July 16, 2020 • 38 mins
New episode all about show lamb care! Everything you need to know before you show! This episode is also available on our YouTube Channel NMSU Grant County Cooperative Extension Service. Informational, instructional, how-to about show lamb care. Topics covered: feeding, training, daily care, disease/illness, biosecurity, record keeping and much more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
[inaudible] welcome to the extension connection
podcast.
The Grant County CooperativeExtension service is here to
help connect you with researchbased information about economic
development, energy and water,farm, and ranch, yard, and
garden, natural resources,health, and wellbeing, and our
very popular youth developmentprogram, 4H.
(00:30):
I'm your host, Jessica Swapp,the 4H and Agriculture Agent
here in Grant County, NewMexico.
We are part of New Mexico StateUniversity's college of
Agricultural Consumer andEnvironmental Science, and we
are here to serve you.
So let's get started.
[inaudible]
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We're back again, to talk about show lambs.
Um, the last presentation thatwe did, we talked about show
pigs.
So if you have some show lambsout there, and you're just not
quite sure what to do thispresentation is for you.
We need to keep in mind is kindof some different types of
things that we're going to becovering.
We're going to be talking aboutfeeding, training, some daily
(01:13):
care, diseases and someillnesses biosecurity, and also
some recordkeeping.
So when we're going to feedthese show animals, um, we
really need to have a plan inmind.
So just like with the pigs andeverything else, there's really
a plan that needs to be inplace.
The first thing is, is goingahead and picking out a brand
(01:34):
that you're going to be feedingand then having consistency with
that brand consistency and thetime that you're feeding, having
a good feeding area.
Um, we're gonna talk a littlebit about what's called hand
feeding or separate, you know,feeding them separately and then
how much they should be eatingsome feeding equipment and care
(01:54):
worming and some water, somethings that are different about
sheep than some of the otheranimals is that they have a four
compartment stomach.
So it's a little bit differentin terms of feeding a sheep.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about brand selection.
Um, there's many differentbrands out there, but some
things to keep in mind is yourbudget.
First of all, um, what you canafford to feed consistently
(02:18):
throughout the entire feedingperiod.
Um, another thing to keep inmind is access to that brand.
So whatever brand you choose,just make sure that it's
available and that you caneasily access that, that feed so
that you're always feeding freshfeed.
Once a brand is selected, you'regoing to need to stick to it
(02:39):
unless you have to, or you needto switch.
If you're going to switch feeds,you're going to want to blend in
new feed with the old to slowlytransition.
You don't want to ever justabruptly change feeds.
That's a a cause for somesickness issues that you just
don't want to have to deal with.
Some of nutritional requirementsthat lambs have to have a,
(03:02):
you're going to have to have abase feed with some protein,
fat, and fiber.
You're going to need to havesource of roughage, such as,
Hay.
Usually I say you can free feedgrass hay pretty much all year,
and just hand, just a handful ofalfalfa.
Once you start to move intoseparating those lambs, just a
(03:23):
handful of alfalfa, maybe once aday, you have to be careful with
alfalfa cause it can causebloat.
Um, another thing is water.
Everyone overlooks water as oneof the most important
nutritional requirements thatshow animals need, but good,
clean, fresh, cool water isabsolutely essential.
We're going to talk a little bitabout the feeding time
(03:45):
consistency.
So just like people, animals aremade the same.
Um, they get hungry at certaintimes of the day, so you're
gonna want to feed at the sametime every day, as much as you
possibly can.
Um, usually twice a day ispreferable and lambs are gonna
eat best during the coolestparts of the day.
(04:05):
So yeah, that means we're goingto have to get up early on
summer break and, and, um, andwe might be up a little bit
later in the evenings, justbecause those are the coolest
times of the day to feed theseanimals.
Lambs they consume the best, um,during ambient temperatures, um,
that's when they're going toconsume the most.
Now those exist between 58 and60 degrees.
(04:29):
Um, right now that's notsomething we're seeing here in
Southwest New Mexico.
Okay, we're going to talk alittle bit about the feeding
area.
It needs to be clean.
It needs to be close to water.
Um, you're also going to want tohave some feeding pens.
If you're watching the YouTubevideo, you can see, um, a
picture of some feeding pens.
(04:50):
That's just to separate them.
You can also have kind of like atying area where you can feed
them individually.
And when you individually feed,you're gaining some more control
over what each lamb is getting.
Um, you're able to observe themand really take a look at them
and see if they're having anyissues.
(05:12):
You know, some things to lookfor are looking at their eyes,
their ears, are they, do theyhave droopy ears, you know,
manure, are they showing anykind of signs of Coccidiosis,
you know, runny nose, taking alook at their head, their skin
for ringworm.
Um, another thing is, are theyactive?
Are they acting hungry?
(05:32):
Another thing is swollen jointsand some limping.
These are all things you cankind of see when you're
individually feeding, justbecause you're having more
interaction with that animal.
So being able to observe themwhen they feed, when you
individually feed, you're alsoable to have more time in the
taming process.
(05:52):
They're going to become moretame by individually feeding
them.
You're also going to be able toincrease or decrease their
consumption if you'reindividually feeding.
Okay.
So how much should they beeating?
And this is kind of a toughquestion to answer because each
(06:13):
lamb is different.
Um, their end point is alwaysdifferent.
There's no real set plan inplace to, to get these, these
sheep to
Speaker 3 (06:27):
A specific end point.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Obviously you're going to want to make sure that
you're feeding enough to makeyour minimum weights for your
fair and that you, if your fairhappens to have a maximum
weight, that you're not going togo over that, but just as kind
of a general, um, just generaladvice, um, you're probably
gonna start out around four tofive
Speaker 3 (06:47):
pounds a day, and then
Speaker 2 (06:49):
at about a hundred to 120 pounds.
You're going to start taperingoff and customizing your feed
plan.
So when I say customizing, we'regoing to start taking a look at
what that lamb actually needs.
And we're going to start feedingspecific things to target
certain attributes or addcertain things, decrease certain
things.
(07:10):
Um, one of the things to keep inmind is condition.
And when we talk about conditionis just, uh, another word for
fat.
So they put on fat from front toback and internally, and then
externally, another thing thatwe kind of need to keep in mind
when we're feeding these animalsis their maturity pattern.
You know, are they going to bean early maturing type of lamb
(07:32):
or a late maturing type of lamb?
And we need to make adjustmentsfor that.
Also ewes versus wethers.
Ewes are always going to beearlier maturing than wethers.
So, um, those are things youhave to really watch as you're
going through the feedingperiod.
Some tips along the way.
You need to separate your lambswhile they eat feeders need to
(07:55):
be clean.
Nobody likes to feed out ofcrusty or eat out of crusty.
Um, gross feeders that they'vebeen eating out of all summer,
and that they've never beenwashed.
Old feed needs to be dumpeddaily.
Nobody wants to eat, you know,stale, stale
Speaker 3 (08:14):
food.
That's been sitting out.
Another thing
Speaker 2 (08:16):
to probably get is a feed scale.
As you go along, especially whenwe start to make some, some
changes to their feedingprogram.
You're going to want to usefeeders that hang on the fence
that way.
Um, you can take themindividually and feed them
individually.
Wet feeding that's just going toincrease hydration and decrease
choking, but it's not somethingyou can just, all of a sudden
(08:39):
do.
You usually have to work yourway up from about a quarter
pound of water to about threequarters, a pound of water.
It's kind of something that youhave to transition into.
And it's a really good habit toget your sheep into eating wet
feed.
Just because then if you'regoing to these fairs and stuff,
they're already used to eatingtheir feed with water, and it's
(09:00):
another source of hydration forthem so that they don't get
dehydrated.
Um, another thing is to makesure you're weighing your lambs.
You can usually a week to every10 days would probably be a good
idea to, uh, get a weight onthose lambs.
You're going to need a startingweight and then a weekly
(09:20):
weighing schedule.
So that way we can start tofigure out, you know, how much
weight these lambs are puttingon over so many days, kind of
make some projections for whatwe, where we think they're going
to end up and make some changesto their feed program.
Um, before it's too late.
Another thing to keep in mind isworming.
