Sheep on the Farm

I've raised Icelandic Sheep for about 4 years now. They are such a joy... each one with it's own personality, it's own "voice." I moved them to a new pasture today. It's always fun to see their enthusiasm over new grass. It's funny to watch when a couple of them have figured out that a new gate is open and then they are spotted by the others. They cry out as if to say, "Hey how did you get over there?! That's not fair!"

It's been a tough week for one of the moms, Hershey. She stopped eating last week and spent most of the day in the shelter away from everyone including her lambs. Certainly not a good sign. My first check didn't lead me to anything other than a hoof that needed to be trimmed (I couldn't reach it when she was pregnant) and a need for deworming. I gave her a vitamin boost, but the next day there was no improvement. I decided it had to be more than parasites, so I gave her an antibiotic. A day or so later, with no improvement, I discovered one side of her utter was infected. She had mastitis. I had checked it a couple days ago, but didn't notice anything wrong. At this point, it was clearly the problem. It was severely swollen and hard.

So I moved her and her lambs up to the barn and gave them a small area to graze. She had already stopped allowing the babies to nurse, so I knew I'd have to supplement their diets as well. My "bible" for ewe and lamb care is Caring for Your Ewe by Laura Lawson. She suggested an antibiotic, an anti-imflammatory, some vitamin B and to milk her at least 3 times per day. She would also need some oxytocin to allow her milk to let down. When I milked her, I discovered that she had blood in her milk. In fact, it really didn't even resemble milk, just watery blood.

After 24 hours of treatment, there wasn't any improvement, so I called the vet again and he suggested this antibiotic gel that is inserted into the teat. That didn't sound fun for me or Hershey. But surprisingly it was easier than I thought and she took it like a trooper. I think she knew I was there to help. She had been very easy to handle during all this which isn't necessarily like her.

Today I had to administer a 2nd dose of the internal antibiotic gel. She was a little less excited about coming in for her treatment and a little less cooperative during the procedure, and I took that as a good sign that she was getting her spunk back. She also seemed to be outside eating a lot more today ... another good sign. Tomorrow I give her the 2nd and final dose of injectable antibiotic. Hopefully the swelling will start to go down.