Merry Christmas!
Seasons Greetings from the Spencer Ag Center team! Remember that this month, we will have adjusted holiday hours!
· Christmas Eve— Closes at noon.
· Christmas Day—Closed all day.
· New Year's Day—Closed all day.
As the snow starts to fall, please remember to leave room for our delivery trucks when planning your snow removal! Clean up around bulk bins and storage buildings, which makes maneuvering simpler for our large delivery and bulk trucks!
Pre-Lambing Recommendations
Now is the time to start thinking about getting your flock ready for lambing season. An important part of successful lambing is proper ewe management. A few management check can save you future expenses and costs down the road.
Pre-Lambing
Ewes should be vaccinated once 2-3 weeks prior to lambing with Clostridia perfringes C & D with tetanus. If they are ewe lambs, they should be vaccinated twice 5 weeks and 3 weeks prior. This will stimulate the ewe’s immune system and pass immunity to her lambs in her colostrum.
Nutrition
The ewe’s nutrition should be increased continually during gestation. Requirements for ewes in late gestation greatly increase while ewes that are carrying twins or triplets require even more. This ewes should be sorted into smaller groups to eat a more concentrated ration and have less competition for bunk space. If the ewes have been on cornstalks as their primary feedstuff it is critical to begin feeding vitamins in you haven’t already. Crop residue have very low levels of vitamins. If the ewes are on a hay diet the vitamins levels may be sufficient although you should start feeding a mineral high in selenium and vitamin E. This is important so the lambs are not born with deficiencies making them more susceptible to White Muscle Disease. Gestating ewe lambs should be separated from the mature flock because they are still growing and are less competitive at feeding time. Late gestation is when the lambs grow the fastest and take away from the ewe’s reserve energy.
Management
Ewes should be shorn and de-wormed one month before lambing. Lambs have an easier time finding the udder on shorn ewes. Shorn ewes take up less space in the lambing barn and give off more heat. Care must be taken in the first week after shearing. It’s important that the ewes have shelter that will protect them from rain and snow. If the temperature is below zero, shorn ewes will require more energy and this can be supplied by increasing the grain feed.
All feed fed to gestating ewes should be fed in bunks or feeders. Feeding ewes on the ground greatly enhances the transmission of abortion disease. Talk to your vet about utilizing CTC or injectable oxytetracycline for controlling campylobacter abortions. Any aborted fetuses and placenta need to be immediately removed from the pen to prevent transmission. You should always wear disposable gloves when handling aborted fetuses as many of the common causes of abortions can infect humans. Therefore pregnant women should stay out of the lambing barn.
Lambing Supplies to Keep on Hand!
* Injectable Vit. A & D
* Needles & Syringes
* Notebook (for records)
* Elastrator rings
* Pliers (for docking)
* Ear tags
* Spray on paint or markers (for identification)
* Iodine
* Colostrum
* Feeding tube
* Powdered Milk Replacer
* Nipples and Bottles
* Gloves/Sleeves
* Lubricant
* Heat Lamp
Oral Fluid Collection Sampling
Spencer Ag carries Rope test kits. These kits are used to collect oral fluid samples. We can send these samples to Iowa State’s Veterinary Diagnostics Labs. Testing available at ISU VDL includes, but is not limited to Mycoplasma hyponeumoniae PCR, PRRS, and Flu testing.
How to collect fluid samples:
1) Attach a rope to the inside of a fence, accessible to pigs. These need to be placed in a clean area and not near the water.
2) Hang ropes up shoulder-high to the pigs. Let them chew on it. 20-30 minutes is the recommended time from ISU Vet Med.
3) Extract oral fluids from the rope with a single-use plastic baggy.
4) Talk to SAC for sampling purposes. Samples need to be drained into a tube. Freeze sample for the highest quality.
Pit Treatments
Spencer Ag carries Healthy Farms by Bioverse's all-natural pit treatments. These products are designed to go to the bottom of the pit and work from the bottom up. Most pit products struggle as they get dumped onto the surface and may not be able to break through the crusted barrier or liquefy solids. But not Healthy Farms!
With the AGRASPHERE, you can open up the pump-out cover and toss the spheres with the product into the pit. Or try the AGRASLAT which are flat enough to slide through the slats.
Information Source: https://myhealthyfarms.com/product/agraslat/