Worming is really, reallyimportant and it needs to be
(09:41):
done about every 30 days.
Another thing to do is to rotatethose wormers, you know,
switching between Safeguard,Dectomax, Ivermectin.
There's a lot of differentchoices when it comes to
wormers, just making sure thatyou're kind of rotating your
wormer.
So that way it makes sure tokill all of the worms that could
possibly be going through thesystem.
(10:02):
Like I said before, the mostimportant feeding strategy is
water clean, cool, fresh water.
Here in Southwest New Mexico,It's been getting over a hundred
degrees every single day, andthese animals are going to need
to, to intake a lot of water tokeep from getting dehydrated,
(10:24):
um, having, you know, a lot ofother issues.
So nobody wants to drink hot,dirty, gross water on a hot hot
day.
Um, so making sure that there'sno mold, dirt, mud, manure,
algae, anything like that inthat water.
Also making sure that thewater's not old, that it hasn't
(10:45):
been sitting in a container forsince the beginning of the
summer.
Um, and that they've just beenkinda drinking a little bit at a
time,
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Those types of things.
So, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Cool water.
Um, once again, nobody wants todrink hot water on a hot day.
It's about the worst thing ever,whenever you have decreased
water intake, um, there's a goodchance that you're going to
increase your chances of yourlamb getting Urinary Calculi.
And we talk about UrinaryCalculi a little bit later in
the presentation.
(11:17):
Some things to keep in mind isthat muscles is made up of 75 to
80% water.
So very, very important.
And if an animal loses 20% oftheir body weight in water, they
will die.
So that's something to keep inmind on these hot summer days.
Uh, if you're watching theYouTube video, I have a picture
(11:38):
of some water in a bucket that'spretty gross looking.
It's pretty brown, no tellingwhat's in it.
No, no.
Tell her when the last time itwas cleaned or if it's fresh or
if it's cold, you know, coolwater, those types of things.
There's nothing wrong withwatering using a bucket, but it
(11:59):
needs to be cleaned.
So if you're hanging a bucket inthe corner of the fence for your
sheep to drink out of, there'sno problem in that, but just
making sure that at least it'scleaned once a day, it needs to
be scrubbed out, needs to bedumped out.
Cause all kinds of things couldbe getting into that, that
water.
And so just making sure thatyou're, you know, take the extra
(12:20):
five to 10 minutes to, to unclipit from the fence, wash it out
and put some really nice, fresh,clean water if you happen to be
at home during this time, whicha lot of us are I say, do it
three times a day.
If you have to, you know,morning, noon, and night, making
sure that those animals havefresh, clean, cool water.
(12:43):
We just can't stress thatenough.
Okay.
We're going to talk a little bitabout some daily care.
So there's some things that goalong with daily care.
Um, one of the first thingsbeing the taming process, then
we're going to talk a little bitabout exercise and my favorite
topic in sheep, which is legwool.
So let me get to talking aboutdaily care.
(13:05):
So taming is a part of training.
Our relationship must existbetween the exhibitor and the
lamb and you cannot just leavethem in their pen all summer
long week to two weeks beforethe County fair, you know, go
grab them and think that it's,it's going to go well for you.
(13:25):
That's a, that's just a disasterkind of waiting to happen.
I have to say.
The first two weeks when you'regoing to be doing some of the
taming and really a lot of thisshould probably already be done
already, but just in case yougot to a late start, it's never
too late to do it, to do itright?
So those first two weeks, you'regoing to catch those lambs.
(13:45):
You're going to tie them up witha rope halter to the fence and
put some space between them.
I will tell you, um, you shouldPOS you should probably put some
sort of, um, you know, plywoodor something up against that
fence.
So that way that those landscan't get their legs through.
Cause if they fight the halter,then you know, they're gonna be
(14:06):
jumping up and jumping aroundand everything and they could
get a, hit a leg hung in the,the fence and that's just, uh,
uh, bad situation kind ofwaiting to happen.
So I'm also making sure theyhave some space between them
just so they don't jump on eachother and hurt each other.
One of the things you can do isyou can sit in a lawn chair or a
(14:28):
bucket or something to sit onand have the, have the kiddos
spend time about 15 to 20minutes a day, just brushing,
rubbing, petting, letting thosesheep know that, that there's a
partnership there, u m, thatthey can trust this person.
It typically doesn't necessarilydo any good for, for us parents
(14:49):
to be doing that.
It really needs to be theexhibitor.
The lamb needs to have arelationship with the exhibitor.
Lambs really need to be able tostand tide without fighting
their halter for at least 20minutes before they're ready to
leave or to lead.
I mean, you're never going towant to leave your lambs and
(15:09):
your kiddos unattended duringthis time.
Don't just send your kiddo outThere,and say yeah tie them up
to the fence and sit there andpet them.
Really, this is a family type ofthing.
So going out there with themjust to make sure that that a
wreck doesn't happen.
A, you've spent a lot of moneyon these animals and you, you're
putting a lot into it.
(15:29):
Definitely wouldn't want anaccident to, uh, to ruin the
summer for you.
So then you're going to walk, um, after they're able to stand
tied for about 20 minutes,you're going to walk them in
their pen, using a halter andthen, you know, you can
transition to walking outside ofthe pen.
One thing to tell you is that donot yank on those lead ropes.
Really.
(15:50):
You need to use like a pressurerelease method, horse people
understand this, probably thebest.
Um, it's whenever you pullgently on the halter of that
animal and when they, when theytake a step forward, you release
, um, so it's kind of a reward.
Um, you pull again, if they takeanother step you release.
So using that pressure releasemethod is going to be the best.
(16:13):
And if you happen to have one ora neighbor does or something
like that, or you can use a leadlamb, if you can.
And they always say, it's kindof a monkey, see monkey do type
of scenario.
Maybe you have a lamb.
It's actually just a better, abetter lamb.
He's already broke to lead, afaster than the other ones.
(16:33):
You can use that lamb as a leadlamb.
These animals are herd animals.
So they're going to follow eachother.
Something very important to keepin mind is that lambs need to be
broke to lead before an exerciseprogram can be started.
This is just to make sure thatthe safety of the animal and the
kiddo above all,at all times.
Exercise.
(16:54):
Um, this is another hard one totell you when, when to start,
when is it time to startexercising these sheep.
Some things to keep in mind istheir condition, their maturity,
and also their breed, dependingon the breed of lamb that you
have.
Their maturity and theircondition is going to be
different.
Southdown is going to put onpounds differently than a black
(17:17):
face.
So these are things to keep inmind, but as a general, just a
general advice rule, I say theexercise really should begin
about 60 days before the show,or about 120 pounds.
That's where we're going to wantto start making some changes to
these animals.
And if you're here in the GrantCounty area, the 60 days we're,
(17:41):
we're approaching that veryfast.
I think we're, you know, 68 daysor so, um, from our County fair.
So if you haven't thought about,it's probably time to start
thinking about that.
Some ways that you can exerciseyour animals, you can use a
Walker.
A lot of people are, arefamiliar with a Hot Walker used
for horses.
(18:01):
This is basically the samething.
It's a Walker for sheep.
And if you're watching theYouTube video, I have a picture
here.
Walker's help build endurance.
They're really good for awarmup, cool down.
So we never, we never want tojust take our animals and just,
you know, all of a sudden throwthem in, in some serious, um,
(18:23):
exercise.
It's really a good idea to makesure you're kind of warming them
up a little bit and then coolingthem now just like people.
Um, whenever they exerciseanimals need that same warm up
cool down process, especially ifyour temperatures are really
hot.
Um, remember that it's reallyhard to cool down on a really,
really hot day, um, might takelonger for those sheep to
(18:46):
actually cool down from anexercise program, If, if
temperatures are really high.
Um, another thing a Walker doesis it trains them to walk with
their heads up.
With that, you know, proper 90degree angle.
It kind of does that for you.
Another really popular one anddefinitely not a cheap option,
but an option is a treadmilllambs need to be trained to walk
(19:09):
on a treadmill.
So it's not something you canjust take them out there all of
a sudden and put them on thereand turn it on and walk off.
