We begin flushing the ewes for breeding in November, 2 to 3 weeks pre-breeding. We vaccinate against abortion diseases. By the first week of December, breeding decisions have been made. The sheep are sorted accordingly, and the appropriate ram turned in, or preparations for artificial insemination have been made. We use a single sire mating, and typically have 4 or more different breeding groups.

The rams are left with the ewes for 6 weeks. Corn is fed to the breeding groups until the rams are removed. Ewe lambs also receive some supplemental soybean meal. While the ewes go off grain when the rams come out, the ewe lambs continue to be fed, as they are still growing themselves.

Thirty days after the rams come out, the ewes can be ultrasounded. This will tell you if the ewes settled, and sophisticated machines can count fetal numbers. The sheep can be separated into groups bearing triplets or twins, and fed accordingly. Open ewes can be sent to market.

Six weeks pre-lambing, the late gestation ration balanced to our hay test is begun. We feed the sheep their grain twice a day, which has kept ketosis from being a problem. As soon as possible, we send the ewes out on pasture, in a quick rotation. They end up at the hay feeding fence but this activity of being out, rummaging around much of the day gives them a good workout, and helps to keep lambing problems to a minimum.

The ewes are kept in good physical condition year-round, to a score of 3 to 3.5. The demands placed on them throughout the year warrant it, and our lambs and milk production reflect this management practice. Sound, healthy sheep hold this condition score much better, with less supplements. It is important to feed the flock properly, and to be sure that they have adequate mineral and water supply year-round.

We schedule shearing about a month before lambing. We trim any long toenails then so we don’t have to tip the ewes up again pre-lambing. We vaccinate the ewes with Covexin-8 within the month prior to lambing. If one wants to vaccinate to control soremouth, this should be done not less than 8 weeks pre-lambing. OPP blood samples are more easily drawn from slick shorn ewes; about a month pre-lambing is a good time to do this test.

To best utilize our pastures, we lamb in late April and May, as our grasses are beginning to grow well. About 75% of our ewes lamb in the first cycle, and the rest lamb in the second cycle. We use what I call a “Modified pasture lambing system”. Most of the ewes are left on pasture with their lambs, we eartag the lambs and spray paint them with their eartag number for ease of identification. Navels are iodined, and lambs recorded. Some ewes will be brought in and penned with their lambs if we feel the bonding process warrants it. Ewes are wormed as soon after they lamb as possible. The milking flock cannot be wormed again until they come off line; the only exceptions are wormers called Rumatel, and Panacur which are approved for dairy cows. Worming quickly and leaving the lambs on for 30 days gives a withdrawal time for the wormer.

Mixing groups are made of 5 or more ewes, depending on their experience level. After we see that all is going well, these ewes and their lambs can be mixed with another group, and thus into the main flock of ewes and lambs.

Not only do our ewes raise triplets on pasture, they also milk well off pasture. The lambs are left with the ewe for 30 days, and are out learning how to forage from their mothers from the very beginning. The lambs typically weigh 30 plus pounds at weaning. At weaning, we vaccinate with an 8-way clostridial, as they will now begin to eat creep more heavily. Because the lambs are weaned at this early age, we offer an ad lib creep mixture for their first 60 days.

They don’t start eating any significant quantity until their 3rd or 4th week, as they are getting sufficient nutrition from their mothers. The creep recipe, which we mix on farm, changes according to the lambs’ age and NRC requirements. The lambs are provided with a free choice mineral containing a coccidiastat, which is not available to the ewes, as it is not approved for lactating dairy animals.

The lambs continue on pasture after their first 60 days on creep, by which time they have adjusted well. Ewe lambs to be retained for breeding are fed corn, as are lambs we will direct market. In September or October we typically sell the balance of the wethers as feeder lambs.

Proper dairy nutrition will result in good milk production, and lengthened lactations. The ewes being milked receive, in addition to their pasture diet, a whole shelled corn ration fed on the stand, about 1 1/2 pounds per day, or .75 lbs per milking. Barley or oats are other excellent choices if they are more economical than corn. The grain serves as a source of energy.

The pasture, a high quality birdsfoot trefoil, clover, and grass mix, provides protein, and tests about 18%. Additional soybean meal may be added as required. The amount of pasture consumed may need to be regulated. Dairy ewes in a forage based system during the flush of grass growth may not eat enough fiber to make sufficient butterfat. Our holding area is divided by a hay feeder from which the ewes can munch while waiting to be milked.

They can also eat from it after exiting the milking parlor prior to going back out to pasture. Milking at 6 and 6 cuts into the time when ewes would normally be out grazing, so having this fiber source available is working out very well. It also helps to keep the ewes standing after milking, allowing the teat sphincter to close. We utilize probiotics and yeast cultures in the diet at weaning or whenever stress could be a factor in reducing food intake.

