Flushing is the fine art of increasing a ewe's level of nutrition, prior to breeding, in hopes of increasing the number of eggs she'll release for fertilization. To my girls it means HAY and PUMPKINS! Pumpkins are supposed to be a natural 'de-wormer' ~ and my girls LOVE them.
Some breeders use grain, to flush their ewes. I never feed grain. Since I'm not using any 'high powered' feed to flush, I do give my ewe lambs the extra nourishment too. I figure they can use it as the grass loses it's quality late in the fall. So Rosie & Dream are being 'flushed' with the rest of the girls. Not so much in hopes of them having twins as just to make sure they get plenty of nutrition as they continue to grow. Since I will have Rosie and Dream in with a ram lamb, "Bluff Country Black Diamond" (first place ram lamb at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival MSSBA Show, 2006), I will supplement them with a little bit of lamb creep feed each day that the breeding groups are together.
I figure it won't hurt Diamond either. And I want to build them up for their pregnancies. Can you believe that I'm going to breed Rosie and Dream???? I can't wait to see their babies!
As for the kittens....Lily is feeling better. Now, Daisy's sick. My poor babies!
I bought her special vitamins and canned food today. I'll sure be happy when my kittens aren't sick anymore. They both sleep with me and they wake me up all night long, with their sneezing!
Tomorrow, I'm working on the fencing. Have to put up some temporary electric fences to keep the boys in their respective breeding groups. I put my breeding groups together the weekend before Thanksgiving. That way our lambs start arriving in Mid-to-late April ~ just in time for the fresh grass!
Dream says.....
...."I'm not sure what's going on but Mom's sure busy and we're getting all sorts of good stuff to eat!"
So, how do you "cook" your pumpkins for the sheep? (I thought you weren't breeding the younger girls this year?)
ReplyDeleteI haven't decided but the thought of having one group for most of the winter is on my mind. I will wait a month before the young girls go in with Skit, should I decide to breed them. That way, their moms have had their lambs, the girls will see them and then the older glas are busy with their lambs and won't steal from the young ones.
I hope all goes well!
My adult cat got very sick a year ago. The vet had us feed her the kitten "baby formula" that is now available in pet stores. It has all the vitamins/nutrients that the cat needs while sick. It might be worth trying with your sick kitty - provides both nutrition and hydration plus the cats love it.
ReplyDeleteYour homemade chicken soup would be good for her as well. She'll need to keep hydrated as cats don't drink alot of water even when they're healthy, let alone ill. And warm the food a bit in the microwave - just a few seconds at a time. Scent of foods is very important to cats as well and you can warm the foods a bit in the microwave, but not too much. When a cat's nose is plugged up they can't smell their food that well. Warming the food helps with that and makes food more palatable for them. (Here at high altitude it takes about 13 seconds full power to heat a 7 oz. can of cat food)
ReplyDeleteAlso, you can mix a bit of chicken broth in the wet food for the kitten. They can handle a little bit of salt as it makes them thirsty and encourages them to drink more, but nothing like the salt in canned soups, please. :)
I have also given some roasted turkey or chicken cold cuts from the grocery deli...it's salty and they LOVE it hand fed as little bits and pieces of treats.
I do hope she's feeling better soon. Nursing makes all the difference! :)
But...aren't Diamond, Rosie and Dream all grandlambs of "You-Know-Who"?
ReplyDelete