The treadmill needs to, you needto make sure that it has a front
feet platform so that you canmaintain a balanced look on that
animal.
You're going to want to startslow that first week, maybe just
do a half a minute of walkingbackwards at a very slow pace.
(19:33):
Do that until you think that theanimal's comfortable and can
handle a little bit more.
Maybe that's a week later, youcan do, you can bump them up to
a minute, walking backwards,same thing, pretty slow.
The ultimate goal is reallythree minutes backwards, as fast
as they can about every otherday.
And then you could do three tofive minutes of going forward
(19:56):
depending on their condition.
So some differences in whythey're going backwards and
going forward and goingbackwards on a treadmill is it's
going to build that rump muscle,hip shape, inner thigh, lower
leg, all those things we'rereally looking for in terms of
muscle, but going forward burnscondition.
And it builds endurance, whichis animals really need both.
(20:19):
They need that muscle shape.
They need to be, they don't needto be over conditioned.
They need to have the rightamount and they need to have
endurance.
So some more on exercise.
There's also the track method.
Uh, several people use that.
Um, it's a high intensitysprint.
You can use a track dog or, um,your kiddo.
(20:39):
Also a good exercise for them.
Or maybe you're, you're needinga little exercise yourself.
So you can kind of accomplishtwo things at once when you're
using a track, that's going tobring out that muscle tone.
It's going to decrease that fat.
Um, it also offers them anadrenaline rush.
There's also another thing thatyou can do, that's really easy
(21:00):
to do, and it doesn't require alot of money.
This is reward based exercise.
Since lambs are herd animals,you could, you know, load them
up and, and take, uh, take oneof them down to the end of the
road and then let them run backto their pen.
And you could do that severaltimes just to make sure that you
(21:22):
get about a quarter mile.
A quarter mile or so is longenough.
Um, you're going to want to makesure that, that the path is
clear.
Obviously, you know, don't,don't let them run, you know,
full blast headed towards thebarn when there's a car or
something like that, that could,you know, come in between them
and they're not going to see itor something like that.
(21:43):
You're also probably going towant to, um, have some sort of a
catch pen for them to run backinto.
And when I, I will say this one,when I was growing up, a lot of
times, a lot of people used tojust load up some sheep in the
back of a pickup and you unloadone of those sheep and have
somebody hold it at the end ofan arena or a road or something
(22:04):
like that, and you drive down tothe end of the road and they let
that sheep go and it will runback to the pickup.
They, like I said, they're herdanimals.
So they want to be together.
Some daily exercise things tounderstand is that standing
build endurance.
So animals, these need to be,these lambs need to be standing
for quite a bit of time whilethey're in the showroom.
(22:26):
So you're going to want to buildup that endurance.
Also the hand walking, bracing,that's also something that
you're going to want to do everyday.
Cause that's what they're goingto do in the showing is they're
going to walk, they're going tobrace.
They're going to walk.
They're going to brace.
Another thing is lambs and theexhibitor need endurance.
Uh, you may be going back to theshow ring several times,
(22:48):
depending on how you do.
So you're going to want to have,um, endurance for both the kiddo
and the lamb.
Favorite thing to talk aboutshag on the YouTube video here.
I have a little picture and itsays"shag is here to stay".
And Oh my gosh, I hope sobecause this is the best part
about sheep.
So when to start?
You're going to start wanting totake care of that leg Wool, once
(23:11):
you notice that your lambs arestarting to pick at it.
They usually start to pick atit, because they get bored.
And so then they start pickingat their leg wool and they'll
start to pull it out and thatkind of stuff.
So that's when you're going towant to start taking care of it
so that you can keep it.
Another good time to start iswhen you start your exercise
program, because these twothings go together.
Again, roughly if I had to put ageneral statement on it about 90
(23:35):
days before your show.
So this is probably somethingthat if you're not doing yet,
you probably need to startgetting into the habit of doing.
You're going to want to rinseand wrap every other day.
Pretty much the same as yourexercise programs.
You're going to be exercisingevery other day.
You're going to want to rinseand wrap those legs every other
day.
You're going to rinse the legsand work in a conditioner, um,
(23:57):
and then get your blower to blowit out.
But you're going to want toleave it a little bit damp, then
take them and do your exercise,or your taming process,
whichever way, wherever you'reat in that.
You're going to want to keepthem unwrapped for at least 30
to 45 minutes.
And then you can put them backon your stand and blow them
completely dry and rewrap them.
(24:21):
You're going to want to blowthat leg wool straight down,
just so that you're not creatinga bunch of tangles and that sort
of thing.
Just blowing it straight down.
It's going to help you out inthe long run.
Next you're going to want to puton a m uzzle.
Even if you have l eg w raps, alot of times they're still g
onna mess with them.
So probably putting on a muzzle,u m, just to keep them from
(24:42):
picking it the, the leg w rapsis going to be ideal.
One thing to keep in mind is tomake sure your wraps are not too
tight.
U m, you can cut off circulationand cause a lot of problems that
way.
So you need to be payingattention to how tight they are.
Okay.
We're going to transition intosome common diseases and
(25:03):
illnesses that are pretty commonin show lambs.
The first one being OvereatingDisease.
This happens when feed isabruptly changed or they intake
an excessive amount of grain.
So that's why we tell you to, ifyou have to change feeds that
you need to do it slowly.
Also, if they're eating toomuch, they can get Overeating
(25:25):
Disease.
This is a clostridial organism in the intestine it grows really
fast, producing a lethal toxincausing death within a few
hours.
This doesn't really have a wholelot of symptoms, which is why it
has such a high mortality rate.
Vaccinating for this disease isabsolutely crucial in terms of
(25:46):
management.
So you're going to want to makesure your breeder or whoever you
bought your lamb from that theyhave vaccinated, u m, f or
Overeating Disease.
Coccidiosis.
This is another serious and verycommon one, especially here in
New Mexico.
It has a high mortality rate ifit's not treated promptly.
The symptoms are watery, bloodydiarrhea, weight loss,
(26:09):
lethargic, and dehydration.
It's highly contagious.
Thus ani mals in fected shouldbe quarantined until they're
treated and their risk ofinfecting other animals has, has
decreased.
Consult with your veterinarianon proper treatment, depending
on the type of strain ofCoccidiosis you have.
(26:29):
You can take in a fecal sampleinto your veterinarian and they
can usually run a test for whichstrain of Coccidiosis you have
and help you, um, come up with atreatment plan.
Coccidiosis actually comes frombird droppings, bird poop that
gets mixed in their feed or, orwhatever on the ground.
And they eat some anyway andthey can get this, this
(26:51):
condition.
So it's very, very common andit's something you're going to
want to watch for.
Okay.
I said, we were going to talkabout this one later.
Urinary Calculi.
Urinary Calculi is caused by animbalance of the calcium
phosphorus ratio.
The metabolic disease createsthese stones in a urinary tract.
And, u m, it basically keepsyour animal from being able to
(27:13):
urinate.
U m, if it's not treated, it canbe lethal.
It's a primary issue, U m, whenyou're feeding a grain based
diet that has more phosphorus,that has high p hosphorus and
low calcium.
Some of the symptoms for thisinclude restlessness failed
attempts to urinate and kickingat their abdomen bladder area.
(27:36):
So if you see an animal that'sstruggling to try to urinate, or
they're rolling around, kind oflike a horse that's trying to
colic.
That's a pretty good sign thatyou've got.
Um, possibly some UrinaryCalculate problems.
Treatment usually consists ofremoving any stones, uh, whether
that be surgically or by fluidsto help break up those stones.
(28:00):
Um, so they can pass them ontheir own.
So this is why clean, cool,fresh water, once again, is so
important because if they don'thave a, you know, those things,
they're not going to want todrink that water and they can,
they can get Urinary Calculatevery easily.
Another very common one isRingworm.
Ringworm affects a lot oflivestock species, and it's also
(28:22):
highly contagious to otheranimals and to humans.
So it's definitely not somethingto mess around with.
It's a little confusing becauseringworm is a fungus that's
commonly contracted by contactwith other infected animals and
or equipment.
