Tups off

Aye, the boys are back home, they've had their fun for the year, it's now all over for another year and gathered in they are. Not everyone fetches their tups in, some seem to leave them running with the flock, I've never been accustomed to this, the tups would always be fetched off the ewes, you always knew when the lambing would draw to a close, it can help the sanity in the spring, knowing that the lambing will come to an end.

Once all gathered in off the ewes the boys found themselves going through the sheep pens. A bit of a health check was required. Much to young Kales pleasure, he found himself with the opportunity of working in the pens or ought that be learning in the pens?

Some of the fellas found themselves heading off for a journey to the mart, never to be seen again, they may have been old sheep or maybe just spares which had been kept should an emergency arise at tup time, regardless, if they are no longer wanted there is no point in feeding them, off they went.

Those remaining found themselves walking through a footbath, horns checked and sorted (will write about this sometime), dosed and of course squirted for lice, although they seem to show no outward signs they will indeed be infested, the ewes were so the tups will be also.

Tups in a tight area are not always the safest of creatures, young Kale found himself on the wrong side of the gate on purpose, his enthusiasm could see him hurt, if not him then probably me. There are some bolshy characters and I didn't wish to see either the young fella or myself get injured. He watched the proceedings with great interest and a longing...

Finally all the doings to the fellas had been done, left to stand on concrete for a short while to allow the chemical which was in the footbath to soak into their feet, odd ones started to hold a foot up - a good sign, obviously they had a touch of scald (similar I guess to athletes foot), for all they had been showing no outward signs, in other words weren't limping, they must have been starting with something, the bath would hopefully sort this up and prevent it from worsening.

The last of these boys were fetched off the ewes on 4th January, allowing the five months less five days thing you would say the ewes would cease lambing at the end of May, however, we all know that some carry their lambs over their due dates, it will be fair to say that by the end of May/beginning of June there'll be nowt left to lamb - hurray! But then these sheep wont be bothering Shep as she heads elsewhere to go lambing.

The boys eventually found themselves returned to their pasture

much to young Kales delight, as he found himself being allowed to pretend to be a sheepdog, he hasn't had the work he ought to have over tup time but proved to be enthusiastic and willing when given his chance.

He can run faster than I of that there is no doubt, still learning the ropes he did very well with the boys. They are ideal to work a young dog on, due to their bolshyness as much as anything, they can teach a keen fella a bit of respect, whilst the keen fella also teaches the boys a bit of respect, the arrangement works quite well.

The boys get their reward for the inconvenience caused to them, Kale received a well deserved pat for listening and learning and walked out of the field feeling he'd achieved something.

y' learn something new every day!

They say you learn something new every day. Well today has been no exception, once again Shep has learnt something new.

A day of preparing sheep for the autumn - dosing, footcare, tagging, keeling, innoculating - just the usual sort of stuff at this time of year. T'was whilst dealing with feet that my knowledge of all things new found itself being expanded.

The sheep were held in a large sized pen, slowly walked by and a watchful eye was kept open and alert for any which were showing signs of lameness. Once anything was spotted it was caught, sat on it's backside and the offending foot/feet dealt with.

All which was required for the operation on hand were a pair of foot shears (similar I guess to garden secateurs or even heavy duty scissors), antiseptic for application to the foot and observation. Fairly simple really.

As said the pen was a bit on the big side, smaller pens can be easier to handle sheep in but all set ups are different. Shep needed both hands free to catch a hold of the sheep, which meant the sheep either had to be manhandled to where ever the foot shears and antiseptic were left or else they had to be on my person.

I always prefer the easier option and so the foot shears were stuck in the back pocket of my jeans whilst the antiseptic was shoved down the front of my jeans and held in place by the waistband, therefore enabling both hands to be free - great idea. Except! The antiseptic was contained in a small hand sprayer, the type used in kitchens to spray cleaners onto surfaces had found itself recycled into the sheep pens to hold the required 'medicine'. Very useful. Except............. !!

I had handled quite a few sheep, pared their feet, sprayed any feet which required treatment, each time replacing the bottle back into the waistband of my jeans. I had exclaimed at the fact one of the sheep had maggots in it's feet, this is now October and maggots would not be so likely to be found at this time of the year, however, summer arrived!! Well okay, not for long, but we did have four outrageously hot days, and I mean hot! Flies had obviously woken up again and gone to work laying their eggs and maggots had hatched.

