Happy Sheep

Q: How can you tell if a sheep is happy? 

Well they don't speak English and they don't smile, so how do you know? 

A: When a sheep is chewing its cud it is content.

Sheep are ruminants, meaning that their stomachs consist of four compartments. The rumen is the compartment where food that is quickly eaten is stored. Because the rumen contains microorganisms, it also is the reason that sheep are able to eat grass and silage that other animals are not able to digest. When a sheep is resting the food in the rumen is regurgitated, chewed again and then swallowed. This regurgitated food is known as cud. 

So if a sheep is chewing their cud this means that their stomach is working properly which equals a happy sheep. 

Bath Day

Our first show of the year, 4-H on Parade, is only a couple of days away. The sheep have been sheared but there still is a lot of work to do to make them show ready. The next step in terms of grooming them is washing. Sure you wash your own hair and maybe your dog, but wash sheep? Yes, it does sound kind of weird and unnecessary but a clean sheep really stands out in the show ring. 
We like to wash our sheep twice before a show, weather permitting. Once about a week before and the day/night before show day. We have been very busy lately and only got our first round of washing done tonight. It was quick and easy because the sheep have a fairly short fleece, but it was a little cold without the sun shining.
You would think that with the rain we have had in the last few days the sheep would be a little cleaner from being washed by mother nature when they leave the barn, but the weather right now is less than ideal. 
Here are the steps for washing a lamb for show. 

Prep: A cold shower or bath is never as good as a warm one. Taking this into consideration we always like to wash our lambs with warm water. Since we do not have access to warm water outside we run a hose from the house to get warm water. We clean off the patio to wash on and bring the sheep in pairs up to be washed. We dust any hay or debris off and trim off any large clumps of dirt or manure.

Rinsing off my lamb.

Rinsing: The sheep is rinsed with warm water.With animals who have short fleeces, the initial rinse usually makes them turn pretty white, but the wool needs to be wet in order to make lather with the soap.

The soapy area is very noticeable.

Soap: We have always used Ivory dish soap because it makes the wool very white and it is colorless so there is no risk of dying the wool the color of the soap.  We also use scrub brushes to work the soap into the wool. Caution has to be taken when washing around the face to make sure we don't get any soap in their eyes. The whole bathing experience is good for the lambs. They calm down and get used to being touched. 

Rinsing out the soap.

Rinsing: It is very important to wash out all of the soap you put on the sheep. If any soap is left in, their skin will dry out and become irritated and your sheep will become very itchy. When rinsing you have to be careful to avoid the getting water in your lambs ears, it makes them uncomfortable and they will shake their head trying to get it out.

Tilting back my lambs head so she doesn't get
any soap or water in her eyes.

Hampshires, my breed of choice, are notorious for having wool everywhere. Washing their faces can be very interesting.




Blow Drying: To finish the look we use a blower to dry. This device blows air at fast speeds and is good for getting rid of any dirty water clinging to the wool that could leave a yellowish tinge. When using the blower you do not directly point it at the wool, your goal is to blow water off of the wool and this requires the nozzle to be angled. On days like today where it is cooler it is nice to be able to dry the lambs off, so they don`t catch a cold from being soaking wet. 




On Thursday we will be doing our second wash and Friday morning the lambs will make their way into Calgary for the show. I hope by then the sun is shining!

Calgary Stampede Art Scholarship Win

I have always loved to draw and my favorite subjects are right outside my front door- my animals.
Since I was 12 I have entered the Calgary Stampede Creative and Crafts Competition with my drawings and this year, being my Grade 12 year, I was able to enter my artwork in the Scholarship Division. My art had to be completed and delivered to Calgary by March 11th, which seems early since Stampede doesn't start until July 8, for judging. I didn't realize that the deadline would be that early and I realized it only 4 days before the deadline. This meant that I didn't have much time to work on my entry. Luckily I found a picture that I had started but not finished in my sketchbook.

My pen and ink drawing a work in progress. I used a picture I took of one of my cows, Dot, as my reference.




