Oops! There's another one!

One of Excalibur Farms' ewes having a lamb, the second of twins. She thought she was done lambing and was settling her first lamb down for a nap when the contractions started again.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• sheep
• birth
• lamb
• ewe

[excaliburfarms]

The Polypay is NOT a "genetically modified" sheep. The breed came from Finn, Dorset, Ramboullet, and Targhee bloodstock. All breeding was natural. In 30 years during which our flock has been as large as 600 ewes, we have not had unusual hoof growth or health problems. We have never seen a case of diabetes. We have had less trouble with internal parasites than our neighbors with purebred Suffolks and Dorsets. Our ewes are on grass except during lambing (done in barn due to predators).

[excaliburfarms]

We don't have much foot trouble and haven't had to do foot baths for years. We treat foot conditions from the inside out--feed and some internal medication depending on what the foot looks like.

We use a creep with a custom mix of corn, cottonseed, soybean, molasses, Bovatec, etc.

[excaliburfarms]

We used to "scan" (ultrasound) to predict births, but between the reliability of the machine, the effort required to get a good scan, and the number of ewes we have to scan, it's just easier to take care of them properly and take what they give. Sheep are generous creatures.

[excaliburfarms]

We do NOT feed silage to our sheep and specifically recommend against it. Also, we do not use "baleage" (wrapped hay). Too easy for them to get listeria and other problems. Silage is fine for cows but risky for sheep. One farm we know lost over a dozen in one day on baleage.

A very fat ewe can have trouble lambing. She might never "settle" to begin with.

[excaliburfarms]

From Excalibur Farms: I'll try to answer some comments and questions here.

This ewe is a Polypay and "multiple births" are the norm for Polypay. We even had quintuplets once. We don't mind if the young ones have a single first time, however, as they are just learning. This particular ewe is a youngster, just over a year old, and doing OJT in this video. That's why she was surprised by the second one. It's not like you can send the ewes to birthing classes and lecture them.

[navaar70]

Any problems with the neighborhood dogs attacking your sheep?

[chingaderas007]

muy exitante

[derrylad23]

The study found that these particular GM sheep required more attention than non-GM sheep. Excess growth hormone can cause the GM sheep's hooves to overgrow and so require regular clipping. GM sheep were also leaner, which can result in health problems, and some were susceptible to diabetes. Despite this, their overall mortality rate appears to vary little from normal farm sheep.

An unforeseen finding was that GM sheep indicated a lower tolerance to parasites than control sheep.

[derrylad23]

The Polypay sheep breed is a white, medium sized sheep which was developed in the 1960s at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois, Idaho.

[derrylad23]

Ugh keep your GM modified sheep!What % born with 6 legs? no arse holes? over shot/under shot mouths?how many live beyond 8yrs? I believe in evolution but not in the lab hi? sheep are meant 2 graze lush green pastures in the spring and climb mountain cliffs&crags for the best clover! Eating hay in a plastic crate allday is just animal cruelty!when hav ur sheep ever been 'eyed' by a working dog?i bet u hav names for them aswel as the DNA pool number!?Let evolution be, ur breed will die out with u!

[derrylad23]

Well il b!! how many sheep do u have? 10?

iv asthama so il nevr b makin hay, 2 easy 2 loose a field with the irish weather, it takes me 2o mins 2 feeed 300 ewes with a diet feeder, silage,nuts,treacle mix! il mail ye my weight docket for my first 100 lambs 95% top grades