AS 313 Exam 3 Small Ruminants

When were sheep domesticated 

after dogs 

Where in the United States is there the least amount of sheep and why

South east - too humid - parasite issues 

Resistance to dewormers 

What is happened to the amount of sheep from 2001 to 2024

Declining

Why is there a disclaimer for the rare wool breeds

manage customer expectations

What happened from the late 1880’s- 1900’s

Range wars - Cattle vs Sheep

• 50,000-100,000 Sheep diet

Over grazing land and many shepherds were immigrants- fighting because people were different 

Reasons to keep sheep

• Meat - many dual purpose 

  • Lamb feeding 

  • Hair sheep 

• Wool

• Milk (A2)

• Vegetation control

Ram where do they clean

penis

Why is there a decrease in shearers 

Too expensive

Crutch

Before lambing shear around vulva, udder for teat 

A1 Milk

Causes lactose intolerance because of the beta casein

A2 milk

Lactose intolerant people can consume

Leafy Spurge

Weed

Yellow flower- open sap 

Cows wont eat, but sheep love it 

**Sheep instead of herbicides 

Methods of wool

Commercial and handspinning

Sheep vision

360 except directly in front and back

Sheep knee

Can replace a person’s knee

What time were sheep domestication

10,000 BC - Fertile Crescent

Sheep brains

Large brains - used in neurological studies 

Not stupid, emotional, used in cognitive function

Emotional support- depression, anxiety

Recognize faces 

Used to study Huntington Disease  - neurological model 

Havy many neural, mental, and emotional disorders 

Alzheimers and Parkinsons 

Flight zones

Depends on:

type - range, farm, show

Dam vs. bottle raised (no flight zone imprinted) 

Routine- timing (know what time to feed 

Breed differences 

When sheep babies are young

Play , pure joy, procking

When do baby sheep have their morning/night run

When mom is busy/ eating

to play

Dehorning

First week of life

Hot iron- over buds 

• if you mess up it will overheat the brain straight into sinus cavity 

Band over horn - horn will slowly come off 

Fencing for sheep

• Make sure no heads are stuck 

• 3-4 inch space between 

• 5 ft height 

• hot wire at top- no cats /people 

Cast

Long fleece - wet and cold

• Upside. down and cant get up 

  • sheep can suffocate 

If the coat melts its too heavy 

2009 Dr. Irlbeck first sheep

• Put them in portahuts for hogs with guard llama 

• burnt their lungs

• advanced ammonia 

  • urine dissolved limestone and made ammonia 

What do you do when housing sheep and fleeces

Out of wind and dry

What are the preferences of goats

• Dont like wet 

• need dry area

• vocal complainers 

What caused fatal penumonia 

BActerium called Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae 

Domestic sheep resistance

not same as wild sheep

top predator of sheep

Coyotes - go for the throat 

Dogs - indiscriminate killers - kill to kill 

Mountain lions 

Llamas

Guardian

Sheep attach and recognize as safety 

Females without babies are the best 

No intact male - break sheeps backs 

Burrows

• Put with rams - she cannot beat them up 

• Goats are quicker than sheep

Guardian dogs

Great puranies

• Like to travel at night

How you feed

Feed costs are on average 70% of the cost of producing sheep and other food production species

How you feed - factors

Year, environment, region, management, #animals, range (need oversile)/farm flock, breeds , feed availability 

What do Rumen papilla absorb

VFA’s - Need Cobalt - Vit B12

What do you need in their homes

Water - clean and avaliable

Drop tarps - snowstorms

Heated water

Forages

• Carbohydrates

• Energy

• > Chewing 

• Buffering 

• Rumen health 

Long stem hay for ruminants

Scratch Factor

Does Feeding Onions To Ewes Increase Lambing Rate?

