Soremouth can cause mastitis

The effects of soremouth (orf) on the udders of lactating sheep and goats were studied at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia. Ten 2-year old Najdy sheep and ten 2-year old Ardy goats were utilized in the study. Half were experimentally infected with soremouth on the udder. The four groups (two infected, two control) were fed and housed separately.

All of the infected animals developed and showed classical orf lesions at the site of infection (udder). The controls did not. Disease progression was similar to when orf infection occurs on other parts of the body. The mean incubation period was 4 days. The erythema, papule, and pustule stage took 9 to 10 days and the scabs developed and remained intact for 13 to 17 days.

Gross lesions were similar in severity between sheep and goats. Antibody response to the infection was also similar. Mastitis-causing bacteria were isolated from milk samples of all the infected sheep and goats, but not from the controls. The mean course of the disease ranged between 25 to 33 days and averaged 29.2 days.

Researchers concluded that udder orf lesions have a direct contribution to increasing the rate of clinical and sub-clinical mastitis among infected ewes and goats; orf disease poses a serious problem to lambs and kids, preventing them from suckling and thus causing starvation; and mastitic orf lesions can become complicated, leading to amputation of the udder in severe cases or death of the affected animals.

Source: Veterinarski arhiV 78 (3), 217-225, 2008

A "beauty pageant" for sheep

Locally-bred sheep were featured in Saudi Arabia's first "beauty pageant" for sheep. In the past few years, beauty pageants involving camels and goats -- which, together with sheep, symbolize Bedouin lifestyle -- have been held across the kingdom.

The pageant offered an opportunity for breeders to do business and a rare outlet for entertainment. The goal of the competition was to encourage Saudis to breed for quality. Some of those who attended the event said Saudi sheep -- known as Nejdi sheep -- have markedly improved over the past decade because of the attention given to breeding them.

Four thousand men (no women) assembled on a stretch of desert just north of Riyadh. The men sat in armchairs around a tiny runway covered with red carpeting, as rams and ewes were put on display following a fireworks show and a competition for the best poem in praise of sheep.

According to the organizer, good ewes sell for 20,000-30,000 Saudi riyals, the equivalent of $5,300-$8,000 while good rams can fetch hundreds of thousands of riyals.

Read article at FOXNews.com

Mix a ration

RationMixer is an Excel spreadsheet designed to help you mix a ration for your sheep, goats, or other livestock. The spreadsheet includes a list of feedstuffs commonly fed to sheep and goats. You can also add your own feed ingredients.

To use the spreadsheet, you put in the amount (pounds) of each feedstuff that you plan to include in the mixture. The spreadsheet will automatically calculate batch size, %TDN (energy), %CP (protein), %Ca (calcium), %P (phosphorus), and Ca:P ratio. It will also calculate the cost of the ration (per lb., per cwt., and per ton).

By trial and error, you can determine least-cost formulations. Make sure you put in your own values for feed costs. If you have your own nutrient values, you should use them instead of the "book values" included in the RationMixer spreadsheet.

Download RationMixer spreadsheet

National Lamb Referendum

A national referendum will be held February 2-27, 2009, to determine whether to continue or terminate the Lamb Promotion, Research, and Information Order, better known as the "Lamb Check-off."

The Lamb Check-off requires all producers, feeders, and exporters to pay one-half cent per pound of live sheep sold. First handlers, primarily packers, pay an additional 30 cents per head.

The Check-off funds the American Lamb Board, which is charged with increasing the demand for American lamb. In order for the lamb checkoff to continue, a majority of producer and sheep volume votes must be in favor of it.

In 2005, the referendum was passed by 80 percent of those voting (n=3,490). Those who favored the referendum accounted for 84 percent of the total production voted.

The referendum will be conducted at USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) county offices. To be eligible to vote, persons must certify and provide documentation, such as a sales receipt, which shows they have been engaged in the production, feeding or slaughtering of lambs during the period, Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008.

The Executive Board of the American Sheep Industry Association recommends a yes vote on the referendum.

Read USDA news release

Maryland 4-H Judges Excel

The Maryland 4-H Livestock Judging Team capped off an impressive fall by finishing 3rd overall at the National Contest and winning an invitation to compete internationally in Scotland.

The Maryland team consisted of Drew Cashman, Claire Bennett, Troy Bennett and Lukas Ziegler. All four members are 4-Hers in Carroll County.

