Seasonal Husbandry tips

Please note that these hints and tip apply more to central NSW than elsewhere but you may well be able to see how they apply in your area.

December 2008

Just when the crops are ripe, down comes the rain. I should not complain and it does wonders for the lucerne but it also brings out the Barber's Pole worms. Watch for water belly and bottle jaw. If it gets to that stage you have to drench quickly. Weaning is most commonly done in December (see November comment). The rain will germinate the catheads (three corner jacks) and Hairy Panic. Both can cause photosensitivity later in the season if it is all that is available to eat. Swollen heads, yellow exudates from ears and shade seeking is dramatic. Animals need to be held in sheds away from sunlight for 3 weeks and some may loose all or part of their ears.

You should be thinking about shearing and the purchase of new bucks for mating in March.  See the Alamo Cudal Catalogue on the Animals for sale page. 

November 2008

The season has "hayed off" considerably with grass seed becoming a serious problem. Mobs have to be checked every few days. Blunt forceps and eye ointment are needed to clear seeds from eyes and treat the "pinkeye". This month might well also require animals to be checked for seed impaction in gums. Mouths can have 2 or more abcesses filled with barley grass seeds which can be removed using your finger.

Weaning is coming up. If you have a good paddock of lucerne or standing feed, early weaning can be contemplated but where there is less feed, weaning should be delayed because does are able to sustain a better nutrition for their kids than the kids can get from limited pasture.

Drenching and crutching kids at weaning is recommended. Make sure the weaners know where the water troughs are. Quietly move them to the water the day following weaning.

October 2008

What an incredible season! I am sorry if you are not getting it but we are. Rain is September – ensures the crops. It’s almost too lush and I have continued to feed hay to the trial bucks, and they love it. Some are still a bit daggy so a mild crutch will be in order when weighing next week.

October will see the first hot winds and the Barley grass will start to hay off. Make sure you have some blunt forceps and a supply of eye ointment ready. These wet and warmer conditions are also likely to get the Haemonchus (Barber’s Pole) worms going. Watch for anaemia and oedema in jaws, legs and bellies. You have to yard and handle animals to tell. Barber’s pole worms can build up very quickly under these conditions and must be treated quickly.

Another job sometimes forgotten is vaccination of hoggets. They may not have been done when the does were vaccinated before kidding and the lush feed can cause the odd sudden death from Pulpy Kidney. Vaccination of kids (or booster vaccinations) can be a bit of a chore. I find it easier to work the mob through the shearing shed and drag the kids across the board. Trying to pick them up for someone else to vaccinate is an unnecessary vigorous activity.  

September 2008

Spring is here. The days are warming up and the pasture is getting thicker. Than goodness for the grazing oats. I continue to put out round bales of Oaten Hay. I am more and more convinced of the value of dry feed when green pasture is immature. Not only does it provide heat (from the high level of bacterial action action on the carbohydrates in the straw) but it satisfies the need for fibre and reduced damage to trees.

Kidding continues but its too big a subject to offer useful hints here. See THE BOOK. As the weather warms watch out fot fly strike on pizzles and scoures. Animals kick at their stomachs, twitch and bite themselves. Usually all that is required is to clear the area with shears and brush off the maggots. You can use an insecticide dressing in bad cases.

One trick with flocks with kids is never run them in adjacent paddocks. You can never tell which paddock a stray kid has come from. Actually, never run two flocks of any age next to one another. Animals seem to enjoy fighting through a fence and this can easily cause a mix up as well as a broken fence.

August 2008

August is often kidding month. Big topic. Just read THE BOOK. Try hard to keep up with the tattooing/tagging and either do the whole drift thing every day or don’t go near the flock unless absolutely necessary. Watch out for bad weather and keep an eye out for foxes.

Shearing of young bucks (in particular) can be a problem. Poor combing can make shearing difficult. You need really sharp tools so put new emeries on the grinding discs and push hard. At worst you might leave animals with a “shell-like” fleece for a month to allow “the rise” to move off the skin. Bad cases might well be culled.

Mycotic dermatitis is often seen on the scrotum and behind the legs in young bucks. This is encouraged by wet grass and continuously wet skin. It will often self cure once the animal is shorn and conditions dry out. Bad cases will respond to antibiotics or dipping in zinc sulphate solution.

July 2008

Early kidders will be thinking about shearing (or maybe a good crutch including the area in front of the udder). Be careful of the teats. Any cut on the tips will cause a blind “quarter” (or should that be half?).   

