Saturday, June 9, 2012
East Meets West
Getting together with other Bluefaced Leicester breeders at nationals is ALWAYS fun and educational. As an eastern breeder, I am fascinated with the predator perrils of the west. We have infrequent dog attacks here and sometimes a coyote or bear attack but western breeders face these attacks daily. One the other hand, here in the east summer brings our worst predator....worms. I have begun watching my lambs for this wee beast of the east. Vigilance is the key word for good shepherding here in the land of grassy pastures and humidity. Breeding for worm resistance has been a goal here in Potosi. Adult ewes show good resistance and hopefully the lambs will follow suit. Contrary to what people think, you don't just turn sheep out and let them eat grass all summer. Shepherding is a time consuming labor of love.
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One of my summer regiments to help battle the beasts of the east is to add diatomatious earth to my redmond salt. I feed this free choice about 1/3 DE,2/3 salt.
Chuck just de-wormed all our flock this week for the first time this year. Most ewes he checked were 3 or 3+ with the exception of our 3 old girls. All the lambs he checked had good color. We've selected for resistance for several years, and have found that using FAMACHA scoring has really aided in finding those ewes that gave us the most trouble. Its really true - most of the worm load is in a very few sheep. And you are right - the tiny worm is our worst predator BY FAR.
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