As said, I had treated a number of sheep before I noticed the mark on my T shirt. I cursed quietly to myself. This particular farmer chooses to use Iodine when treating his sheeps feet and inadvertently every time I bent over the sprayer tucked inside my jeans had been discreetly spraying me, covering my clothing with dark brown iodine. I cursed as I couldn't help think it would be a pain to get the stain out of my clothing, especially as I was wearing a favourite T shirt and one which to date didn't have any holes or tears in it. What the hell! the damage was done, why worry about it? On I went along the same vein, foot shears in back pocket, spray bottle of iodine in waistband of jeans, allowing both hands to be free for the job I was doing.

A good hour went by before the job in hand was sorted and I moved on to doing other jobs to the sheep, bottle and foot shears were put away to one side as dosing commenced.

Lunch time came around and I was invited in to the farmhouse for Sunday dinner - lovely!

I have to say my belly had begun to smart a little but during lunch the sweat started to stand on my brow, the sensation under my clothing was one of skin having been peeled off then sprinkled with vinegar. OOH! just a tad uncomfortable!

I had a discreet little peek. Well I'll be damned - don't know why I hadn't thought the Iodine would soak through my T shirt - silly me! A quick excuse to dash to the loo and hot soapy water was applied along with a bit of scrubbing to see if the stain would wash off - followed by a sharp intake of breath, that probably hadn't been the brightest of moves.......

I had to give in and ask the farmers mother if she had any cream of any description which I could apply to my belly to help take the smarting (stinging) away. Well! Not only did I get cream I also got stripped down and given a fresh T shirt amidst a great deal of fuss and concern and my roast dinner was getting cold too!! It seemed that my attempts to calm the situation were failing, comments of "I'm fine", "it just stings a little" weren't working, something to do with being very red in the face and sweating and looking extremely uncomfortable were observations which were being made......... and my dinner was getting colder!! I finally accepted a couple of paracetemol before my nose was pinched and they were rammed down my throat regardless, gobbled my dinner, smeared cream on my belly and headed back out to the pens.

There's nowt like being kept busy to take your mind off things.

It wasn't long before the job in hand was interrupted by a 'phone call. The NHS helpline had been 'phoned by the concerned and caring farmers mother (I do believe I maybe agreed to this prior to darting from the house) - my face reddened further!

After giving my date of birth (what has that got to do with a smarting belly?) I was asked to describe what it was I had soaked myself in "Extra strong Iodine - 10%" came the reply " but it's alright, I'm not gonna die, it's supposed to be good for sheeps feet and they use it for operations before they cut people open, it's just a wee bit uncomfortable but it'll wear off and anyhow, I've found some cream in the box full of sheep medicines and put that on and it seems to help better than the cream in the house" There was then laughter on the other end of the 'phone, the professional composure of the nurse whom I had been speaking to had cracked "you've smeared yourself with sheep medicines?"
"no, NO, it's a tube of savalon, I think it's for humans"
"sheep savalon?"
"I don't think so, I think it's human savalon, just lives with the sheep medicines"
By this time I was wishing a hole would open and swallow me up, I was imagining this poor soul heading home after her shift, having manned the 'phones all day dealing with all sorts of potentially serious problems telling her husband that she had had a right nutter on the 'phone today. I could almost hear her "You're not going to believe this............"

I did hear her explain to me that Iodine burns and also blisters. "Do you have any blistering?" A quick peek under the shirt "nope, it's fine, just stained, red around the edges and smarting a bit, I'll be fine"

I missed the following advice as to how to deal with my chemical burn as it commenced with a warning not to self medicate with sheep medicines and I couldn't help but laugh and also couldn't help but want to get out of this ludicrous situation I had seemed to find myself. It could only happen to Shep!

Boy was I pleased to get home that night! I've worked with Iodine all my working life, every farm has Iodine, it's used for numerous things, I've used it myself if I've cut my finger or something, just head to the sheep medicine cupboard and douse the offending cut with Iodine. I didn't know it burnt.

Unfortunately once home the problem rose to the fore again, that smarting was still there and sitting down didn't help coz your belly kinda wrinkles and makes things feel sorer. Damn, I wished I could remember what that nurse had said you could put on and what you couldn't. An ice pack was helping then I did the "Who wants to be a millionaire" thing and I 'phoned a friend.

I've accepted I was put on this planet to make people laugh and there's no doubt about it my friend did just that, when she arrived at the house twenty minutes later with burn creams in her hand the tears were streaming down her face, a quick peek had her almost hysterical. "Did you not know Iodine burns? You're priceless!"

This is the same friend whom many years ago came to the rescue after I had used caustic soda to strip paint off some wood, my fingers were sore, my fingernails were brown and my friend exclaimed "for god's sake - it's caustic! that means it burns! you're lucky you've still got fingers. Didn't you think to wear gloves?" followed again by guffaws of laughter.

