One of the challenges of operating entirely on leased land at this time of year is that we don't currently lease any property that is set up specifically for sheep, nor do we have any long-term leases that would make it feasible to put up sheep facilities. Consequently, we're always adapting or making do with less-than-perfect circumstances.
Tonight's forecast is for rain and wind (up to 30 mph), with showers and even stronger winds tomorrow. I'm off to the ranch to check on the ewes and then to try to come up with some way to shelter all of the sheep over the next several days.
In the future, we may decide to lamb later in the year to minimize the likelihood of weather related problems. For now, we're adjusting on the fly.
More updates tonight!
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Rough day today. We're continuing to lose lambs. Tomorrow, I'll take a lamb to the veterinary diagnostic lab at UC Davis so we can figure out what's going on. There are two organisms that we suspect, so today, we treated all of the ewes with antibiotics with the hope that we can get ahead of the weak lambs. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteWe are as prepared for the wet and windy weather as we can be. Thompson Ranch has been very gracious - tonight we have access to a double horse stall (for the ewes with lambs) and a somewhat sheltered paddock. It means we're having to feed hay - I'll head back to the ranch shortly and get that done. It also means that I may be staying the night at the ranch to move any new lambs into shelter.
I've realized tonight that I feel a little bit better just for having done something (treating the ewes). I hope it helps!
ReplyDeleteI don't expect a response now because you have plenty of other things to be doing but I'll be interested in talking to you about your findings later on when it's all over.
ReplyDeleteAt 10:30 p.m., one new (and very large) lamb. No rain or wind yet, although it looks to be coming our way.
ReplyDeleteThe rain has started - when I awoke at 1:30 a.m. to check the ewes, I heard rain drops. Not much wind yet, thankfully. No new lambs.
ReplyDelete