Year Round Flock Health Shepherds Calendar

Posted by Dr. Sara Barber on June 26 2009 09:37

The following program is based on lambing ewes in January and February; replacement ewe lambs in April. Allowing ewes to run on pasture and feeding out lambs in dry lot.

January:

1. Spend time with lambs and make sure they nurse.
   • Colostrum or first milk is vital for survival
   • Colostrix can be used if colostrum not available
2. Vaccinate lambs for sore mouth if you have an immune herd, inject L-Se plus with tetanus, and identify lambs and ewes.
3. Observe lambs for scours or pneumonia. (Ventilation is critical to proper health)
4. Observe ewes for mastitis
5. Booster lambs with L-SE plus with tetanus at 3 weeks of age or at time of castration and docking
6. Start lambs on creep containing Vit E, Se and Bovatec at 90 grams per ton

February:

1. Continue lambing and following January’s guidelines.
2. Vaccinate lambs with overeating & pneumonia at 5 weeks ofage.

March:

1. Booster Overeating & Pneumonia at 8 to 10 weeks of age.
2. Vaccinate ewe lambs with Ewe-P Bac.
3. Feed 15-30 mg/hd/day of rumensin to ewe lambs.

April:

1. Follow same procedure to lamb out ewe lambs.
2. Cull bad bags and poor producers.

May:

1. Worm ewes before turning out to pasture.
2. Use wormer effective against tapeworm.

June:

1. Shear lambs and ewes if neededView Image
2. Reduce feed on replacement ewe lambs and separate.
3. Worm replacement ewe lambs.
4. Enjoy a profitable year.
5. Plan and prepare for next year.

July:

1. Secure breeding rams, trim feet, and evaluate health and breeding soundness of rams
2. Flush ewes by switching pastures or feeding grain. Can feed up to 1# of grain/head/day.

August:

1. Vaccinate ewes with Enzootic Abortion/ Vibrio bacterin.
2. Add teaser rams two weeks prior to turning out rams.
3. Turn out rams.
   • Yearling rams to 60 ewes
   • Older or ram lambs to 25 ewes
4. Treat ewes for external parasites with Spotton or Expar

September

1. Observe sheep closely and be concerned about ram health

October:

1. Remove rams from ewes and worm rams.
2. Feed ewes salt mixture with Vitamin E & Se.

November:

1. Worm ewes with Levasole or Panacur.
2. Vaccinate ewe lambs with Enzootic Abortion/Vibrio vaccine
3. Turn rams with ewe lambs
4. Put clean-up rams with ewe flocks
5. Start feeding 1# of grain/day containing 15-30 mg/hd of remensin for toxoplasma control or 200mg of Aureomycin for Vibrio control

December:

1. 6 and 2 weeks prior to lambing give Ewe P Bac
2. Shear ewes
3. Pull rams from ewe lambs after 5-6 weeks of exposure
4. Prepare for lambing
5. Feed Vit E & Selenium to ewes