Feeding my flock...

I get to call them 'my flock', because my husband travels enough, that we might be neck in neck on how many times each of us has fed them.  And, when I say feed them, there are numerous things to consider here. You don't just give them some 'hay' or put them out to pasture.  These 'high performance' animals require a highly regulated diet.  So much so, that my husband bought some fancy scale to weigh the amount of food we're putting in each trough (I call it trough-he calls it feeders, whatever) and another fancy scale, to weigh them!  Then there are thing like this liquid stuff that is supposed to get them to eat more (don't quote me on this, I'm not sure if it is to get them to eat more or gain weight, I probably need to clarify) and then probiotics (in powder form), and then there is the forage, they eat.  Not hay, hay is bedding, alfalfa is consumable (well, not for you and me, but for them).  The food components need to be mixed/added in the right order for some God-forsaken reason (again, I probably need to clarify this with the boss...) And of course water, in a 10 gallon bucket... I'm going to be ripped by the end of the summer carrying these dang buckets.

Sometimes, one or two of the sheep need additional attention, whether it be treating for an illness, or trying to nurse them back to health after an injury, or in this case, a prolapse.  Oh, you don't know what prolapse means?  It means the bottom falls out...literally.  No bueno... NO bueno.

So anyway, you have a valuable sheep, that you just can't bare to lose, so you tube it (I'm not going to go too far in to this, but you insert a tube in to the bottom-that fell out and when things get back to being right, you remove the tube). The process can involve antibiotics and other medications to prevent infection, etc.  In the case of this sheep, she survived and we're now trying to get her back on track as far as food and drink goes. Imagine how enthusiastic you'd be about eating and drinking after the bottom fell out...exactly.

She seems to have come around on the eating thing, but the drinking is still a little iffy, so, to fix this, we do something called "drenching".  I wish this was as easy as pointing as hose at or dumping buckets of water on the sheep, but it's not.

You need to use this tool, to suck up water, put it in the sheep's mouth, and coax it to drink.  We're not talking foie gras here (stuffed goose liver, Google it...it's not like this), but coaxing them to get hydrated. So we 'administer' water and let it drink...So you can lead it to water AND make it drink.  Crazy, huh?  I'm learning that sheep are NOT the smartest of God's creatures, but with a little assistance, they can be quite dynamic.

The tool, it sucks up water and the inverted metal tip goes in the back corner of the mouth to encourage consumption.

Now, just to be clear, drenching at the State Fair, I know for sure is illegal and we do NOT do that.  But for now, before the show season, and while we're trying to get this sheep healthy again, it is necessary.

So tonight, I feed the sheep, then I 'drench' the one, and while I'm doing so, the other one in the coat, is trying to bite the bling off my jeans.  This sheep, I have nicknamed, 'A**hole' (I know, I'm sure my mother-in-law is reading this and I'm not sure she's ever said a swear word, or even thought of one in her life, but if she saw this sheep and it's antics, she might).  It sees me and charges the fence panels in the pen to tries to get me.  It's just naughty. And furthermore, I don't think it cares for me.  At all.

This is A**hole...I know, he just looks so sweet right here...WRONG!

Baker's Rack (in the background, For Sale...) Any takers?

The other one in the coat, with the black legs, is the one that was drenched. The vet at ISU (where the sheep was for a few days after being tubed and spiking a fever) suggested that the sheep is now physically OK, but mentally has some 'issues'. We appreciate that diagnosis... Anyone that watches it for a while could figure that one out.  Anyway, this weekend, I am tending to my flock and this is a sample of what that's all about...