And it's important to recognizethe development of this fungus
before it spreads to anuncontrolled, um, it gets out of
(28:45):
control.
Some things in terms ofprevention is washing animals
with antifungal shampoo.
After you traveled to a show ora jackpot disinfecting your
equipment on a regular basis.
So if you have several sheep,you're gonna want to disinfect
your clippers and that sort ofthing in between animals,
especially between the contactwith those different animals.
(29:07):
You're gonna want to isolateanimals that are infected so you
to prevent the risk of fungusspreading.
Sore Mouth.
Sore Mouth is a viral disease.
It causes formation of scabs, um, on the soft tissue around the
mouth, um, usually on the faceand mouth area, but if you leave
it untreated, untreated, it caneasily spread to their entire
(29:27):
body.
This virus also affects humans.
So it should be treated withcaution.
Although common, this disease isvery easily treatable, but just
like with everything, um, yourhearing now, the most, the best
thing you can do is wash yourhands, for the kids, for the
whole family, everybody.
No matter what, whether it'sringworm, sore mouth, or it
(29:49):
doesn't look like anything'swrong at all, just make sure
you're washing your hands.
That's one of the best defensesagainst this kind of stuff.
Treatments include rubbing offthe scabs in the infected area
and you can use iodine to drythem out.
So it's a very treatable type ofthing.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
Tetanus.
Tetanus,
Speaker 2 (30:06):
commonly, it commonly affects lambs and goats,
particularly after they'recastrated or they're, they're
docked.
Unlike other diseases, Tetanusis extremely serious.
Animals who get Tetanus, theyrarely recover from it.
Tetanus is caused by a bacterialinfection from an open wound
where bacteria produces apowerful neurotoxin that greatly
(30:27):
affects the nervous system.
Treatment is available, but ithas a very low success rate.
Um, really vaccination is one ofthe only ways to keep Tetanus
under control.
So you're going to want to makesure that your animals have been
vaccinated for Tetanus.
Okay.
Thiamin B1 vitamin deficiency.
(30:49):
There's actually a really longname for this, but I'm not even
g onna go there.
The most common symptom of thisdisease i s blindness, but sheep
c an show other signs such asseizures, babbling, drawing
their head back stiffly so it'spressed against their spine and
lethargy.
If you're on the YouTube video,I have a picture of a lamb that
(31:09):
is displaying when they puttheir head back on their back,
um, very on their spine, andthey look very, very awkward.
Sudden death is commonlyassociated with this disease,
but sheep can show signs, um,one to six days before, before
their deaths.
So that's when you're going towant to catch it.
(31:29):
Affected animals should betreated immediately with an
injectable or oral Thiamine orvitamin B one, um, type of a
supplement.
If you're treating forCoccidiosis.
Um, one of the things to watchfor is one of the common things
to use to treat Coccidiosis isCorid, which does cause a
Thiamine,, you know, B vitamindeficiency.
(31:52):
So make sure that you kind ofgive them a good booster of
that.
If you've got a Coccidiosisproblem, next one is Pinkeye.
Pinkeye is a very, it's justlike for people, a very
contagious disease.
That's caused a lot of times byconstant exposure to sunlight
and dusty environments.
So once again, these animalsneed a place to get out of the
sun.
It's going to help keep themcooler.
(32:14):
It's just better for theiroverall health.
But, u m, one of the bad thingsis that they don't have any
shade, they can get Pinkeye.
Symptoms of Pinkeye areexcessive watering of the eyes,
clouding, a you'll see it, u m,kind of formulating in their
eye.
And this disease is very easilytreatable, u m, with some over
the counter medications that youcan find at your local feed
(32:36):
store.
O kay.
So we're g oing t o talk alittle bit about biosecurity.
Best way to keep your animalshealthy is to prevent them
getting sick in the first place.
So with everything you're goingto want to limit exposure from
the outside.
I know we all want to have ourfriends and relatives over and
show them our lambs.
But, um, depending on wherethey've been, and if they have
(32:57):
lambs themselves that have beensick, you're not going to want
to let them bring over what theyhave at their house to yours.
So limiting, um, exposure fromthe outside.
If someone from the outside,like um, an ag teacher, an
extension agent or somethinglike that's coming to your
facility, don't be, don't beafraid to ask them to wear the
protective booties or dip theirshoes in some sort of a foot
(33:20):
bath.
Just to make sure that they'renot bringing anything with them
from somebody else's house.
So I know for myself, we, we goon a lot of different house
calls.
We go from house to house and wesee a lot of different animals
that may be sick, maybe not.
So we're probably one of thebigger risks that family can
have in terms of the health oftheir animals.
(33:41):
So, um, don't be afraid to askus to, you know, dip our feet
or, or, uh, sanitize, wash ourhands, those types of things.
Usually we're all doing itanyway, but just in case it's
okay to always do it again.
Outside visitors, um, reallyneed to be washing their hands
before touching lambs and reallywashing between lambs.
(34:03):
Sometimes if you have a ringwormproblem that you haven't quite
noticed it yet you touch a lamband then you go touch all the
other lambs, you're gonna giveit to everybody else,
guaranteed.
You're gonna want to make sureyour scales are sanitized
between weighing if they're usedby several exhibitors.
Like for myself, when we go fromhouse to house, we usually take
(34:23):
some bleach spray with us and wespray the inside of those scales
with bleach, just to try to helpreduce the risk of spreading
anything from house to house.
You're gonna want to sanitizeyour pens regularly.
If you have, especially ifyou've had some sickness or some
ringworm, you have to sanitizethose pens to try to kill that
off.
(34:43):
Or you're just going to get itagain.
Another thing is after sickness,make sure you sanitize your
facility before the sick lambreturns.
Um, so making sure that they,that you have everything cleaned
before you bring that lamb, thathopefully is better before you
bring them back in.
And of course, with everything,you're going to want to be
(35:03):
taking, um, having some sort ofrecord keeping for your animals.
And thankfully I have a wholeseparate YouTube video about the
4H livestock record app that youcan use.
But this, this is like an all inone type of thing.
You can keep your weights inthat app.
It'll calculate your averagedaily gain.
(35:24):
You can keep track of your feedweights, um, any changes in
feeds when you dewormed,supplements as well as your
expenses and any income that youmay have may have gotten all in
one place.
So it's really a great thing.
The only thing, the onlydownfall to it is I'm going to
say, just tell you up front isthat is for iPhones and, um, and
(35:45):
iPads only so Apple productsbasically.
But anyway, it's a really greatway to keep track of all the
records that you need for yourShow Lamb project throughout the
year.
And if all else fails, you canalways use, um, there's nothing
wrong with, you know, having a,uh, livestock record sheet there
(36:05):
in the barn and just keepingtrack of it that way.
That you can put in your recordbooks or your SAE projects later
on down the road.
Okay.
So that's the end of thispresentation.
Again, this is going to be onYouTube.
It's also going to be availableto listen to on a podcast.
Up next, we'll be talking aboutShow Goats and Steers, kind of
(36:25):
going into a little bit of depthon those projects.
Uh, this information is providedcourtesy of the Grant County
Cooperative Extension Service inGrant County, New Mexico.
My name is Jessica SwappMassengill and I'm the Grant
County 4H and Ag Agent there,but I, I serve everyone.
So if you have any questions forme, um, you can give me a call
(36:45):
at(575) 388-1559.
That's my office number.
We're not always in the officeright now, due to the COVID-19
restrictions.
Um, but you can always reach meby email at Jesse J, which is
spelled jessiej@nmsu.edu.
(37:06):
I hope this was informative.
I hope you gained something fromit.
Um, and that it helps you alongthe way with your project.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
We will catch you on the next one, thanks everyone
for listening.
If you enjoy this podcast, don'tforget to hit the subscribe
button on Apple podcast,Stitcher, Google play, or
whatever app you're using tolisten to this podcast.
Want more information?
You can visit us at our websitegrantextension.nmsu.edu.
(37:36):
Follow us on Facebook at NMSUGrant County CES, snapchat@
grantcountynm4h shoot us anemail at grant@nmsu.edu, or give
us a call(575) 388-1559.
New Mexico State University isan equal opportunity.
