- Location
- Scotland
Just tups on the whole. Bought 15 blackies from Islay two years ago to train a pup cause the Cheviots are too quiet
New sheep handling system
- Thread starter The sheep dipper man
- Start date
Just tups on the whole. Bought 15 blackies from Islay two years ago to train a pup cause the Cheviots are too quiet
@CollCrofter maybe you don't have the footrot bacteria on your farm. It's not Impossible for any farm to eradicate the bacteria but it's very easy to bring back in unless you have very strict biosecurity. I know someone who eradicated footrot on their farm in NZ and bought it back after a few years when they forgot to disinfect their scanners trailer.
The sheep dipper man
Member
- Location
- north east
New handling system is working well
- Location
- Isle of Skye
Anywhere you wish you'd put another gate? I built my own handling and still wish I'd put an extra gate here and there. It took my sheep a good few times of running through smoothly before they started being awkward and showing me the 'sticking' spots, where they slow or stop -mostly as I have straights that are too long.., It looks the business with the stockboard.
- Location
- Dumfries & Galloway
Blackies can be hellish for footrot when ran on lower/better ground. As can any hill breed!
You've gotten rid of the bacteria, or (more likely) found a line of ewes resistant to the strain on your farm...
I honestly dont know. Used to have texel x ewes with white pr stripey hoofs, youd flip them over and the whole inside would be gone or overgrown like witches hoofs wtc. Also noticed the ewes that were half mountainy with black hoofs didnt have any foot problems. Then started buying maternal rams with black hoofs and problems disappeared. Always thought it was because they were abit hardy. Haven't footbathed in 4-5 years and no lame ones. dont trim hooves either. I run a closed flock other then rams. Whatever the reason its disappeared. Always thought the two were linked, bit as you said, could be luck or coincidence.
Y Fan Wen
Member
- Location
- N W Snowdonia
Black noses and black hooves go together apparently.
The sheep dipper man
Member
- Location
- north east
Maybe one gate just after the funnel then o will stop them until i open it. But that can easily be installedAnywhere you wish you'd put another gate? I built my own handling and still wish I'd put an extra gate here and there. It took my sheep a good few times of running through smoothly before they started being awkward and showing me the 'sticking' spots, where they slow or stop -mostly as I have straights that are too long.., It looks the business with the stockboard.
- Location
- Isle of Skye
That's the beauty of using wood, it can all be easily modified.
The sheep dipper man
Member
- Location
- north east
And cheaper to replace if it breaks !
NZDan
Member
- Location
- Broomfield, New Zealand
I was involved in some FR trial work involving Merino x Romney sheep, the feet were a range of colors from black through to white, and foot rot was quite bad as very susceptible Merino rams had been used to generate the sheep, they looked at the correlation between color and FR susceptibility......there was zero correlation, over multiple years and multiply age groups. There was a difference in the feet though, with the wall of white feet being more pliable and flexible and black feet being more harder and brittle, like comparing plastic to glass as one scientist put it.
Interestingly when they compared merinos to Romneys, there was a similar rate of FR in both breeds but more lame sheep in the merinos, which suggested a difference in pain tolerance. I wonder if this is the case in Blackies, as they seem to be riddled with FR but rarely see lame ones.
- Location
- Isle of Skye
Definitely the case, I'm quite often called on to treat them for a gentleman you know, and always see plenty hobbling round the field on their knees but when gathered in to a pen they all run perfectly, just not wanting to show any weakness, Blackies are the same with most ailments -by the time they show you that they're feeling under the weather it's usually too late to do anything about it.
I suspect it to be a big part of the reason they've been bred a lot hardier, compared to the less pain tolerant breeds that get spotted and cured in time.
J428TGS
Member
i Agree with that, our sheep are mostly lleyns,