[Jacob-list] Vaccinations/flock management

[Linda]

One of the things I admire about Jacobs is their ability to adapt to a wide range of management techniques.  There are flocks thriving in such diverse situations as those that are nearly feed lots to those that involve leaving sheep alone and unattended to make it or not on their own.  And certainly many, many flock situations in various steps between.   We, as shepherds, manage our flocks according to our situations.  "Natural selection" in a managed situation has little relationship to "natural selection" in the wild.  Probably doesn't have much relationship to "natural selection" at the next farm over, either.  
I even find that some of my sheep have their own ideas about how they would like to be managed.  RubyBelle lambed under the same tree for 8 years, going so far as to stand by the gate looking at the tree with her legs crossed until I'd let her out to lamb at her spot.  She was forced into abandoning her tree by our move last year and did lamb successfully, but I think she missed her tree.  She also has refused to breed with rams she didn't like.  She's not aggressive, she just backs up against the fence and refuses to move.  Putting her with another ram at times like that have resulted in instant breeding.  Awhile back, I sold a bred two year old ewe (daughter of RubyBelle, come to think of it).  She had lambed as a yearling and again as a two year old.  Both times she lambed outside and both times was an excellent mother.  The woman that bought her called when she lambed the next spring, complaining about what a terrible mother she was.  The woman, unused to sheep, had locked her in a horse stall out of sight of the other sheep for lambing.  She had never been locked up where she couldn't see out and she had never been out of sight of her flock.  She did not want to be managed that way.
I don't think there is a blanket answer to questions such as "should I vaccinate", "how often should I worm", "what should I feed", "when should I trim feet" yadda yadda yadda.  One of the things I enjoy most about this list is hearing so many different ideas.  Some will work for me, some won't.  Some I'll agree with, some I won't.  And I am not surprised that some people will agree with me and some won't.  We're all raising these highly individual and opinionated sheep and it's not surprising to find that Jacob breeders are the same :-)

Linda




 
www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn

On Mon, 6 Feb 2006 12:11:17 EST, Paintedrockfarm at aol.com wrote:

>
> I also feel each shepherds situation is different and what is
> effective in one flock may not be in another.  Having the equine
> species on your sheep farm is one example of a greater need to
> vaccinate against tetanus.  For our flock, losing a sheep to
> something preventable like tetanus by not vaccinating isn't worth
> the risk.  We have horses and we elect to vaccinate against this
> disease.
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