(37:58):
Affirmative action, employer andeducator NMSU, and the US
Department of Agriculturecooperating.
[inaudible] welcome to the extension connection
podcast.
The Grant County CooperativeExtension service is here to
help connect you with researchbased information about economic
development, energy and water,farm, and ranch, yard, and
garden, natural resources,health, and wellbeing, and our
very popular youth developmentprogram, 4H.
(00:30):
I'm your host, Jessica Swapp,the 4H and Agriculture Agent
here in Grant County, NewMexico.
We are part of New Mexico StateUniversity's college of
Agricultural Consumer andEnvironmental Science, and we
are here to serve you.
So let's get started.
[inaudible]
Speaker 2 (00:51):
We're back again, to talk about show lambs.
Um, the last presentation thatwe did, we talked about show
pigs.
So if you have some show lambsout there, and you're just not
quite sure what to do thispresentation is for you.
We need to keep in mind is kindof some different types of
things that we're going to becovering.
We're going to be talking aboutfeeding, training, some daily
(01:13):
care, diseases and someillnesses biosecurity, and also
some recordkeeping.
So when we're going to feedthese show animals, um, we
really need to have a plan inmind.
So just like with the pigs andeverything else, there's really
a plan that needs to be inplace.
The first thing is, is goingahead and picking out a brand
(01:34):
that you're going to be feedingand then having consistency with
that brand consistency and thetime that you're feeding, having
a good feeding area.
Um, we're gonna talk a littlebit about what's called hand
feeding or separate, you know,feeding them separately and then
how much they should be eatingsome feeding equipment and care
(01:54):
worming and some water, somethings that are different about
sheep than some of the otheranimals is that they have a four
compartment stomach.
So it's a little bit differentin terms of feeding a sheep.
So we're going to talk a littlebit about brand selection.
Um, there's many differentbrands out there, but some
things to keep in mind is yourbudget.
First of all, um, what you canafford to feed consistently
(02:18):
throughout the entire feedingperiod.
Um, another thing to keep inmind is access to that brand.
So whatever brand you choose,just make sure that it's
available and that you caneasily access that, that feed so
that you're always feeding freshfeed.
Once a brand is selected, you'regoing to need to stick to it
(02:39):
unless you have to, or you needto switch.
If you're going to switch feeds,you're going to want to blend in
new feed with the old to slowlytransition.
You don't want to ever justabruptly change feeds.
That's a a cause for somesickness issues that you just
don't want to have to deal with.
Some of nutritional requirementsthat lambs have to have a,
(03:02):
you're going to have to have abase feed with some protein,
fat, and fiber.
You're going to need to havesource of roughage, such as,
Hay.
Usually I say you can free feedgrass hay pretty much all year,
and just hand, just a handful ofalfalfa.
Once you start to move intoseparating those lambs, just a
(03:23):
handful of alfalfa, maybe once aday, you have to be careful with
alfalfa cause it can causebloat.
Um, another thing is water.
Everyone overlooks water as oneof the most important
nutritional requirements thatshow animals need, but good,
clean, fresh, cool water isabsolutely essential.
We're going to talk a little bitabout the feeding time
(03:45):
consistency.
So just like people, animals aremade the same.
Um, they get hungry at certaintimes of the day, so you're
gonna want to feed at the sametime every day, as much as you
possibly can.
Um, usually twice a day ispreferable and lambs are gonna
eat best during the coolestparts of the day.
(04:05):
So yeah, that means we're goingto have to get up early on
summer break and, and, um, andwe might be up a little bit
later in the evenings, justbecause those are the coolest
times of the day to feed theseanimals.
Lambs they consume the best, um,during ambient temperatures, um,
that's when they're going toconsume the most.
Now those exist between 58 and60 degrees.
(04:29):
Um, right now that's notsomething we're seeing here in
Southwest New Mexico.
Okay, we're going to talk alittle bit about the feeding
area.
It needs to be clean.
It needs to be close to water.
Um, you're also going to want tohave some feeding pens.
If you're watching the YouTubevideo, you can see, um, a
picture of some feeding pens.
(04:50):
That's just to separate them.
You can also have kind of like atying area where you can feed
them individually.
And when you individually feed,you're gaining some more control
over what each lamb is getting.
Um, you're able to observe themand really take a look at them
and see if they're having anyissues.
(05:12):
You know, some things to lookfor are looking at their eyes,
their ears, are they, do theyhave droopy ears, you know,
manure, are they showing anykind of signs of Coccidiosis,
you know, runny nose, taking alook at their head, their skin
for ringworm.
Um, another thing is, are theyactive?
Are they acting hungry?
(05:32):
Another thing is swollen jointsand some limping.
These are all things you cankind of see when you're
individually feeding, justbecause you're having more
interaction with that animal.
So being able to observe themwhen they feed, when you
individually feed, you're alsoable to have more time in the
taming process.
(05:52):
They're going to become moretame by individually feeding
them.
You're also going to be able toincrease or decrease their
consumption if you'reindividually feeding.
Okay.
So how much should they beeating?
And this is kind of a toughquestion to answer because each
(06:13):
lamb is different.
Um, their end point is alwaysdifferent.
There's no real set plan inplace to, to get these, these
sheep to
Speaker 3 (06:27):
A specific end point.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Obviously you're going to want to make sure that
you're feeding enough to makeyour minimum weights for your
fair and that you, if your fairhappens to have a maximum
weight, that you're not going togo over that, but just as kind
of a general, um, just generaladvice, um, you're probably
gonna start out around four tofive
Speaker 3 (06:47):
pounds a day, and then
Speaker 2 (06:49):
at about a hundred to 120 pounds.
You're going to start taperingoff and customizing your feed
plan.
So when I say customizing, we'regoing to start taking a look at
what that lamb actually needs.
And we're going to start feedingspecific things to target
certain attributes or addcertain things, decrease certain
things.
(07:10):
Um, one of the things to keep inmind is condition.
And when we talk about conditionis just, uh, another word for
fat.
So they put on fat from front toback and internally, and then
externally, another thing thatwe kind of need to keep in mind
when we're feeding these animalsis their maturity pattern.
You know, are they going to bean early maturing type of lamb
(07:32):
or a late maturing type of lamb?
And we need to make adjustmentsfor that.
Also ewes versus wethers.
Ewes are always going to beearlier maturing than wethers.
So, um, those are things youhave to really watch as you're
going through the feedingperiod.
Some tips along the way.
You need to separate your lambswhile they eat feeders need to
(07:55):
be clean.
Nobody likes to feed out ofcrusty or eat out of crusty.
Um, gross feeders that they'vebeen eating out of all summer,
and that they've never beenwashed.
Old feed needs to be dumpeddaily.
Nobody wants to eat, you know,stale, stale
Speaker 3 (08:14):
food.
That's been sitting out.
Another thing
Speaker 2 (08:16):
to probably get is a feed scale.
As you go along, especially whenwe start to make some, some
changes to their feedingprogram.
You're going to want to usefeeders that hang on the fence
that way.
Um, you can take themindividually and feed them
individually.
Wet feeding that's just going toincrease hydration and decrease
choking, but it's not somethingyou can just, all of a sudden
(08:39):
do.
You usually have to work yourway up from about a quarter
pound of water to about threequarters, a pound of water.
It's kind of something that youhave to transition into.
And it's a really good habit toget your sheep into eating wet
feed.
Just because then if you'regoing to these fairs and stuff,
they're already used to eatingtheir feed with water, and it's
(09:00):
another source of hydration forthem so that they don't get
dehydrated.
Um, another thing is to makesure you're weighing your lambs.
You can usually a week to every10 days would probably be a good
idea to, uh, get a weight onthose lambs.
You're going to need a startingweight and then a weekly
(09:20):
weighing schedule.
So that way we can start tofigure out, you know, how much
weight these lambs are puttingon over so many days, kind of
make some projections for whatwe, where we think they're going
to end up and make some changesto their feed program.
Um, before it's too late.
Another thing to keep in mind isworming.
Worming is really, reallyimportant and it needs to be
(09:41):
done about every 30 days.
Another thing to do is to rotatethose wormers, you know,
switching between Safeguard,Dectomax, Ivermectin.