My picture was finished, framed and delivered and what seemed like not long after my friend (who had also entered) got a  letter in the mail saying that she'd got an Honorable Mention. That night I just had to check the mail to see if I had received a letter too. I was honestly surprised when I read the first line that said "Congratulations, you have won first place and a prize of $2,000". The competition is divided between urban and rural schools. My school is grades K-12 with only 200 students in a very small town- the definition of rural. I was very happy to win first in the rural division with my artwork, something that I have worked hard at for a long time to improve on.

The finished product.

Now my artwork will be displayed throughout Stampede as part of the Western Showcase in the BMO Center. This is one of the hidden gems of the Stampede. The Western Showcase features the artwork of many established artists, entertainment, a western photo gallery and the entries in the Creative Arts and Crafts Competition. All of the artwork depicts the western theme from some very talented local people. For more information check out the Western Showcase Website and make sure to take a look if you attend this year's Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth: The Calgary Stampede.

Lamb Pictures

Taken January 2011 of some of our baby lambs playing.

Letter Delivery

For the past nine years I have had to write letters, which are becoming obsolete in a world of technology and e-mail. These letters have directly resulted in a successful end to each 4-H year.

4-H on Parade and our 4-H Achievement Day are soon approaching. At these events we show and sell our 4-H market lambs that we have been raising since March. But in order for our market lambs to sell we need one important thing- BUYERS.
The sales are advertised in the local papers and we make posters to put up around town telling the public the date, time and location of the event. We have found out that personally delivering letters that tell about our   4-H club, the Achievement Day and the process of purchasing a lamb is the most effective way to bring buyers to the sale. Local businesses are the places that we take the letters to because they are always eager to support youth in the area involved in 4-H.

Waiting to sell my lamb at pen of three market lambs at 4-H on Parade.

Our market lambs are auctioned off (yes that means we have an actual auctioneer who rattles off prices really fast and people bid against each other to buy a lamb with the highest bidder winning), so the more buyers the better. We have found that if there are lots of people in the audience who are wanting to buy a lamb the higher the prices are. Buyers are also willing to pay more than actual market price for 4-H lambs, this is because they are buying the animal to support the 4-H member. From a members perspective higher prices for our lambs is a very good thing. There are many reasons to join 4-H and making good money from selling your lamb is one of those reasons. I have always put the money made from selling my lambs in my bank account to be used for when I go off to University.

If a buyer makes a successful bid and purchases the lamb, they have a few options of what to do with it.

In the sale ring at our club achievement day.

• Have the lamb processed. The lambs sold are called 'market' lambs for a reason, they are all the appropriate size/weight to be taken to a meat processor to be slaughtered. The buyer has to pay to have the lamb processed and then picks up the meat to take home.

• Re-sell the lamb. After Achievement Day is over the lambs whose buyers have chosen to send them for re-sale are taken on a trailer to an auction mart. Here the lambs are sold again and the buyer who purchased them at the 4-H sale would make a profit from selling their lamb for market price at the auction mart.

Take the lamb home. Many of the market lambs are ewes (female), so they can be purchased by someone who breeds sheep to add to their herd. Sometimes members end up getting pretty attached to their projects and persuade their parents to buy their lamb back. We have bought 2 of my ewe lambs back because we liked the way they turned out and my mom's boss bought one of my ewes and asked us to take her home to live as part of our herd. Sometimes even the market lambs that are wethers (a castrated male lamb who is pretty much useless besides as a pet or a lawnmower) are bought to be taken home by their buyer.

Hopefully all of the businesses we took letters to today will come to our show and sale to support the members of 4-H in our district.
Have a great May long weekend!

Summer Haircuts

Most people are eager to get a new shorter haircut for summer and our sheep are feeling the same way. This past Sunday we had our 4-H animals sheared. We do not shear our sheep ourselves because it can be a long and painful process if you do not use the proper technique or are not used to shearing often; it is a back breaker. Once a year we have our sheep sheared around May, shearing at this time means that their fleece will be the appropriate length for showing and it is not too long by the time lambing comes. 