Short green feed has little energy in it and the animals will enjoy even rough hay or straw.  Short feed may also carry large numbers of winter worms which cause scours.  It is a good idea to drench a fortnight before shearing (when you could also vaccinate and drench with Iodine). This will help prevent green scours and “shed” stain at shearing. In any event you should separate any animal with scours when shedding for shearing.

June 2008

June is nearly here and the season is starting to be worrying. No rain and apart from some early sown oats there is virtually no feed. The drought over the last 5 or more years has reduced pasture to almost nothing and it is of concern that the whole district is so bereft of green pasature. Of course, the best way to end a dry period is to raise the spectre of drought. I Hope.

June here is cold and dry (you can say that again). Angoras handle frost well and dry feed supplies energy with few worms so the goats usually do well. But as pregnancy advances a little grain should be considered. If you are going to kid in August your should consider an Iodine drench (see page 35 of THE BOOK) some 6 weeks out from kidding.

May 2008

May is generally a quiet month for mohair producers. Bucks will be removed from most doe flocks. This can result in some fighting because bucks seem to continue to defend their position even when the does are gone. A single buck should not be put back into an established mob of bucks because this increases the aggression as the head buck seems to want to defend his position from the newcomer. It is better to put several bucks back together at one time.

Fights may still occur and it is wise to keep an eye on the mob for a few days in case bucks become entangled with their horns, or some severe damage, like broken legs, occur. However, despite some serious head butting, it is rare for animals to do severe damage to each other. Running some wethers in the buck mob helps to dilute aggressive contact.

 
It is difficult to comment on animal condition and feeding levels. Angoras produce more mohair if they at least maintain body weight. However, it is not necessary to get into feed supplementation at this early stage of the season. Animals can go onto poorer feed and even be allowed to loose a little weight after mating is over. Feeding should generally be reserved for the time closer to kidding when paddock feed is at its lowest level. High body weights early in pregnancy may mean a falling condition later-on which may predispose animals to pregnancy toxaemia.

May might be a time to do some maintenance of kidding facilities and, in cropping areas, sowing of winter cereals is the main job.

About shearing in dusty conditions.

Over the last few years we have seen drought conditions and sparse feed. Exposed soil has led to high dust content in fleeces. Some flocks have been grazed on cutivated land and dusty backs have been obvious.

All this has created problems for shearers. Combes don't last more than a few animals, leading to frustration. Pushing the handpiece only makes matters worse.

It is not wise to offer advice to shearers but it seems that part of the problem in excessive build up of fibre under the comb. Newer, thicker comdes collect more fibre and soil which seems to force the comb and cutter apart pulling the fibre and reducing the effectiveness of the cutting. Replacing the cutter with thinner, smaller cutters seems to give added life to the comb.

It seems that there may be logic to the African and Argentinian preference for blade shears in desert and dusty conditions.

April 2008

The season has changed. Now we have cold nights and dews in the morning. If you are still shearing it is essential to house the first run overnight to make sure the mohair is not damp when shorn. While on the subject of damp mohair, leave the bins open and don't store mohair on unsealed concrete or bare earth. Moisture will move into the mohair and result in musty fibre. Make sure to leave all wet bibs and stains out to dry before packing.

There have been a number of cases of hypothermia with the sudden rains last week. Even fat animals are susceptible off shears. Provide shelter and make sure animals find it if it begins to rain in the middle of the night.

If it happens and you have animals down and doing the final moan, the only way back is external heat. Once hypothermia sets in the animals cannot regain their body heat without external heat sources. Flood lamps, and blow heaters are about the only possibility but be careful with overheating and burning.

On a different tack. I have been doing some ploughing and am amazed how little ground cover there is. There is just no pasture left. The drought has been incredibly damaging and it seems that we will have to start again to build up our productive pasture species.

March 2008

 So, as usual its gone dry. A couple of problems here. Summer worms have had a chance to build up (and there has been a number of reports of bad waterbelly caused by Haemonchus - Barber's Pole worms). As feed becomes less available animals become more susceptible to worm stress. Watch for waterbelly, puffy legs and jaws. Heavily infested flocks will be slow to move and stress easily. Deaths can occur just from moving flocks. Drenching and moveing to clean paddocks can help lower pasture egg numbers before winter. Feeding some hay could also be useful in mating flocks.