There's a lot of differentchoices when it comes to
wormers, just making sure thatyou're kind of rotating your
wormer.
So that way it makes sure tokill all of the worms that could
possibly be going through thesystem.
(10:02):
Like I said before, the mostimportant feeding strategy is
water clean, cool, fresh water.
Here in Southwest New Mexico,It's been getting over a hundred
degrees every single day, andthese animals are going to need
to, to intake a lot of water tokeep from getting dehydrated,
(10:24):
um, having, you know, a lot ofother issues.
So nobody wants to drink hot,dirty, gross water on a hot hot
day.
Um, so making sure that there'sno mold, dirt, mud, manure,
algae, anything like that inthat water.
Also making sure that thewater's not old, that it hasn't
(10:45):
been sitting in a container forsince the beginning of the
summer.
Um, and that they've just beenkinda drinking a little bit at a
time,
Speaker 4 (10:54):
Those types of things.
So, yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Cool water.
Um, once again, nobody wants todrink hot water on a hot day.
It's about the worst thing ever,whenever you have decreased
water intake, um, there's a goodchance that you're going to
increase your chances of yourlamb getting Urinary Calculi.
And we talk about UrinaryCalculi a little bit later in
the presentation.
(11:17):
Some things to keep in mind isthat muscles is made up of 75 to
80% water.
So very, very important.
And if an animal loses 20% oftheir body weight in water, they
will die.
So that's something to keep inmind on these hot summer days.
Uh, if you're watching theYouTube video, I have a picture
(11:38):
of some water in a bucket that'spretty gross looking.
It's pretty brown, no tellingwhat's in it.
No, no.
Tell her when the last time itwas cleaned or if it's fresh or
if it's cold, you know, coolwater, those types of things.
There's nothing wrong withwatering using a bucket, but it
(11:59):
needs to be cleaned.
So if you're hanging a bucket inthe corner of the fence for your
sheep to drink out of, there'sno problem in that, but just
making sure that at least it'scleaned once a day, it needs to
be scrubbed out, needs to bedumped out.
Cause all kinds of things couldbe getting into that, that
water.
And so just making sure thatyou're, you know, take the extra
(12:20):
five to 10 minutes to, to unclipit from the fence, wash it out
and put some really nice, fresh,clean water if you happen to be
at home during this time, whicha lot of us are I say, do it
three times a day.
If you have to, you know,morning, noon, and night, making
sure that those animals havefresh, clean, cool water.
(12:43):
We just can't stress thatenough.
Okay.
We're going to talk a little bitabout some daily care.
So there's some things that goalong with daily care.
Um, one of the first thingsbeing the taming process, then
we're going to talk a little bitabout exercise and my favorite
topic in sheep, which is legwool.
So let me get to talking aboutdaily care.
(13:05):
So taming is a part of training.
Our relationship must existbetween the exhibitor and the
lamb and you cannot just leavethem in their pen all summer
long week to two weeks beforethe County fair, you know, go
grab them and think that it's,it's going to go well for you.
(13:25):
That's a, that's just a disasterkind of waiting to happen.
I have to say.
The first two weeks when you'regoing to be doing some of the
taming and really a lot of thisshould probably already be done
already, but just in case yougot to a late start, it's never
too late to do it, to do itright?
So those first two weeks, you'regoing to catch those lambs.
(13:45):
You're going to tie them up witha rope halter to the fence and
put some space between them.
I will tell you, um, you shouldPOS you should probably put some
sort of, um, you know, plywoodor something up against that
fence.
So that way that those landscan't get their legs through.
Cause if they fight the halter,then you know, they're gonna be
(14:06):
jumping up and jumping aroundand everything and they could
get a, hit a leg hung in the,the fence and that's just, uh,
uh, bad situation kind ofwaiting to happen.
So I'm also making sure theyhave some space between them
just so they don't jump on eachother and hurt each other.
One of the things you can do isyou can sit in a lawn chair or a
(14:28):
bucket or something to sit onand have the, have the kiddos
spend time about 15 to 20minutes a day, just brushing,
rubbing, petting, letting thosesheep know that, that there's a
partnership there, u m, thatthey can trust this person.
It typically doesn't necessarilydo any good for, for us parents
(14:49):
to be doing that.
It really needs to be theexhibitor.
The lamb needs to have arelationship with the exhibitor.
Lambs really need to be able tostand tide without fighting
their halter for at least 20minutes before they're ready to
leave or to lead.
I mean, you're never going towant to leave your lambs and
(15:09):
your kiddos unattended duringthis time.
Don't just send your kiddo outThere,and say yeah tie them up
to the fence and sit there andpet them.
Really, this is a family type ofthing.
So going out there with themjust to make sure that that a
wreck doesn't happen.
A, you've spent a lot of moneyon these animals and you, you're
putting a lot into it.
(15:29):
Definitely wouldn't want anaccident to, uh, to ruin the
summer for you.
So then you're going to walk, um, after they're able to stand
tied for about 20 minutes,you're going to walk them in
their pen, using a halter andthen, you know, you can
transition to walking outside ofthe pen.
One thing to tell you is that donot yank on those lead ropes.
Really.
(15:50):
You need to use like a pressurerelease method, horse people
understand this, probably thebest.
Um, it's whenever you pullgently on the halter of that
animal and when they, when theytake a step forward, you release
, um, so it's kind of a reward.
Um, you pull again, if they takeanother step you release.
So using that pressure releasemethod is going to be the best.
(16:13):
And if you happen to have one ora neighbor does or something
like that, or you can use a leadlamb, if you can.
And they always say, it's kindof a monkey, see monkey do type
of scenario.
Maybe you have a lamb.
It's actually just a better, abetter lamb.
He's already broke to lead, afaster than the other ones.
(16:33):
You can use that lamb as a leadlamb.
These animals are herd animals.
So they're going to follow eachother.
Something very important to keepin mind is that lambs need to be
broke to lead before an exerciseprogram can be started.
This is just to make sure thatthe safety of the animal and the
kiddo above all,at all times.
Exercise.
(16:54):
Um, this is another hard one totell you when, when to start,
when is it time to startexercising these sheep.
Some things to keep in mind istheir condition, their maturity,
and also their breed, dependingon the breed of lamb that you
have.
Their maturity and theircondition is going to be
different.
Southdown is going to put onpounds differently than a black
(17:17):
face.
So these are things to keep inmind, but as a general, just a
general advice rule, I say theexercise really should begin
about 60 days before the show,or about 120 pounds.
That's where we're going to wantto start making some changes to
these animals.
And if you're here in the GrantCounty area, the 60 days we're,
(17:41):
we're approaching that veryfast.
I think we're, you know, 68 daysor so, um, from our County fair.
So if you haven't thought about,it's probably time to start
thinking about that.
Some ways that you can exerciseyour animals, you can use a
Walker.
A lot of people are, arefamiliar with a Hot Walker used
for horses.
(18:01):
This is basically the samething.
It's a Walker for sheep.
And if you're watching theYouTube video, I have a picture
here.
Walker's help build endurance.
They're really good for awarmup, cool down.
So we never, we never want tojust take our animals and just,
you know, all of a sudden throwthem in, in some serious, um,
(18:23):
exercise.
It's really a good idea to makesure you're kind of warming them
up a little bit and then coolingthem now just like people.
Um, whenever they exerciseanimals need that same warm up
cool down process, especially ifyour temperatures are really
hot.
Um, remember that it's reallyhard to cool down on a really,
really hot day, um, might takelonger for those sheep to
(18:46):
actually cool down from anexercise program, If, if
temperatures are really high.
Um, another thing a Walker doesis it trains them to walk with
their heads up.
With that, you know, proper 90degree angle.
It kind of does that for you.
Another really popular one anddefinitely not a cheap option,
but an option is a treadmilllambs need to be trained to walk
(19:09):
on a treadmill.
So it's not something you canjust take them out there all of
a sudden and put them on thereand turn it on and walk off.
The treadmill needs to, you needto make sure that it has a front
feet platform so that you canmaintain a balanced look on that
animal.