A rumen buffer is offered free choice; if that starts disappearing too fast we need to determine what is upsetting their digestion. We monitor the physical condition of our ewes during milking to be sure that they are getting the correct amount of feed. Ewes who are getting fat are putting on weight at the expense of milk production. Water must be provided to the ewes; it must be clean, fresh, and plentiful. A water source is located in each paddock. An additional source is in the barn for ewes who are waiting to be milked.

Our first group of ewes usually goes on the stand on Memorial Day weekend, and we milk for over 100 days post weaning. More ewes are added to the milking string according to their lambing dates. As she comes on line, each ewe is tested for mastitis, using the California Mastitis Test, or CMT. We thus identify problem ewes immediately, and deal with them according to the individual situation. CMT’s are done weekly on all ewes, as well as an as- needed basis. Some ewes are tested more frequently based on their last CMT test.

This process is time consuming, but it is important to udder health, and to the production of a quality product. If the number of ewes being milked becomes quite large, we will CMT a sample of milk from each bucket at each milking, rather than the weekly individual test. One elevated ewe can raise the entire bucket’s test result, and she can usually be found quickly at the next milking. Obviously sick ewes are spotted as we inspect and clean udders prior to milking each morning and evening.

WOOL

Wool is a sheep’s “overcoat”. Different breeds of sheep grow varying types of wool. Some is very long in length (called the “staple” length) and these sheep will have a fleece that is very nice for handspinning. Our East Frieslands have wool like this. Other breeds, such as our Est a Laine Merinos, have wool which is very fine and makes a tight fleece on the animal.

The coarser the wool, the coarser the fabric. For instance, carpets are made of the very coarsest wool, while fine woolen sweaters are made from the very finest fleeces, such as Merino. When people refer to the “grade” of wool, the lower numbers reflect coarser wool and the higher numbers mean the wool is very fine. For example, wool from Frieslands will range in the 54’s, while the Est a Laines will be in the high 70’s to 80’s. A simple way of looking at raw wool is to look at the distance between the crimps in the fiber. If the squiggles are really close together, the wool is “fine”, if they are farther apart, the wool is coarser.

We shear our sheep once a year to remove their wool. It’s a bit like giving them a hair cut. Shearing is a big event here, almost a party. Our sheep shearer comes and we have helpers, lots of food, and it signals the start of Spring. We shear our sheep about a month before they are due to have their lambs. Like the tulips poking their leaves out from the slowly warming soil, this is another ritual of the burgeoning season.

As clothes make the man, so does the fleece make the ram. Once the sheep’s overcoat comes off, they need to re-recognize one another. It’s really interesting to see them re-establish their flock status. It’s important to have the fleece off the ewes as they get closer to lambing, in order to see how close they are to delivering their lambs. Just like a human’s hair, once it’s cut, the sheep immediately begin to regrow their wool, so by the time winter comes again, they are fully clothed and ready to face the elements.

To learn more about wool a good website to visit is Yocom-McColl Wool Testing Labs. We also shear our llamas. Some llamas regrow their fiber faster than others, and can be shorn every year, while others take longer to grow out and might be shorn every 2 years. We were pretty tickled to send a llama fleece from our “Babs” to England with a devoted hand-spinner.

Babs will have another fleece for us in the Spring, she’s quite the girl! We have several different “types” of fiber on our llamas and the colors range from pure white to black. There are many shades of brown and also silver to charcoal greys. With these lovely colors, who needs dyes? Many of my friends and I find spinning a very relaxing activity. All of the tension within me goes into the twist of the yarn.

Spinning is an art that has been part of human-kinds’ existance forever. This is nothing new. Hand spinning is fun!

In our Wool Room we have raw fleeces from our sheep and llamas. We’re particularly fond of the black East Friesland yarn, which my sister has been knitting with for the last couple years. She made my favorite sweater and it’s very light and extremely warm. I’m also quite attached to the Est a Laine Merino fine wool fleeces. One of my friends who has worked with this wool said it’s so soft that you could make a lady’s most intimate undergarment from it. Perhaps we should talk to Playtex?

The most economical way to buy our wool is as a raw fleece… this is nice if you’re a spinner, but not everyone is. So we’re able to provide our wool in commercially spun yarn form as well, ready to knit. We’re dabbling with colors and llama/sheep fiber blends.

In solemn session at the Convention Center, the group’s research center sent a special greeting to the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro on his birthday and 80 being the principal manager and promoter of all these successes.
Ivan Ordaz Curbelo, first secretary of the provincial Communist Party of Cuba, noted that workers of the Institute are faithful exponents of what the role of science in finding solutions and alternatives to problems facing society.