Sheep Care: Offer you lambs free
choice grower food until the lambs are 3 months old then Feed lambs 1 handful of
Grower lamb food twice a day until 5-6 months of age. I use Mana Pro or Purinia.
---Sheep should always have fresh water, a loose Sheep salt mineral free choice,
and a young cut non moldy hay or grass available to them.. Young cut Brome hay
is good for maintenance and if you can get it a legume hay like Clover or
Alfalfa is good to feed during lactation . -- IF you have good grass Sheep don’t
need any other supplemental hay or grain, just water and salt. Mineral --The
Babydoll sheep generally get too fat if fed grain all year .Sheep that get
too fat may never breed even if you eventually get them to loose weight, and if
they do breed when they are fat they will be susceptible to Pregnancy toxemia
and may abort and die. It is thus important that you periodically feel the sheep
for body condition and monitor their weight. You should be able to slightly rock
your hand over their spine if they are in good body condition. In the fall when
the grass dries up and you start feeding hay, be sure to monitor your sheep’s
body condition. Hay can have a 3 % to 17% protein content depending on when and
how it was cut . If you are feeding a poor quality hay, and the sheep start to
get too thin then you will have to add a sheep protein block Mana Pro) or a
small amount of grain. Use common sense when feeding , but be sure you don’t
allow them to get too fat. Sometimes on a really lush grass they can get too fat
just on grass and may need to be dry lotted part of the day. Lambs received a
Clostridium C&D & Tet at 2 weeks of age and again at weaning, then once yearly.
They get dewormed once a month .and receive a TSV-2 Vac at birth. Lambs should
be dewormed monthly through this first summer and then as needed which may be
every month to every 3 months depending on the size of your pasture and parasite
load on your grass. Some of the early born lambs may breed late their first
fall, and lamb at about 13 months of age. Most will lamb the following spring as
yearlings. If you plan to breed your sheep, I recommend that you Clost. CD&T
vaccinate them before lambing and also give them A Vit E and Selenium (BoSe) 2
mls SQ. Sheep should be shorn yearly in the spring, but hand shearing around the
face and rear end may need to be done more frequently. Some ewes will urinate
down the wool or their rear and get urine scald. Wash the area with detergent
and water, and trim back the wool . Put some vaseline or antibiotic ointment on
the scald for a couple days until it heals. If you wish to wash your lamb you
can use any regular dog shampoo or blue Dawn Dish detergent Hose water is fine,
soap and rinse and towel dry. I recommend that when you first get your lambs
that you put collars or halters on them and catch them up every day or two and
take a couple minutes to sit with them, pet them, scratch the sides of their
faces and shoulders. ( they like that!) You can also hold the food bowl while
they eat to get them to come when called, and you can teach them to walk on a
leash or halter. If your lamb grows a lot of wool on its face, tho this is cute
to some extent, the wool will eventually grow over their eyes and they become
wool blind. Take and cut the wool back on their face if this happens. You can
call Midstates Livestock Supplies in Hutchinson Ks and ask for their sheep
supply catalog. In it you will be able to order anything that you might need .
1800-835-9665 or In Kansas 316-663-5147 Supplies necessary for good sheep
husbandry: -Book: Raising Sheep The Modern Way or Sheep Industries
Book, and or Laura Lawsons books. -Hand shears to Trim faces and rears and
to use to do yearly shearing by hand if desired . Mid states will also resharpen
hand shears when get dull if you don’t know how. -Rope or buckle halters
-Vaccine ( for one or two sheep it would be cheaper to get from you local
Veterinarian) -Dewormer alternate with Panacur and Ivomec -Hoof trimmers, Though
flat rose pruners do just as well at a fraction of the cost.