Sheep Clippers

The morning before shearing the sheep are not given food or water. If sheared on a full stomach they can easily become uneasy and are more likely to kick and move around. This is dangerous as the electric clippers have very sharp blades that can cut skin and one wrong movement could mean getting an unnecessary cut. If this precaution is taken and you have a good shearer your animals should not sustain any major injury. Clippers are much more efficient than the traditional hand shears, but they also take special skills to use because they have fast moving sharp blades. Compared to hand shears the electric clippers are able to shear closer to the skin. Wet sheep also cannot be sheared, so if it looks like there is going to be any sort of precipitation they should be put somewhere where they can stay dry.

A lamb before shearing with very woolly legs and face:
a shearer's nightmare.

 Before the shearer arrives we halter all some animals and tie them up so we can quickly bring them to the shearer as we do not have a very efficient set-up in terms of fences and we only have 50 animals to be sheared. The remaining animals that are not haltered are placed in a small holding pen so they can be easily caught. 

We set down a piece of plywood for the shearing to take place on and gather bags and a broom to collect the wool with. 

Shearers have a specific technique to make their job as quick and easy as possible. Professionals can shear a sheep in under a minute. One record is 839 lambs in 9 hours. The 'Tally Hi' method is used by most shearers and originated in Australia. Using this method a shearer does not require the sheep to be tied up in any way but instead they use their arms and legs to hold and move the sheep in order to shear their whole body. Skillful shearers know how to make the process as comfortable as possible for the sheep with little stress. However it is not a good idea to shear ewes who are very close to lambing.

Here are some snapshots of our sheep being sheared.

Reasons for Shearing Sheep

• makes them more comfortable in summer. After shearing they can lose a few pounds of wool and it's easier for them to stay cool.
• a long fleece can easily become dirty and collect tags(manure) which is a breeding ground for parasites. During lambing the fleece can also collect blood and fluid from the placenta making it dirty.
• when lambing season is about to start it is nice to have a good view of the ewe's  udder and back end to see how much milk she is, how close she is to lambing and if there are any feet coming!
• lambs are able to obtain more heat from laying beside their mother if she has a shorter fleece. 
• vaccinating and treatment involving needles is easier because you don't have to push through a forest of wool to find skin to inject under.

Overall shearing is essential to the well-being of sheep (unless you have hair sheep which naturally shed). 

Our sheep are a meat breed and there wool is not especially valuable so we use it around the farm for things like insulation in our dog house. 

Even the best shearers make the occasional cut. We spray the cuts with Blu-Kote which is used on surface wounds, cuts, galls, hoof, foot and pad sores, chafes, abrasions, moist lesions and itchy fungal eczema. It protects against fungus and bacteria and helps the wounds heal. Some of the lambs now sport purple spots and they will for awhile since the spray doesn't come off easily.

Before Sheared Shots

Today we had our 4-H lambs sheared. Here are their before sheared pictures. Check back tomorrow to see their post make-over looks and more information on shearing.

Pen of Three Market Lamb

Ewe Lamb

Market Lamb

Ewe Lamb

Yearling Ewe

Ewe Lamb

Great Agriculture Blogs

What got me started making my blog was the marketing competition for a summer livestock show called Summer Synergy(I will definitely continue to post to even after the competition is over). The marketing competition was to create a blog where you told agricultures story from your perspective to inform the public about what life is like inside the industry. Check out the Summer Synergy Website to learn more about the event and if you want to read some other great agricultural blogs check out the List of Blogs in the Senior Marketing Competition to learn more about the world of agriculture. I know they are my competition, but I think it is important to support all youth in the industry and hear their story about how the animals they raise feed families.
Youth in Agriculture Today, Producers of Tomorrow

TGIF

Thank God its Friday. The weeks are going by very quickly as graduation gets closer. I have received early admission to both the University of Calgary for Natural Sciences and the University of Alberta for Animal Biology. Right now I am leaning towards choosing to go to university in Edmonton because I was accepted to my first choice program and I want to move a little further away from home than Calgary so I can become independent. I am working very hard to keep my marks up in a tough semester filled with Physics, Chemistry, English and Calculus and I have the intention of retaking my Social and Biology diplomas which means in June I will have my work cut out for me. My future goal is to have a career where I am working with animals. My ultimate job would  be a veterinarian specializing in large animals or be involved in research work . 
Short Term Goals: survive these last few weeks before graduation and ace my diplomas
Long Term Goals: find a career where I am working with animals and making enough money so I can travel

Lamb Workout

Our market lambs are growing well, maybe a little too well. Some are starting to look a little overweight and we still have over two weeks before our first show. Ideally a market lamb has a little bit of fat covering but muscle is one of the most important things that judges look for. To give our lambs more muscle we expanded their pen so that they have more room to run and walk around to lose some their excess fat and put on some much needed muscle. They now also have a little bit of grass to chew on which is like candy for lambs who have never tasted it before. Our lambs were very excited about their new pen and I got some pretty funny pictures of them playing.