So....... a learning curve! Anyone who didn't know let me tell you IODINE BURNS - just in case you hadn't got the jist of this posting! Don't worry tho', I'll live. I've got quite an impressive red blob which looks something like the shape of australia, in fact I might just call it Oz. Oz will be good company so long as I don't sit down, bend over, wear clothes or put Oz in contact with anything.

Like they say - you learn something new every day!!

maggoty feet

Now Shep is a bit of a fussy eater, a meat and tatties (potatoes) person, I like to know what it is I'm eating and be sure it doesn't remind me of anything I'd sooner not be reminded of. So what could eating possibly have to do with a posting titled maggoty feet? Rice - y'know, that stuff that most people eat except for Shep that is, coz rice always reminds me of maggots although I don't suppose it tastes of maggots but then I wouldn't know, I know rice is bland I honestly don't want to know what maggots taste of - ugh!

The maggoty feet in the title are sheeps feet, not mine although people as well as animals can get infested with maggots, flies aren't bothered what they lay their eggs on, so long as their is a food source for the hatched larvae or maggot that is their only criteria in their desire to reproduce.

Healthy flesh is not the first choice of the fly, smelly, rancid flesh seems to be preferable. Such as rotten feet in sheep, dirty backsides in sheep and definitely anything dead be it rabbit, sheep, cow, human they don't care, dead flesh is fair game.

 

An overgrown hoof can often be a sign of an infection in the foot. Sheep are cloven hooved, having two toes which grown hoof similar to our finger nails. It can naturally get overgrown just as our own nails can but sheep are prone to a number of foot problems which can eat away below the once healthy hoof causing it to become loose. Foot rot is a prime example, a bacteria which thrives whilst hiding under the hoof but which struggles once exposed to the air.

The above photo is of one such over grown foot. The maggots in the centre between the two cluts are just the tip of the iceberg, there is worse to be revealed.

 

Even whilst surveying the foot the flies are landing, they're not checking on their offspring and having a parently crack they are hoping to lay more eggs, to produce more offspring. The foot obviously has the right smell, and believe you me foot rot does smell, it is aptly named. On the first photo it is pretty obvious that the hoof is not healthy, the left hand clut has obvious holes in it, it has grown away from the flesh of the foot due to infection below

 

Once you start cutting this infected, loose hoof off it soon becomes apparent that there are more maggots hiding in there, the flies were actually burrowing themselves through this hole in the hoof to lay their eggs.

 

Sure enough it was a hot day early in July and the flies were having a whale of a time, as the foot was pared down they couldn't resist sitting on the exposed 'healthy' foot trying to lay yet more eggs.

 

As more hoof came off the extent of the maggot infestation became apparent, there aren't just the big fat healthy maggots, their are maggots of various stages, down to tiny little wee things that some folks might need to put their specs on to see. Stinking little blighters!

Strangely enough maggots in sheeps feet can be of an advantage to the shepherd and also the sheep, they can also be of a huge disadvantage. As in this case, hidden under the hoof the maggots have been munching away merrily, eating all the dead flesh, all the smelly, unhealthy, infected flesh of the foot itself. That is actually good, nature is cleaning out the foot herself.

Unfortunately life isn't quite so simple as the sheep will be lying down an awful lot because she has got a sore foot, the activity of the maggots causes a greasiness on the surface of the hoof which can easily be transferred onto the sheeps belly when she is lying, this in turn smells like a rotten foot and the flies then lay their eggs on this part of her body also, it is then that the problems really arise as maggots can spread quickly and forget about eating unhealthy meat in their desire to survive. As they spread across the body of the sheep they manage to cause the skin to go smelly and discoloured and so encouraging their feeding frenzy. Something of a vicious circle and one which unfortunately can ultimately end up in the death of the sheep. Only in the most severe cases though.

Generally, if noticed in plenty of time, maggots in a sheeps feet are a not a major issue although it is always preferable not to find yourself in that position. If not noticed quickly enough you could have a major health issue on your hands. Maggots have been used in human medicine, bred under laboratory conditions they have been used successfully to clean out gangrenous wounds in hopitalised patients, however, I suspect these are closely monitored and are removed from the wound once the desired affect has been reached. Exactly what the shepherd must do, remove the little blighters to prevent them from causing havoc.

