Having shorn the first cross ewes we went straight on to marking (tagging) the Border Leicester lambs that will be the core business activity throughout 2010. We marked 188 lambs, about 100 ewes and 88 rams, and still more to come. Expecting 200 from 170 ewes so that is a lambing percentage (before weaning of course) of 1.18 which is pretty good. They are all in great condition and Sylvia Vale has plenty of feed. We will finish marking in November when we shear the stud ewes. It is certainly the busiest time of the sheep farming year.
All lambs have their tails docked to prevent fly strike at a later date. A few days discomfort rather than being eaten alive from the inside out. All lambs are also vaccinated with Guardian 6 in 1 and Gudair to protect them from some of the serious infectious diseases and to boost their immunity to others. Guardian protects against the clostridial diseases pulpy kidney, tetanus, blackleg, black disease, malignant oedema, swelled ram head and cheesy gland. Gudair protects against Ovine Johne's Disease (OJD) which can cause significant mortality, particularly in fine Merino flocks. Self injection is a serious no no and can cause extreme and prolonged swelling that will require surgery to fix. I left the needle to Butch but did single handedly catch all 188 lambs and lift into the lamb marking cradle and put in the ear tags.
Seemed to me that the ewe lambs were calmer about it all but none of the lambs were in any pain an hour after being in the cradle. I was amused to find that ram lambs get tagged in their left ear and ewe lambs in their right ear. I am told that is because just like in the human world women are always right....
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