Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Educator, Athens County
July and August are critical months to control the internal parasite, Haemonchus contortus in pasture based sheep and goat production. Often producers may find that lambs and kids seem to “stand still” during the summer, with little or no weight gain. There can be several reasons for this situation. Continue reading Summer Parasite Management
Bob Hendershot, State Grassland Conservationist
What is lambing like, for your sheep flock, hours per lamb or lambs per hour? The shepherd’s labor and the size of the lambing barn are the two things that limit the size of most Ohio sheep flocks. Pasture-lambing avoids both of these concerns.
Pasture-lambing is the lambing of ewes on pasture where the ewes and newborn lambs bond without being penned or housed. Pasture-lambing works the best in concert with the peak pasture growth. Spring and fall pasture growth can provide the quantity and quality of feed that the ewe will need during the last part of gestation and early lactation. This greatly reduces the feed cost compared Continue reading Pasture Lambing
Roger High, OSU State Sheep Extension Associate
As many producers near the end of lactation, it is time to remind ourselves about an appropriate pre-weaning and weaning plan to prevent loss of udders due to poor weaning management. The current SID book has these weaning recommendations: Continue reading Weaning Time for the Ewe Flock
Dr. Jeff McCutcheon, OSU Extension Educator, Knox County
After the dry growing season last year many sheep producers are asking what they could do to improve pasture yields. Other than improving soil fertility there is one thing you can do during the month of May that will improve yields. In fact most experienced graziers I know get pretty fanatical about this task. The task is simple; remove Continue reading One Activity in May that can Improve Your Pasture Yield
Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Educator, Athens County
Raising sheep within a pasture based production system presents the manager with two challenges; internal parasite control and summer slump production of cool season pastures. The use of a warm season annual like sudangrass may offer the pasture based sheep producer a parasite control option while at the same time filling in the forage production slump demonstrated by cool season pastures during the hot summer months. In this article, I’ll draw on some of the results and lessons learned using sudangrass during the summer of 2007 on the Curt Cline farm in Athens County. Continue reading Sudangrass, Could it Work for You?
Jeff Pelc, Wildlife Biologist USDA/APHIS, Wildlife Services
Tim Fine, Extension Program Assistant, Miami County
Black Vultures have become a serious sheep pest in certain areas of Ohio. This article will focus on the procedures necessary to report a predation loss by black vultures to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) for reimbursement under the indemnity program. In the next sheep team newsletter, we will take a look at options for black vulture control.
There are certain procedural steps that must be followed Continue reading Black Vulture Control: Part 1: The Indemnity Process
Becky Talley, Sheep Industry News Associate Editor
In February of last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) officially announced the discovery of a Nor98-like scrapie case in a ewe from a flock in Wyoming. This was the first case of scrapie consistent with Nor98 discovered in the United States.
Since then, four more cases have been discovered that originated from flocks in Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota and California. These cases are not related to either the first one in Wyoming or to each other.
This scrapie type was first found in Norway in 1998 Continue reading Nor-98 Like Scrapie Found in the United States
Don Van Nostran, Mid-States Wool Growers
Wool is wool is wool. Unfortunately, this is the feeling of many sheep producers when they look at this secondary product produced by the sheep. However, not all wool is the same and a producer has a big effect on the value of their wool clip just by their management practices. Continue reading Why Wool Prices Differ