Queen, our merino sheep is an old girl and this year she lambed a twin.... twins are hard on a ewe at the best of times but this old girl seemed to be having a really bad time. We've been watching her and she really doesn't want to feed her lambs at all. However, she does let them suck every now and again just to keep her bag from hurting. The lambs are not thriving under these conditions. This week after Coal and Mishka finished dating in the solitary confinement pen, we put Queen and Zig and Zag in to the solitary confinement pen, that way she wouldn't have to fight with the others to get to the food. She seemed to be wasting away. Teapot got into the pen and trimmed her hooves which needed trimming and checked her bag for mastitis. All seemed well.... but it was as he was getting her on her feet that we discovered that there was more wrong than we were aware.
Teapot noticed that part of her wool was coming off in a flap..... this at the best of time is not good.
We had alway heard of a problem called Fly Strike. It is nasty and starts when a sheep gets a cut... the flies strike alright. They lay eggs in the cut and then when they hatch the maggots basically eat the sheep's flesh. It lifts the wool off the animal like a sheet and leaves a really raw patch underneath. The sheep languishes and will eventually die if not caught early enough.
Teapot got down to it and cleared away the wool and cleaned out the maggots the best he could and her poor flesh was terrible. We proceeded to shear the old girl and now she has a patch of raw bare flesh the size of a dinner plate.
I'm worried. I'm not sure the wool will grow back in that place..... which is a worry with -40 degrees of winter looming in the distance.It was after Teapot came in from cleaning up the mess of maggots on her haunch that I served him a plate of lamb and rice! I had no idea that he would look at supper and think about the mess he just cleaned. Need I say more?!
Jiggs ran away this week. It was about ten in the night. She took off after Teapot scolded her for scaring Queen and her lambs. She disappeared into the forrest with her leash trailing behind her. I spent 1 1/2 hours looking for her and calling her and no sign of her and dark falling I felt that hopefully she would come home on her own. She didn't disappoint. Woo hoo! She is starting to know that our home is her home. It was almost midnight when she arrived at the kitchen door and though she wouldn't come for Teapot she did come for me. Good girl.
It has been a busy week with the big j.c. progressing. The sleeves are finally done and I am starting to sew everything together. Shearing has also been a time consumer this week. We are almost finished the alpacas and will get them done today. There are still a few sheep to be done but they are being butchered in the fall so will not be requiring thick fleeces for the winter.... I'm not worried about how late it has gotten for those animals.
Dexter is the latest alpaca to receive his haircut. He looks very different. Here's before....
This is Dexter after the shearing.
Another week ahead of shearing and the big j.c. and the countdown to Level 4 is ticking off day by day.... I have received word of my official extension on level 3.... I have till the end of the summer to finish my work. But I still get to do the level 4 course. I will not be allowed to do that next year.... level 5 is a whole different ball park. I do have to come up with a thesis topic for this year. It has to be approved before I can stat and that has to be finished by the time level 6 rolls around. I have two in mind but am having a hard time choosing which one I want to do..... I wonder if they will let me do both.
So there you have it..... what's happening in your neck of the woods?
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