10/14/2026
Sheep - Semi-Annual Health Check. Twice a year we have our vet, Louisa Veterinary Service, Inc. , come out and check our flocks to make sure they are ok and that we didn't miss something. Great news yesterday...our flocks are in great shape. We did have to have two of the sheep drenched for parasites (which is down from 6 last year). We also had them look at our two (farm born) rams horns. They trimmed both of them; especially the black one who had one horn scrapping wool off his neck. We noticed about a week ago that our adult ram looked like he had a minor limp or was favoring his right hind leg. The vet thinks it was from his front right leg as it had softened the cuticle due to the moisture in the grass. She cut out the soft hoof cuticle. We will see how well he is doing today as we introduce the adult female sheep into the same pasture as him.
With the wetter and warmer weather this fall, we have been worried about parasites so this was a relief. We have focused on limiting the sheep's time in any paddock (sub-division of a pasture); trying to keep the paddocks to about 5 days of good forage for the sheep. This timeline limits the parasites ability to be re-ingested in the sheep keeping their parasite load lower. We have also encouraged them to eat wild lespedeza and provided some in their alfalfa treat (also a protein supplement during lambing periods) they get every 3 days or so.
Our processes seem to be working so stay tuned for updates.