Babydoll Southdown Miniature Sheep Husbandry
(Husbandry Is the Care and Management): I am going to
share my 40 years of experience in sheep management as it concerns the Babydoll Southdown. The Babydoll Southdown Miniature Sheep
is an old breed of sheep, actually one of the earliest breeds to reach
North America from England. In the 60’s as breeds modernized the original
Southdown became obsolete & was bred up to a taller leaner version that we
see in the show ring today. The original short and small Southdowns were
either bred up or forgotten until recently when a few small flocks of the
original type of Southdown were rediscovered and found to be a perfect
breed for a small family flock . Since the modern Southdown is so
different from the old original type , these old fashioned Southdowns
were renamed Babydoll Southdown to distinguish them
from the modern Southdown . The Babydoll Southdown
sheep retains its small size, exceptional muscling, cute expression, docile
temperament & flavorful carcass, as did the original Southdown in the early
1900’s. Body Condition: Probably the most important issue in sheep management as
it concerns health is body condition. The ewe that is either too thin or too fat
will be prone to serious and life threatening problems during gestation. Further
along in this article I will discuss evaluating body condition. The Babydoll
Southdown with its broad muzzle is a very efficient grazer, and thus a very
easy keeper. Babydoll sheep need only water, a good grass or a good
quality hay and a loose salt mineral for maintenance. In areas with a long
growing season your sheep may even become too fat on just grass, and will
require being dry lotted part of the day. Lambs should be dewormed monthly and
ewes as necessary , usually 4-6 times a year and especially at breeding, lambing
and weaning. If your grass is dried up by fall it is a good idea to flush the
ewes before breeding. Flushing the ewes a couple weeks before breeding
encourages higher rates of ovulation and conception of twins and triplets.
Flushing can be done in many ways such as deworming , offering a sheep protein
block , feeding a better quality hay or giving the ewes a small handful of grain
a day. Once they are bred they can go back on a maintenance diet until a few
weeks before parturition when again they will require an increase in Nutrition.
This you can do by either giving a good legume hay or 1/8th to 1/4 of a pound of
grain per sheep per day depending on the condition of the ewe.. There is a fine
technique to this, because if you feed to much you risk a difficult delivery
because the lambs will be too large, or the ewes too fat and ketotic, and if you
feed too little then the lambs may be small and weak or the ewe not have enough
milk. . To check body condition , stand next to the sheep and place your hand
palm down with your middle finger over the point of her spine mid way down her
back, and rock your hand from right to left over her spinous process. If your
hand can’t rock she is too fat. If you can feel the spine and yet can wobble
your hand from side to side she is in decent condition and if her spine feels
really knobby and your hand drops quite a bit off from the spine she is too
thin. Also feel her condition over her rib cage. You should be able to easily
feel her ribs and feel about 1/8 of an inch of fat covering them. After the ewe
lambs and depending on if she produces a single , twins or triplets, she will
need up to a pound of a 16% sheep grain mix divided and fed twice a day, along
with a good quality hay, water and free choice salt mineral At 10 days of age I
also set up a creep feeder for the lambs. Right before breeding or during
pregnancy is not the time to put her on a diet however so check her body
condition through the spring and summer so that you can get her in shape by
fall. Genetic Concerns : Though we are considering the Babydoll a
miniature sheep we want to be careful when breeding for smallness to retain good
muscling and sound structure . Breeding tiny, narrow, poorly muscled, unthrifty
scrawny sheep requiring c-sections is not breeding for the good of the breed. As
we select for higher percentages of twins we need to also select for good
mothering instincts and high milk production as well. The Southdown was
originally a meat breed and typically meat breeds aren’t terribly prolific nor
do they milk well. By selecting replacement lambs from Ewes who can twin and
feed their twins you can eventually increase the percentages of multiple births
among your flock. From what I have seen, there is some incidence of entropion in
the breed. Entropion is a genetic condition where the eye lids roll and irritate
the eyeball . It may be minor enough to cause only tearing or it can cause
blindness. There are a number of methods of correcting entropion , and it should
be corrected with in a few days of birth. Entropion is strongly passed on
genetically and so that lambs with entropion should not be saved back for use in
a breeding program. Another concern that I see is that many ewes urinate down
the muscle of their backsides causing urine burns on their skin. . I am not sure
what causes this, but I suspect this is due to a combination of heavy muscling,
and or size and tilt of the vulva . Due to the increased management concerns
people should select replacement ewes with reducing the incidence of this in
mind. There also appears to be a small incidence of a condition where lambs on
lush pasture spit up more rumen fluid than is normal when they burp up their
cud. You will see bright green liquid around the mouths of these lambs. Some
lambs evidently out grow this but I wouldn’t keep any lambs back for breeding
programs with this condition either. Wool blindness is a condition caused by
extreme wool growth on the face. The old Southdown breeders saw this as a
management problem and spent years working to breed this trait out . To have a
cute wooly faced lamb seems silly when over that ewes next 10 years a couple
times a year you will have to trim back the wool on her face so that she can
see. Cleaner faced lambs are just as cute and take less work to maintenance .
