Calling on Anyone who can HELP - Page 1

Hey everyone, This is not dog related, But many of you have shown to have good resources so here goes... Our local sheriff's dept. took into protective custody over 200 head of sheep, they had them "tagged" (the backsides and udder area sheered) so the lambs can get to the udders, it's a large expense. We also have many lambs on bottles because the ewes are not well enough to produce milk or not well enough to even claim they're lambs, We had over 30 dead, but now it's looking better. Anyone who can campaign for donations toward this effort, or make contact with feed companies, hay producers or any other help would be very appreciated. My email is echomeadowsheps@aol.com Anyone who wants my phone number can email me and I will provide it for further contact, Thanks so much for anything you can and are willing to do. Mitch

I have room for a few more sheep here, if any are up for adoption. Depending on where they are located. 200 is a lot of sheep! To care for the ones you have now - all they need is good hay. No grain needed, in fact grain is not good for them. (mine get grain as treats and when they can steal it from the horses). molly

Actually Molly grain is needed for some sheep depending the area they live and the grass/fields they eat and what the feilds/hay is fertilized with. In my area (Western Canada) almost all hay producers use chicken manure for fertilizer. The reason..it is easy to come by (lots of chicken farmers in the area). Chicken manure when used as a fertilizer makes the calcium/phosphorus ratio 'out of whack' for sheep. Sheep need a 1-1 ratio. So, the only way to counteract this is to feed grain and minerals or feed with more alfalfa or buy hay from areas that don't use chicken manure. When sheep do not get the correct ratio of calcium/phosphorus they will start to pick/eat thier and other sheeps wool and will start to loose lambs and/ or have lambs that are in poor health. In most cases you will not see this with a very small flock or until your ewes are having twins/triplets and you start to loose some.

ok, learn something new every day! I know my sheep are fat pigs, eating only grass (and there's no grass right now) and grass-hay. And the sheep-person who I got them from told me "no grain". But I'm definately not a sheep-expert - thanks for the information! molly

Chey, Would you please email me, so I can provide my phone number, or you could provide yours in the email so that I may call and speak with you. Mitch