You're going to want to startslow that first week, maybe just
do a half a minute of walkingbackwards at a very slow pace.
(19:33):
Do that until you think that theanimal's comfortable and can
handle a little bit more.
Maybe that's a week later, youcan do, you can bump them up to
a minute, walking backwards,same thing, pretty slow.
The ultimate goal is reallythree minutes backwards, as fast
as they can about every otherday.
And then you could do three tofive minutes of going forward
(19:56):
depending on their condition.
So some differences in whythey're going backwards and
going forward and goingbackwards on a treadmill is it's
going to build that rump muscle,hip shape, inner thigh, lower
leg, all those things we'rereally looking for in terms of
muscle, but going forward burnscondition.
And it builds endurance, whichis animals really need both.
(20:19):
They need that muscle shape.
They need to be, they don't needto be over conditioned.
They need to have the rightamount and they need to have
endurance.
So some more on exercise.
There's also the track method.
Uh, several people use that.
Um, it's a high intensitysprint.
You can use a track dog or, um,your kiddo.
(20:39):
Also a good exercise for them.
Or maybe you're, you're needinga little exercise yourself.
So you can kind of accomplishtwo things at once when you're
using a track, that's going tobring out that muscle tone.
It's going to decrease that fat.
Um, it also offers them anadrenaline rush.
There's also another thing thatyou can do, that's really easy
(21:00):
to do, and it doesn't require alot of money.
This is reward based exercise.
Since lambs are herd animals,you could, you know, load them
up and, and take, uh, take oneof them down to the end of the
road and then let them run backto their pen.
And you could do that severaltimes just to make sure that you
(21:22):
get about a quarter mile.
A quarter mile or so is longenough.
Um, you're going to want to makesure that, that the path is
clear.
Obviously, you know, don't,don't let them run, you know,
full blast headed towards thebarn when there's a car or
something like that, that could,you know, come in between them
and they're not going to see itor something like that.
(21:43):
You're also probably going towant to, um, have some sort of a
catch pen for them to run backinto.
And when I, I will say this one,when I was growing up, a lot of
times, a lot of people used tojust load up some sheep in the
back of a pickup and you unloadone of those sheep and have
somebody hold it at the end ofan arena or a road or something
(22:04):
like that, and you drive down tothe end of the road and they let
that sheep go and it will runback to the pickup.
They, like I said, they're herdanimals.
So they want to be together.
Some daily exercise things tounderstand is that standing
build endurance.
So animals, these need to be,these lambs need to be standing
for quite a bit of time whilethey're in the showroom.
(22:26):
So you're going to want to buildup that endurance.
Also the hand walking, bracing,that's also something that
you're going to want to do everyday.
Cause that's what they're goingto do in the showing is they're
going to walk, they're going tobrace.
They're going to walk.
They're going to brace.
Another thing is lambs and theexhibitor need endurance.
Uh, you may be going back to theshow ring several times,
(22:48):
depending on how you do.
So you're going to want to have,um, endurance for both the kiddo
and the lamb.
Favorite thing to talk aboutshag on the YouTube video here.
I have a little picture and itsays"shag is here to stay".
And Oh my gosh, I hope sobecause this is the best part
about sheep.
So when to start?
You're going to start wanting totake care of that leg Wool, once
(23:11):
you notice that your lambs arestarting to pick at it.
They usually start to pick atit, because they get bored.
And so then they start pickingat their leg wool and they'll
start to pull it out and thatkind of stuff.
So that's when you're going towant to start taking care of it
so that you can keep it.
Another good time to start iswhen you start your exercise
program, because these twothings go together.
Again, roughly if I had to put ageneral statement on it about 90
(23:35):
days before your show.
So this is probably somethingthat if you're not doing yet,
you probably need to startgetting into the habit of doing.
You're going to want to rinseand wrap every other day.
Pretty much the same as yourexercise programs.
You're going to be exercisingevery other day.
You're going to want to rinseand wrap those legs every other
day.
You're going to rinse the legsand work in a conditioner, um,
(23:57):
and then get your blower to blowit out.
But you're going to want toleave it a little bit damp, then
take them and do your exercise,or your taming process,
whichever way, wherever you'reat in that.
You're going to want to keepthem unwrapped for at least 30
to 45 minutes.
And then you can put them backon your stand and blow them
completely dry and rewrap them.
(24:21):
You're going to want to blowthat leg wool straight down,
just so that you're not creatinga bunch of tangles and that sort
of thing.
Just blowing it straight down.
It's going to help you out inthe long run.
Next you're going to want to puton a m uzzle.
Even if you have l eg w raps, alot of times they're still g
onna mess with them.
So probably putting on a muzzle,u m, just to keep them from
(24:42):
picking it the, the leg w rapsis going to be ideal.
One thing to keep in mind is tomake sure your wraps are not too
tight.
U m, you can cut off circulationand cause a lot of problems that
way.
So you need to be payingattention to how tight they are.
Okay.
We're going to transition intosome common diseases and
(25:03):
illnesses that are pretty commonin show lambs.
The first one being OvereatingDisease.
This happens when feed isabruptly changed or they intake
an excessive amount of grain.
So that's why we tell you to, ifyou have to change feeds that
you need to do it slowly.
Also, if they're eating toomuch, they can get Overeating
(25:25):
Disease.
This is a clostridial organism in the intestine it grows really
fast, producing a lethal toxincausing death within a few
hours.
This doesn't really have a wholelot of symptoms, which is why it
has such a high mortality rate.
Vaccinating for this disease isabsolutely crucial in terms of
(25:46):
management.
So you're going to want to makesure your breeder or whoever you
bought your lamb from that theyhave vaccinated, u m, f or
Overeating Disease.
Coccidiosis.
This is another serious and verycommon one, especially here in
New Mexico.
It has a high mortality rate ifit's not treated promptly.
The symptoms are watery, bloodydiarrhea, weight loss,
(26:09):
lethargic, and dehydration.
It's highly contagious.
Thus ani mals in fected shouldbe quarantined until they're
treated and their risk ofinfecting other animals has, has
decreased.
Consult with your veterinarianon proper treatment, depending
on the type of strain ofCoccidiosis you have.
(26:29):
You can take in a fecal sampleinto your veterinarian and they
can usually run a test for whichstrain of Coccidiosis you have
and help you, um, come up with atreatment plan.
Coccidiosis actually comes frombird droppings, bird poop that
gets mixed in their feed or, orwhatever on the ground.
And they eat some anyway andthey can get this, this
(26:51):
condition.
So it's very, very common andit's something you're going to
want to watch for.
Okay.
I said, we were going to talkabout this one later.
Urinary Calculi.
Urinary Calculi is caused by animbalance of the calcium
phosphorus ratio.
The metabolic disease createsthese stones in a urinary tract.
And, u m, it basically keepsyour animal from being able to
(27:13):
urinate.
U m, if it's not treated, it canbe lethal.
It's a primary issue, U m, whenyou're feeding a grain based
diet that has more phosphorus,that has high p hosphorus and
low calcium.
Some of the symptoms for thisinclude restlessness failed
attempts to urinate and kickingat their abdomen bladder area.
(27:36):
So if you see an animal that'sstruggling to try to urinate, or
they're rolling around, kind oflike a horse that's trying to
colic.
That's a pretty good sign thatyou've got.
Um, possibly some UrinaryCalculate problems.
Treatment usually consists ofremoving any stones, uh, whether
that be surgically or by fluidsto help break up those stones.
(28:00):
Um, so they can pass them ontheir own.
So this is why clean, cool,fresh water, once again, is so
important because if they don'thave a, you know, those things,
they're not going to want todrink that water and they can,
they can get Urinary Calculatevery easily.
Another very common one isRingworm.
Ringworm affects a lot oflivestock species, and it's also
(28:22):
highly contagious to otheranimals and to humans.
So it's definitely not somethingto mess around with.
It's a little confusing becauseringworm is a fungus that's
commonly contracted by contactwith other infected animals and
or equipment.
And it's important to recognizethe development of this fungus
before it spreads to anuncontrolled, um, it gets out of
(28:45):
control.
Some things in terms ofprevention is washing animals
with antifungal shampoo.
