White Clover Sheep Farm

White Clover Sheep Farm Ulf Kintzel raising White Dorper Sheep, grazing genetics, no grain feeding ever. Breeding stock, ewe and ram lambs, available.

Nettings don’t always reach the way you want them to. And then you have a little gap sometimes, too small to use a whole...
09/05/2026

Nettings don’t always reach the way you want them to. And then you have a little gap sometimes, too small to use a whole netting measuring 164 feet/50 meters.

For that reason, I have made myself lots of nettings that are 2,and 3, and 4, and 5, and 6, and 7, and 8, and 9 sections long. I didn’t go beyond that length because if I need to fill a larger gap, I use a whole netting (13 sections) and let the nettings overlap where they meet.

I cut up old nettings that were broken or worn in places or were partially destroyed by deer crashing through, threaded in a replacement post at the end, and connected the horizontal hot wires with a hot wire from the repair kit that come with new nettings.

One piece of nonsense that seems to be persistently out there is the belief that overlapping nettings shorten out the electricity. Whoever came up with that certainly didn’t major in physics. Nettings may overlap, no problem. The electricity will flow freely. However, whoever isn’t convinced that I am right is invited to touch my overlapping nettings after I turned on the energizer. That will speak louder than words.

09/03/2026

After a dry spell we finally received some rain. 2.5 inches/63.5 mm in total. That surely will make the pasture grow.

09/03/2026

The garden was flooded.

This was something last night!
09/03/2026

This was something last night!

Heavy downpours and wind gusts now and then today. It took down much of my nettings and flooded the barn again. On the b...
09/02/2026

Heavy downpours and wind gusts now and then today. It took down much of my nettings and flooded the barn again. On the bright side, the rain washed my sheep and made them look so bright that it blinded my eyes.

“At what age do you wean your lambs?” That’s a typical question I get. My answer is that I don’t wean.Here in these pict...
09/01/2026

“At what age do you wean your lambs?” That’s a typical question I get. My answer is that I don’t wean.

Here in these pictures, you see one of my ewes with two female lambs. I keep these two for replacement. They are five months old and well above 80 lbs. (I don’t want to exaggerate. That is not my style. However, they may very well be above 90 lbs. each.) They nursed just prior to me taking this picture. That is why they are with their mother.

Yes, in practical terms I wean the intact ram lambs at four plus months of age and keep them with the rams that they don’t breed my ewes.
Yes, in practical terms I wean the ewe lambs I sell at the age of three to four months of age when they leave the farm.

However, that is not what people mean when they ask about weaning. I don’t systematically wean all lambs at two or two-and-a-half months of age. It is unnecessary, causes management and health challenges, and in most cases it serves no purpose.

All my replacement ewe lambs and my market lambs (castrated ram lambs) are still with the flock and their mothers.

The practice of weaning has in many cases taken a life on its own, simply because that’s how it is often taught. Few ask themselves if it is actually necessary.

Regaining body weight – a reason often cited by the those in favor of weaning - is certainly not a reason to wean with my White Dorper sheep as you can see in the picture. The ewe is already plenty fat and still has a month’s time before breeding season starts.

Accelerated lambing comes to mind when one looks for a legitimate reason to wean. Having extensive experience with accelerated lambing, I stay away from it for a myriad of reasons.

08/29/2026

March-born grass-fed market lamb, 103 lbs. That's about average.

08/28/2026

Got meat?

Today I picked up my annual supply of colostrum from the neighboring organic dairy farm and froze it in ready-to-use por...
08/28/2026

Today I picked up my annual supply of colostrum from the neighboring organic dairy farm and froze it in ready-to-use portions of about seven ounces in small water bottles. The cow from which the colostrum was collected is a cross between Jersey and Holstein. She freshened last night, this was her first milking this morning. The Jersey influence makes the milk fatter, closer to 5% milkfat, which is closer to ovine milk fat content, which is much higher than the one of bovine milk. The dairy herd is tested for Johne’s disease, so the individual lambs that will receive this colostrum are safe from contracting the disease.

What is colostrum? It is the very first milk that a mammal produces after birth. The significance is that lambs (as well as calves) receive all their first antibodies and thus early immunity against common diseases via this colostrum. While some mammals transfer antibodies via the placenta and some via a combination of placenta and colostrum, sheep pass them exclusively on through the colostrum. A lamb must have colostrum within the first day or so. Shortly after that, a ewe stops producing these antibodies. Furthermore, antibodies, which are proteins consisting of long chains of amino acids, only pass a lamb’s digestive system whole within the first day or so and then enter the bloodstream. When the lamb is a few days old, the anti-bodies get broken down into individual amino acids in the digestive system and thus are no longer effective. So, you can see how colossally important colostrum is (pun intended)!

Bovine colostrum has proven effective for sheep. It will be given to a lamb in need via a feeding tube. Such lamb could be one whose mother has died or one that has or had mastitis and is not producing enough colostrum for two or three lambs, or it could be a lamb that was born premature or weak and is unable to nurse. While these cases are few and far between at White Clover Sheep Farm, the colostrum is literally a life saver when needed. Colostrum can also be purchased in powdered form. It is very expensive, and I am very thrifty. That is why I choose bovine colostrum.

08/28/2026

It feels like fall. Not that I am complaining.

Address

Rushville, NY

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when White Clover Sheep Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category