Once all the dead hoof has been removed and the healthy flesh of the foot is exposed the whole foot can be immersed in a diluted dip solution. Either that or a small (and I mean small) amount of pour on can be applied to the foot. I love doing this and seeing the little blighters come writhing out of every nook and cranny, it's amazing how many of them can be hidden in a foot, as they wriggle over the top of one another it is amazing how they spread the pour on from one another causing them to drop of the foot and eventually die. (More care is needed if treating maggot infestation on the sheeps body, over use of pour on can ultimately kill the sheep through the stress of the chemical on her body, a shorn sheep may also suffer 'burning' to the exposed maggot infested skin - do be very careful and cautious when treating them)Once the foot has been cleared of maggots always check the sheeps body for signs of eggs attached to the wool.

Hot, humid conditions are ideal for fly strike, cold conditions will often cause maggots to die off, however the temperature under the hoof of the foot will enable maggots to survive longer than if they are on the body of the sheep. Ideally, feet ought to be dealt with when ever the sheep are in the pens in the hope of preventing fly strike should the conditions arise. Fly eggs hatch very quickly if the conditions are right and maggots can soon cause a major problem in just a number of days.

Udder locking

Strange name. Have to say don't know where it originates as it isn't actually a self explanatory name. Udder locking is basically the removal of wool around the udder.

 

Years back I used to udderlock all the gimmers prior to lambing time. Gimmers are the young sheep which are to have their first lambs. They were clipped earlier than the ewe flock when they were known as a hogg and as such they generally carry a heavier fleece. Due to the gimmers having a heavier fleece the wool on their tummies is heavier and shaggier too, their bags (udders) can often be smaller than a ewes bag and if it is tucked away amongst a lot of wool the lambs can sometimes struggle to find the tit (teat) when going in for their first suck. For this reason they found themselves udderlocked. Present day practices don't often see this being done until the problem should arise, when found with a hungry lamb a sheep may find itself being udderlocked prior to latching the lamb on for a suck.

 

The wool is gripped in the hand near to the sheeps skin, the other hand keeps the skin tight by pulling down in the opposite direction to the direction that the wool is being ploated (plucked/pulled) out.

 

The wool both infront and behind the bag is removed by this process.

 

S'pose it must feel a tad cold for the sheep but at least when she lambs down the lamb wont find itself sucking away at straggles of wool instead of the tit. Hoggs which lamb in bye can be notorious for having woolly bags and it often pays to give them a bit of an udder lock. All breeds vary tho', the blackfaced hill breed as shown here does have a shaggy coat whereas the likes of your cheviot has a denser coat and is less likely to have to be udderlocked. Mule hoggs which have been bred from the blackie ewe can tend to be shaggy underneath and these hoggs inparticular can sometimes require udderlocking.

 

The main reason these sheep found themselves being udderlocked was due to the fact that they all needed turning to have their feet sorted, they were three weeks off lambing at the time and it just seemed like a good idea to have their bags trimmed whilst we were doing feet, after all, it only takes a few seconds and the wool that was removed came in very handy for cleaning their feet out prior to foot trimming.

Injuries to tups

The saying goes that your tup (male entire sheep) is half the flock. How can one sheep be half your flock? Well, that one sheep is the sire of the next generation. He is as important if not more so than the females, especially when pure breeding.

That explains why shepherds and farmers alike go to such pains when choosing a tup, picking a beast which they deem will pass on the attributes they require for their flock. A good tup can set you back a fair bit of money, especially if others have their eyes on the same beast. Having said that you can also pick up a good tup for little money, it all depends on the luck of the draw.

Once you've acquired your tup your intention is to look after him and all the other tups too. They can fight, just like the wildlife programmes on the television there is always a male who wants to be dominant. When acquiring new tups it always pays to fetch your older tups in and pen all the tups up tight together so that they cannot move too much and damage one another. They are usually barred up tight like this for a good few hours, until the scent has passed over all of them and the new tups hopefully end up smelling similar to those which are already used to one another.

Unfortunately even tups which have lived together since last tup time can begin to push their weight around prior to tup time, they know it's the season and there is usually a bolshy chap who thinks he's the dominant one, if the others are wise they will be submissive. If not a humdinger of a fight can commence. Hill tups have horns, all tups have very hard heads and strong necks.

The tups use their heads to attack, commencing with pushing the others around a bit but should one of them decide to stand their ground against the domineering fella they will end up head butting one another, running backwards whilst facing their opposition they will then charge, resulting in a head on collision. It is not wise to stand between them, they are set on their purpose and won't stop because you're in the way, your best option is to attempt to distract them whilst keeping safely out of the contact zone..

 

One tup will eventually back down but he may well be hurt in the process. It is not unheard of to have a tup 'set his neck' (break his neck), or end up appearing to have some sort of brain damage. The dominant tup may also ram the opposition up the backside or in the side of his body which can result in stifles or broken backs. Not an everyday scenario but it does happen. Tups can appear to be content in one an others company and the next time you see them they can either be fighting or one may appear injured. More often than not there is a little bit or argy bargy which comes to nothing. The above texel tup was dazed but fortunately there was no long term damage.