After you traveled to a show ora jackpot disinfecting your
equipment on a regular basis.
So if you have several sheep,you're gonna want to disinfect
your clippers and that sort ofthing in between animals,
especially between the contactwith those different animals.
(29:07):
You're gonna want to isolateanimals that are infected so you
to prevent the risk of fungusspreading.
Sore Mouth.
Sore Mouth is a viral disease.
It causes formation of scabs, um, on the soft tissue around the
mouth, um, usually on the faceand mouth area, but if you leave
it untreated, untreated, it caneasily spread to their entire
(29:27):
body.
This virus also affects humans.
So it should be treated withcaution.
Although common, this disease isvery easily treatable, but just
like with everything, um, yourhearing now, the most, the best
thing you can do is wash yourhands, for the kids, for the
whole family, everybody.
No matter what, whether it'sringworm, sore mouth, or it
(29:49):
doesn't look like anything'swrong at all, just make sure
you're washing your hands.
That's one of the best defensesagainst this kind of stuff.
Treatments include rubbing offthe scabs in the infected area
and you can use iodine to drythem out.
So it's a very treatable type ofthing.
Speaker 5 (30:03):
Tetanus.
Tetanus,
Speaker 2 (30:06):
commonly, it commonly affects lambs and goats,
particularly after they'recastrated or they're, they're
docked.
Unlike other diseases, Tetanusis extremely serious.
Animals who get Tetanus, theyrarely recover from it.
Tetanus is caused by a bacterialinfection from an open wound
where bacteria produces apowerful neurotoxin that greatly
(30:27):
affects the nervous system.
Treatment is available, but ithas a very low success rate.
Um, really vaccination is one ofthe only ways to keep Tetanus
under control.
So you're going to want to makesure that your animals have been
vaccinated for Tetanus.
Okay.
Thiamin B1 vitamin deficiency.
(30:49):
There's actually a really longname for this, but I'm not even
g onna go there.
The most common symptom of thisdisease i s blindness, but sheep
c an show other signs such asseizures, babbling, drawing
their head back stiffly so it'spressed against their spine and
lethargy.
If you're on the YouTube video,I have a picture of a lamb that
(31:09):
is displaying when they puttheir head back on their back,
um, very on their spine, andthey look very, very awkward.
Sudden death is commonlyassociated with this disease,
but sheep can show signs, um,one to six days before, before
their deaths.
So that's when you're going towant to catch it.
(31:29):
Affected animals should betreated immediately with an
injectable or oral Thiamine orvitamin B one, um, type of a
supplement.
If you're treating forCoccidiosis.
Um, one of the things to watchfor is one of the common things
to use to treat Coccidiosis isCorid, which does cause a
Thiamine,, you know, B vitamindeficiency.
(31:52):
So make sure that you kind ofgive them a good booster of
that.
If you've got a Coccidiosisproblem, next one is Pinkeye.
Pinkeye is a very, it's justlike for people, a very
contagious disease.
That's caused a lot of times byconstant exposure to sunlight
and dusty environments.
So once again, these animalsneed a place to get out of the
sun.
It's going to help keep themcooler.
(32:14):
It's just better for theiroverall health.
But, u m, one of the bad thingsis that they don't have any
shade, they can get Pinkeye.
Symptoms of Pinkeye areexcessive watering of the eyes,
clouding, a you'll see it, u m,kind of formulating in their
eye.
And this disease is very easilytreatable, u m, with some over
the counter medications that youcan find at your local feed
(32:36):
store.
O kay.
So we're g oing t o talk alittle bit about biosecurity.
Best way to keep your animalshealthy is to prevent them
getting sick in the first place.
So with everything you're goingto want to limit exposure from
the outside.
I know we all want to have ourfriends and relatives over and
show them our lambs.
But, um, depending on wherethey've been, and if they have
(32:57):
lambs themselves that have beensick, you're not going to want
to let them bring over what theyhave at their house to yours.
So limiting, um, exposure fromthe outside.
If someone from the outside,like um, an ag teacher, an
extension agent or somethinglike that's coming to your
facility, don't be, don't beafraid to ask them to wear the
protective booties or dip theirshoes in some sort of a foot
(33:20):
bath.
Just to make sure that they'renot bringing anything with them
from somebody else's house.
So I know for myself, we, we goon a lot of different house
calls.
We go from house to house and wesee a lot of different animals
that may be sick, maybe not.
So we're probably one of thebigger risks that family can
have in terms of the health oftheir animals.
(33:41):
So, um, don't be afraid to askus to, you know, dip our feet
or, or, uh, sanitize, wash ourhands, those types of things.
Usually we're all doing itanyway, but just in case it's
okay to always do it again.
Outside visitors, um, reallyneed to be washing their hands
before touching lambs and reallywashing between lambs.
(34:03):
Sometimes if you have a ringwormproblem that you haven't quite
noticed it yet you touch a lamband then you go touch all the
other lambs, you're gonna giveit to everybody else,
guaranteed.
You're gonna want to make sureyour scales are sanitized
between weighing if they're usedby several exhibitors.
Like for myself, when we go fromhouse to house, we usually take
(34:23):
some bleach spray with us and wespray the inside of those scales
with bleach, just to try to helpreduce the risk of spreading
anything from house to house.
You're gonna want to sanitizeyour pens regularly.
If you have, especially ifyou've had some sickness or some
ringworm, you have to sanitizethose pens to try to kill that
off.
(34:43):
Or you're just going to get itagain.
Another thing is after sickness,make sure you sanitize your
facility before the sick lambreturns.
Um, so making sure that they,that you have everything cleaned
before you bring that lamb, thathopefully is better before you
bring them back in.
And of course, with everything,you're going to want to be
(35:03):
taking, um, having some sort ofrecord keeping for your animals.
And thankfully I have a wholeseparate YouTube video about the
4H livestock record app that youcan use.
But this, this is like an all inone type of thing.
You can keep your weights inthat app.
It'll calculate your averagedaily gain.
(35:24):
You can keep track of your feedweights, um, any changes in
feeds when you dewormed,supplements as well as your
expenses and any income that youmay have may have gotten all in
one place.
So it's really a great thing.
The only thing, the onlydownfall to it is I'm going to
say, just tell you up front isthat is for iPhones and, um, and
(35:45):
iPads only so Apple productsbasically.
But anyway, it's a really greatway to keep track of all the
records that you need for yourShow Lamb project throughout the
year.
And if all else fails, you canalways use, um, there's nothing
wrong with, you know, having a,uh, livestock record sheet there
(36:05):
in the barn and just keepingtrack of it that way.
That you can put in your recordbooks or your SAE projects later
on down the road.
Okay.
So that's the end of thispresentation.
Again, this is going to be onYouTube.
It's also going to be availableto listen to on a podcast.
Up next, we'll be talking aboutShow Goats and Steers, kind of
(36:25):
going into a little bit of depthon those projects.
Uh, this information is providedcourtesy of the Grant County
Cooperative Extension Service inGrant County, New Mexico.
My name is Jessica SwappMassengill and I'm the Grant
County 4H and Ag Agent there,but I, I serve everyone.
So if you have any questions forme, um, you can give me a call
(36:45):
at(575) 388-1559.
That's my office number.
We're not always in the officeright now, due to the COVID-19
restrictions.
Um, but you can always reach meby email at Jesse J, which is
spelled jessiej@nmsu.edu.
(37:06):
I hope this was informative.
I hope you gained something fromit.
Um, and that it helps you alongthe way with your project.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
We will catch you on the next one, thanks everyone
for listening.
If you enjoy this podcast, don'tforget to hit the subscribe
button on Apple podcast,Stitcher, Google play, or
whatever app you're using tolisten to this podcast.
Want more information?
You can visit us at our websitegrantextension.nmsu.edu.
(37:36):
Follow us on Facebook at NMSUGrant County CES, snapchat@
grantcountynm4h shoot us anemail at grant@nmsu.edu, or give
us a call(575) 388-1559.
New Mexico State University isan equal opportunity.
(37:58):
Affirmative action, employer andeducator NMSU, and the US
Department of Agriculturecooperating.
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