumble sport just like full size rodeo. Many of the children I know who participate do it to prove to their families or themselves that they can be real cowboys or cowgirls.
Now how about those sheep? Annually we send some of our sheep to the Tees Rodeo for the first weekend of August for this event. How do we chose? All you animal lovers out there please don't be too afraid here. These sheep are almost 200 pounds and have tiny humans on them. It may not seem like the most humane event but we always take precautions to make sure that they all stay safe. We use the ewes that aren't pregnant, are in good shape (strong and not boney) and sometimes even pet sheep that have done such event before.
All in all the kids, the spectators and even the sheep can have a lot of fun.

Moisture

So I'm sure as you all know it has been raining. Lots of raining... And with that rain comes clouds. This is the reason for th lapse in blogs that I have been writing. See because we are in the country... ok so far out in the country we need to use satellite internet. This is at least better than dial-up! Since there is so many clouds our satellite dish couldn't send or receive the signals thus leaving us internetless.

This isn't the only thing the rain can affect. The poor little babies outside are feeling the rain and cold too. We have gone through a fair amount of blankets and antibiotics the last few days. Sheep get water logged. Their wool absorbs all the water it can and it stays for a long time. This water can get kind of cold in the wind that has been whipping around. When sheep get cold they get sick, and not just a common cold but pneumonia or other harsh lung infections or diseases. So this is when we have to bring all the sheep inside and try and treat all the sick sheep before they get too sick. This is when we use Penicillin or Oxytretracycaline (both antibiotics) to fight off any bacteria that may be housed up in the sheeps' lungs. Again this is another controversial method. Organic farmers can't use antibiotics to treat these diseases. I just feel sorry for the sheep who get sick and their farmers can't help them with science.