No, makes pastures smell 

First cutting  alfalfa

Thick Stems

• Few Leaves (nutrients)

• ~15-18% CP

• Calcium

• Too Much Waste

Third cutting alfalfa

 Thin Stems

• MANY Leaves (nutrients)

• ~ over 20% CP

• MUCH Calcium

• Too rich…can cause bloat…

• Use Creep feed babies

Which cutting is just right for alfalfa

Second

Feeding alfalfa

• diarrhea

• too much nitrogen 

Pizzle Rot with long fleeces

• burns Penis 

• Alfalfa 

  • high N 

when feeding alfalfa

Mix grass and legume hay

except during late pregnancy, early lactation, and creep feeding 

Timothy hay

Alfalfa Hay 

teeth

Used to estimate age

older ewes cant eat as well - cost more to keep than young animals 

Feed according to

Physiological status

When feeding dont

Overfeed

In their diets sheep need 

rough forage - straw / cornstalks/ mature hay 

What do sheep do on their own in terms of feeding

Balance their diets themselves

What determines what is fed

Economica

Are sheep and goats utilized to their full potential

No

Mature range with supplement

Protein and Vitamin A + energy (later in season)

Green grass

No Beta Carotene

Protein for sheep

Forages

• Alfalfa

• Immature grass hay

• Grazing 

Evaluate energy source (grain)

Use by-products

• Soybean meal

• Canola meal

• Cull lentils, peas, garbonzos (pulses)

• Remember they are ruminants - microbial protein

Corn and SBM

corn low in lysine

SBM high in lysine

High P in sheep

urinary calculi (water belly) in male sheep and can lead to bone lesions and hypocalcemia

Carbohydrates

• Starch - grains - energy 

• low protein 

• high energy 

To pass stones in males

Cut off penis

Sheep chew

Very fine

• No need to process grain 

Coarse grind

Fine Grind 

Too much grain

Acidosis

Water belly

• Urinary Calculi 

• Unable to urinate 

• Inverse Ca:P 

• Feedlot Lambs 

• Feed acidifiers 

  • Ammonium Chloride 

• Alfalfa Fixes - high in Ca & Limestone (add molasses) 

Enterotoxemia

change diets

Clostridium Perfringes

Physiological status and which have highest nutrient requirement

• Growth

  • Neonate vs Early vs Late 

• Flushing 

• Gestation - last 1/3 

• Lactation - Early vs Late 

• Maintenance 

Dry period for ewes

5 months

Gestation length for ewe

150 days

Gleaners

small ruminants

eat lowest quality 

they are cleaners  

clean with prehensile lips 

Maintence to lactation

increasing nutrients

BCS

Do not want them to fat - deposit fat in udder - destroy alveoli - milk cells - lowers milk production 

BCS chart 

To keep BCS down

• Give water on a hill, eat at pasture 

• otherwise dystocia- difficult giving birth 

Hyperphagia

eat all the time, prone to obesity, lambs of obese ewe for 2 generations are fat

Flushing

Increase Ovulation Rate

Increase Number Born Live

Improvement of Animal Health

Only works if limit energy - not proteins/vitamins/ minerals 

Scur 

Short horns 

break horns - goes to sinus cavity - brain damage 

Beat rams with sticks

first scream at them

then beat them with a stick 

third chance theyre gone 

Rams back up

then go full speed forward

rams smell

Strong, know when ewes are in heat

Laproscopic

• Laparoscopic insemination: Semen is inserted directly into the uterus using a laparoscope.

• Heat synchronization:

  • Ewes receive a CIDR that releases progesterone to block heat.

  • After 12–14 days, the CIDR is removed and Novermon (PMSG) is injected to trigger ovulation in about 2 days.

• Insemination:

  • Ewes are mildly sedated and a small abdominal incision is made.

  • Semen is placed into each uterine horn under laparoscopic view.

• Recovery:

  • Ewes rest while minor cuts heal.

Third trimester

90% fetal growth

Metabolic conerns in late gestation

• Hypocalcium 

  • Milk fever - give calcioum glutonate 

• Pregnancy Toxemia 

  • ketosis 

  • break down of fat in the body and ketones in the body is increased 

Once an animal prolapses 

She will always prolapse 

Edema out

Swelling

Ringwob

ewe's cervix does not dilate completely, preventing the birth of a lamb

Sheeps and c section

dont do well

Uterine Torsine

Twin horns

Big single

• baby gets active

• twists horn

• twisted gut

C-section

Multifeeders

Cold milk/ice

• lambs drink slow

• no enterotoxemia

Bose injection

Within 24 hours of birth in palouse

3rd cutting leafy alfalfa

Start babies on solid food

Wean

3-8 weeks

Development of rumen

Butyrate Stimulates

Rumen Growth

energy source for rumen wall growth

Propionate and acetate

Energy source for lamb growth

Feedstuff

Rumen Development

Early weaning - 6 weeks of age 

Milk, milk and hay, milk and grain only diets