The team placed 3rd in sheep and goats, 8th in swine, 2nd in beef, 4th in oral reasons and actually tied for 2nd overall but were 3rd because of a tie breaker.

As one of the top three teams in the nation, the Maryland team has also been invited to compete internationally at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Read full article in Wild & Woolly newsletter

Wild & Woolly newsletter

A new issue of Wild & Woolly, the Maryland Sheep & Goat Producer newsletter has been posted to the web at http://www.sheepandgoat.com/news/index.html.

The December 2008 issue features articles on the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test, Goat Production in China, Infectious Keratoconjunctivitis (pink eye), the barber pole worm, and more.

The newsletter can be viewed online or downloaded and printed from a PDF file. You can be added to an e-mail list to receive e-mail notification when a new issue of the newsletter has been posted to the web. Contact Susan Schoenian at sschoen@umd.edu to be added to the list.

Wild & Wooly is published quarterly by University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. Past issues may be viewed or downloaded from the main newsletter page.

Soldiers' helmets lined with wool

About 12,000 yards of wool from 15 sheep from Maryland's Eastern Shore will travel to Afghanistan to help the troops.

On Babs and Stan Minken's Lostock Farm in Bozman, 15 Border Leicester sheep roam and graze on about 15 of the farm's 200 acres. The couple raises the sheep for wool and meat.

About seven weeks ago, Babs Minken read about a pattern for wool liners in helmets for the military. She contacted the provided site and wound up taking about 60 skeins of wool to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia.

Each skein contained about 200 yards of wool. At the museum, the knitters turned the wool into helmet liners. The wool Minken took to the museum should be enough to make about 100 liners.

Read Delmarva Now! article

Thanks to G.R. Welsh for suggesting this article.

2009 Maryland 4-H Tail Docking Policy

The 2009 Maryland 4-H Tail Docking Policy remains unchanged from 2008. 4-H lambs should be docked no shorter than the distal end of the caudal tail fold. Lambs docked in this manner will have a minimum tail length of 0.7 inches at the time of show, as determined by the approved measuring device.

Purchased lambs should have a minimum tail length of 1.4 inches at the time of "weaning." This gives a high probability that the lamb's tail will measure at least 0.7 inches at the time of show. 4-Hers should use the DeTail device to select lambs that have been properly docked.

Compliance with the Maryland 4-H Tail Docking Policy is voluntary. Lamb tails (docks) will not be officially measured at any Maryland 4-H activity. No lambs will be disqualified from showing due to tail length, unless the short dock has resulted in a rectal prolapse.

Any sheep or lamb that exhibits a rectal prolapse at a 4-H activity will be ineligible for the activity and sent home by the Extension Educator, Sheep Superintendent, or other appropriately deemed individual. Lambs with purse-string sutures will also be ineligible for exhibition in 4-H activities.

Exhibitors and breeders who complied with 2008 Maryland 4-H Tail Docking Policy are to be commended for maintaining high ethical standards.

Give a goat or sheep for Christmas

Don't know what to buy someone for Christmas? More and more people are turning to charities for gift-buying to benefit the needy.

Founded in 1944, Heifer Project International is a humanitarian assistance organization that works to end world hunger and protect the earth. Through livestock, training, and passing on the gift, Heifer has helped 8.5 million families in more than 125 countries improve their quality of life and move toward greater self-reliance.

Heifer helps build strong communities because each project participant agrees to pass on the gift of animal offspring, training, or skills to another family in need.

A sheep or goat costs $120 ($10 for a share) and may help to lift a family out of poverty.

View Heifer Project's gift catalog

World Vision also has a livestock gift catalog at http://www.worldvisiongifts.org/.

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"With all the money donated to help fight famine around the world, with all the grandiose plans conceived to conquer poverty, sometimes all it takes to save a child is a goat."

-- 60 Minutes, CBS News Magazine Program

An illustrated guide

The National Sustainable Agriculture Network, also known as ATTRA, recently published an "Illustrated Guide to Sheep and Goats Production." The 20-page, basic and heavily graphic introduction to sheep and goat production discusses animal selection, feeding, breeding and young stock, equipment and handling, and marketing.

The guide is a great resource for youth and beginning shepherds.

http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/sheep_illus.pdf