Suiting Up

Yesterday 4-H members from across Alberta suited up to clean Alberta's highway ditches. This was the first year that my club participated in the Highway Clean-up Program. We picked up garbage along the 840 highway that runs through Standard where our club is based out of.
An important part of 4-H is community service and volunteering. Our club did receive payment based on the distance of highway cleaned, but it was still an act of service to our community. As we drove around that day you could notice a difference in the areas that had been cleaned and the areas that weren't cleaned. Highway Clean-up is a way to give back to the community that generously supports our 4-H club by providing facilities for events, supporting our fundraisers, sponsoring awards and purchasing our market animals at achievement day. It also lets us help the environment by picking up trash and collecting cans and bottles for recycling. Overall it was a great way to say thank-you to the community and the earth that provides us food and water for ourselves and our livestock.

Ten Things You Didn't Know About Sheep

1. On average sheep live for eight years but the oldest recorded sheep was twenty-three.


2. A sheep's teeth change as they age and they don't have any teeth in their upper gum.


3. Sheep are commonly  thought of as stupid but they rank equally with cattle and under pigs in terms of intelligence.


4. Sheep see color.


5. Sheep have poor depth perception, they don't like drinking water out of a black container because they can't tell how deep it is and they don't like being housed in a dark building.


6. Sheep are not designed to roll over if they somehow get stuck on their backs, if they stay like this for too long they will die.


7. Sheep were one of man's first domesticated companions and since 10 000BC we have relied on them for wool, milk and meat. 


8. Their global population is predicted to be twenty-four million.


9. All sheep are born with long tails but majority of them have their tails docked so they are shorter.


10. A sheep's stomach has four compartments, compared to a human's that only has one. 

The Road To The Show

This is my ninth year as a member of 4-H doing sheep projects. The 4-H program was really was what got me interested in showing my sheep because it was my favorite part of my 4-H year. The 4-H year for our club starts in September but for most members they do not actually get their lambs until May. Lambs used for the market projects are born from December-February and should be about 50 lbs. when the members go to pick them out in March (most kids in our club do not have a flock of their own so they buy them from someone that does). At the end of March our club meets and weighs, tags, deworms and vaccinates the lambs registered in the 4-H program. This is where the market lambs start their road to the show.

Riding in Style- For our lambs it is their first time away from home. Our lambs are transported by trailer to another 4-H families farm. We fill the trailer with lots of straw to keep the sheep clean and offer them some bedding. Most sheep will lay down for the trailer ride as it can get a little bumpy. Sheep don't mind riding in a trailer as long as they aren't too crowded and have some kind of bedding to lay in.

Tagging- Lambs are tagged for identification purposes. Their numbers are recorded along with their weight and which member they belong to. Members record their tag number in their record books and it is used on show and sale day so that anyone is able to identify the lamb. 

Deworming- The dose of dewormer is administered using a special type of gun that allows it to be ingested orally. The dose is determined my the weight of the animal (this is another time when weight comes in handy). This protects the sheep from internal parasites like roundworms and lungworms as well as nasal bots.

Vaccinating- Lambs will receive their first shot of vaccine. The vaccine is live meaning that is contains a weakened strain of a virus so that the lamb will build a natural immunity to it by creating antibodies to fight it. The vaccine is injected subcutaneously or under the skin on the area shown in the picture where the skin is loose enough to inject under. The vaccine we use on lambs is an '8 way' and it protects against 7-way blackleg and tetanus.