Those are the specific breed concerns, now for the every day sheep husbandry.
People say that sheep die easily. We’ll that’s not really true. Sheep are rather
stoic about showing their illness, it’s a flock survival skill. A good shepherd,
however, will notice a droop in an ear or a sheep not quick to get on its feet
and know something is wrong. Usually by the time a sheep is looking sick she is
very ill. When a ewe is close to parturition, she may show a variety of signs
that lambing is near. Some ewes are pretty sneaky about showing signs but most
will give some indication in advance. Some signs are : a pinking and translucent
puffiness of her vulva., carrying the lambs lower in the ewes abdomen , and
often the smiling corners of the ewes mouth level out as she approaches first
stage labor. If the lambs are in a normal presentation you need only watch the
process. The ewe should clean each lamb as it is born. Some poor mothering ewes
will nurture only one lamb and if this happens clean the amniotic fluid from the
nose and mouth of the lamb and once it is breathing place it in front of the ewe
. As soon as possible after the lambs are born dip their navel cords in Xenodine
or strong Iodine. I also give my lambs .1 cc BoSE and a TSV-2 intranasal vaccine
at this time as well. IF the lamb was slow to breath , born in a particularly
dirty area, or slow to stand I also give it a ½ cc of Pennicilliin. Strip each
of the ewes teats to make sure the teats are open and the ewe is producing milk.
The lambs should be on their feet with in 15 minutes and looking for dinner. If
the lamb is too weak to stand you must strip out some colostrum and intubate the
lamb with 20 cc’s of colostrum per pound of weight. Most singles weight around 8
-9lbs, Twins 6-7 lbs and triplets 5-6 lbs. Use a 60 cc catheter syring and a
size 14 french feeding tube that can be purchased from your Veterinarian or from
Midstates Sheep Supply company. It is critical that the lamb receive sufficient
colostrum with in 12 hours of birth. It’s also a good idea if a ewe has a single
to milk out the colostrum from one side of her udder and freeze it in and ice
cube tray , later putting it in a baggie for storage for emergencies. Ewes
should be dewormed 2-3 days after lambing. This helps insure that the nutrition
the ewe receives will go into milk production. Lambs should be docked and
castrated and given 500 units of Tetanus antitoxin at three days of age . I cut
the dead tails off below the band after 6 days and dip the stump in iodine Allow
the scrotums to fall off naturally. A creep feed and hay should be available to
the lambs by 10 days of age and it’s a good idea to give them a Clostridium C& D
and Tetanus Toxoid vaccine at 2 weeks of age and again at weaning. They should
be dewormed at weaning and monthly through the summer. I wean my Babydoll lambs
at 30 -50 days of age.
Diane Spisak , Sheepfields Akbash Dogs and Babydoll Southdowns, lives in
Wellsville Kansas and has been raising sheep since 1960 . Her husband and her
self own and operate The Wellsville Veterinary clinic.
Diane Spisak PO Box 146 Wellsville, KS 66092 (785) 883-4774 spisak@embarqmail.com