[Jacob-list] some ideas?

[G & J Johnston]

Interesting topic.  I think which option you chose depends on your own system and circumstances.  

You may want to let your older ewes remain on your holding as pets, without breeding them further. Older sheep require more attention, slightly longer grass and easy to chew extras, plus shelter.  We make sure our older sheep have hay available to eat all year round in additon to pasture and we feed them 'coarse sheep mix', which is a commercially available mix which contains barley, flattened maize, flattened peas, ewe pellets, molasses and added vitamins.  It's what we feed our in-lamb ewes. We also feed digestive biscuits to the old ladies as a high-cal treat. On this regime they do very well until their back teeth start to go.  Then they loose weight rapidly and you have to take the decision - to shoot them, to let the slaughterman shoot them, to get in the vet to euthanase them or to let them 'slip away'.  The latter sounds the most preferable but in fact only a few will do this comfortably so you are back to the other options.
This is ok when it's just one or two old ewes - most places can carry a couple of old biddies without much problem and we feel they have earned a gentle end.  However, you could find yourselves in the position in which we arrived recently, with twelve such venerable old ladies whose only contribution to their keep was their fleeces.  Three are too decrepit to do anything but enjoy the sunshine for the summer, but the rest, after a year to get over their last lambing, were all in good condition so we took the awful decison to send them for slaughter to make sausages.  They were of course all old friends and each was special, so the decision has been difficult, but with our own health problems we realised we had to do something urgently as we were sometimes struggling to give the care necessary to the younger breeding stock, because the older ones needed more than a fair share of the attention.  So some have gone and some are waiting to go.  The sausages so far have been delicious (breakfast type).  To have had them all shot and wasted like so much garbage was not an option. Our local slaughterhouse is good and they took extra care when they heard how old the ewes were - I think the slaughtermen were a bit upset too ! If we were allowed to slaughter our stock at home in this country then we would have preferred that.

The way we feel now is that it is important not to let the sheep get too thin and to lose their interest in life before you take the decision.  The ones we have sent for slaughter were all full of beans and skipping around the place, even the oldest at 13.  Without the burden of annual lambing they can maintain themselves in good condition for quite some time with no front teeth at all.
On the other hand it would be a shame to kill off your good ewes just because they have reached a certain age. For a long-lived breed, we should be breeding from older ewes who have kept their teeth, condition and conformation.  We have just had a healthy ewe lamb tonight from a 14 year old ewe - she is a Hebridean, but the breed is very similar to the Jacob.  She still has all her teeth and has been frisky and very excited throughout her pregnancy, and is now over the moon with her new daughter - who we shall keep and hope she is as long-lived as her dam.

As responsible stock keepers we all know we have to take the difficult decisions along with the routine, and to take them with the welfare of the animals in mind.  I think that once you begin to wonder if the time has come, then it probably has.

Congrats to all on your lovely lambs

Juliet in Scotland UK

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We, too, would be interested in others ideas on this topic, as our flock 
matriarch (about 10 years old) has not produced enough milk for her twins 
this year and we may not bread her again.  Thanks!  Steve and Trish Barrows, 
Amazing Grace Farm in central NYS.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lasell J. Bartlett" <lasell at lasell.org>
To: <Jacob-list at jacobsheep.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 4:32 AM
Subject: [Jacob-list] some ideas?



> I'd like to hear what folks do with an elderly, well-loved ewe --  what 

> measures (and specifics would be helpful) you go through to keep  her 

> alive and comfortable, what ways you would 'help her along' and  how you 

> personally judge 'when' to do it if she's not doing so  well... She is 

> alert and mobile and eating, and stays with the flock  unless we have some 

> pellets for her, just spending more time resting,  and under her fleece, 

> she's not holding her weight like before.

>

> Not the most cheerful of topics but I'd like some ideas and some  support 

> as we are starting to think seriously about intervening with  our dear and 

> oldest ewe.

>

> Lasell J Bartlett

> Fine Fettle Farm

> Newbury VT

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