Weighing- Our club owns its own electric scale for weighing lambs. The electric monitor displays the weight without having to read a moving needle type scale. It was more expensive but it was a good investment because of the time it saves when reading weights. The initial weight of the lambs is important to know because one of the awards we give out is the best rate of gain.
Rate of Gain = the number of pounds gained / the number of days

A good lamb will gain over a pound/day and that is something we want all  of our lambs to have.

After a long day the lambs are always happy to be home again.

Sheep Speak

To make it easier to understand my posts I thought it would be a good idea to make a glossary of sheep and agriculture related terms. Hopefully I include all the important terms, but if there is something you don't understand post a comment and I will answer to the best of my ability!
A
Abomasum- fourth stomach compartment in sheep where they digest their food
Abortion- loss of lambs before the end of pregnacy
AI- Artificial Insemination is a process whereby semen is placed within a female's uterus artificially
B
Banding- the method of using a rubber band to dock tails and castrate lambs
Bloat- accumulation of gas in the rumen (stomach compartment) that can usually be diagnosed by observing an enlarged left side
Breech- when a lamb is positioned backwards during birth
Burdizzo - castration method that uses a large clamp to crush the blood vessels leading into the testicles
C
Card- a brush containing bent metal teeth used when grooming and preparing wool for spinning by pulling the crimp(waves) out of the wool so the fibers are aligned
Castrate- to remove or inhibit the effectiveness of the testicles of male sheep
Colostrum- the initial milk made by the ewe after lambing that contains antibodies that are essential for newborn lambs 
Crimp- the natural wave of wool
Culling- a process that involves selecting animals to be removed from the breeding program and sold based on age, health and production factors
Creep Feeding- a system that allows lambs access to a ration of feed separate from the rest of the herd
Cross Breeding- different breeds of sheep being bred to each other
Crutching- the shearing of wool around the tail and rear of a ewe, usually done before lambing for cleanliness and viewing purposes
Cud- regurgitated food that is chewed again by the sheep
D
Dam- mother
Dock- to shorten the length of the tail for cleanliness reasons, to prevent parasites, make shearing easier and for easier viewing of a ewes udder
Dressing Percentage- the percentage of a live lamb that ends up as a carcass
Dystocia- difficulty when lambing
E
Elastrator- device used to apply rubber bands for castrating and tail docking
Estrus- aka heat, when the ewe is fertile
Ewe- female sheep
F
Fleece- wool from a sheep
Forage-edible plant material that is used to feed animals
G
Genotype- genetic make-up of an individual sheep
Gestation- length of pregnancy
H
Heterosis- aka hybrid vigor, a noticeable difference in performance in crossbreds over purebreds
Heritability- the degree to which traits are passed from parents to offspring
I
Immunity- resistance to disease
Inbreeding- the breeding of closely related animals
Intramuscular- into the muscle
Intravenous-  into the vein 
J
Jug- a pen into which a ewe and newborn lambs are put in
K
Ked- an external bloodsucking parasite
L
Lactation- when a ewe is producing milk to feed her lambs
Lamb- a young sheep under a year old
Lanolin- natural oil produced by sheep
Live Vaccine- a vaccine that contains parts a weakened form of the virus is used to build an immunity without causing full blown symptoms
M
Mastitis- inflammation of the mammary gland
Mutton- meat from an aged sheep
N
O
Omasum- third compartment of the sheep stomach
Ovine- pertaining to or being a sheep
P
Pasture- vegetation covered fenced area where sheep graze
Parturition- giving birth
Pedigree- family history of a purebred animal
Phenotype- the visible traits that an animals possesses
Polled- hornless
Purebred- of only one breed
Q
R
Ram- uncasterated male sheep
Reticulum- second compartment of the sheep stomach
Rumen- first compartment of the sheep stomach
Ruminant- an animal with a stomach that has multiple compartments like sheep and cattle
S
Shear- clipping wool from a sheep
Sire- father
Stillborn- A lamb born dead
Subcutaneous- under the skin
T
Teaser- a male sheep that cannot reproduce but is used to determine when ewes are in heat
U
Udder- contains and releases milk 
V
Vaccination- an injection given to animals to build immunity to disease
W
Weaning- when lambs are separated from their mother when they are big enough
Wether- a castrated male sheep
X
Y
Yearling- an animal that is between one and two years of age
Z