Once out to the ewes there is a less likely chance of fighting. Even two tups put out together will work their way through the ewes rather than fight, however, there is still a chance of a fight if there aren't plenty of ewes or if one tup is determined to steal off the other, but generally the dominant tup will get his way whilst the other heads off to find another ewe.

So if one tup is put to ewes nothing can really go wrong? If only.

Lameness is an issue, especially on a back foot/leg. Tups mount the ewes and so need to be sound on their back legs. They may go lame due to injury such as twisting a hip or leg or they may go lame with foot rot or scald. The latter can be dealt with quickly as soon as it is seen and hopefully prevent it getting worse or maybe even cure it but an injury to the leg is a bad look out and the tup will have to be changed for one which is sound.

The tups manhood may also get damaged. One reason why ewes get tailed (the wool taken off their tails)is to prevent injury to the tups penis, known generally as his peezel or pizel. The peezel is tucked away inside the tups body and only shows face when he is aroused. A sensitive and tender part of his anatomy.

Should his peezel be unfortunate enough to have to fight through hard bits of dried muck or frosty wool it may well get damaged. The first sign for the shepherd is traces of blood on the ewes tail/back end, these can be quite faint and not always obviously apparent. A fair bit of blood on the tail is not a good sign.

This is the problem that arose out bye the other day, a tup had bled himself and he won't be the only one this winter. The driving, blowing snow has been lying on the sheep's backs, they are well insulated and it doesn't melt that quickly, should a frosty night follow the wool finds it has frozen snow encrusted on it. To the tup and his privates this must be like pushing through razor blades and so causes damage.

 

Although difficult to tell on the above photo if you look closely you'll notice that the sheep have a covering of frozen snow on their backs and tails. Even though they have been tailed there is still wool for the snow to adhere to and this is where the problem arises.

Should a tup bleed himself he has to be replaced and removed from the ewes, an investigation of his peezel will show how much damage has been done and generally given rest from sexual activity he will heel up and be ready to resume his duties. I have in the past rested a tup for a few days and he has gone back to the ewes and been no further trouble. However on a year such as this it would be unwise to return him to his duties as the cause of the problem is still there and you wouldn't want to risk damaging him beyond repair.

Another issue, which I have to admit I have never come across but have heard of it in both tups and bulls is to snap their peezel. There is only one route for the tup should this happen as he will never breed again.

So, the poor old sheep are battling with the weather and it has more hidden dangers than the obvious. Pretty lousy weather for tup time with dangerous consequences for the poor old tups. Nowts ever as simple as it seems! Observation is of paramount importance, even whilst battling with the weather.

maggots

Maggots are astir in the countryside, no reason why they shouldn't be the weather conditions are perfect for them, hot and humid. We'd all sooner not see the little blighters however as they can cause a great deal of misery to both the sheep and the shepherd.

In the house you have to be aware in weather like this that the blow fly is around and generally keep any food happed up or in the fridge, anything dying outdoors will soon be moving with maggots and will disintegrate in a number of days. However, the blow fly doesn't just go for stationary, dead food sources, it heads for live food sources as well and sheep are one of them.

The problem today has been lame lambs and sheep with maggots in the feet, the sheep has been lying long enough for the fly to lay her eggs and within 24 hours maggots will have emerged, they eat away at the dead, stinking part of the foot and can actually do a better job of dressing a bad foot than we can, however, they don't always stop there.

The sheep lies down and tucks its feet in, the maggots start to wriggle around and soon climb onto the wool of the belly and then away up the flank of the sheep. Recent years have seen burrowing maggots -"black heeded buggers" - they do just that, burrow under the flesh of the animal causing immense distress and not always easily removed. It's quite a problem when sheep suffer from fly strike, nature at its worst.

there are products on the market which help alleviate the problem, some are pour ons which are a growth inhibitor, the eggs can be laid but don't usually hatch and if they do the maggots fail to grow. There are others which actually kill the eggs before they can be hatched, however these only seem to work on the actual part of the wool which they were administered to. The best approach if conditions are serious enough is plunge dipping, where the sheep is immersed in water with dip added to it, there again though the dips aren't as good as they used to be and although helpful against lice, ticks, scab they aren't always totally effective against blow fly. It often seems that anything which is hugely successful ends up being taken of the market.

Fortunately these sheep have been treated with the growth inhibiting pour on which won't prevent strike in the feet but ought to prevent the little blighters spreading over the sheeps bodies.