FLOCK MANAGEMENT

Commercial Pairs on Rangeland

Blanca at 18 Months of Age – A Dependable Guardian

Our flock management has changed with our move to a colder climate. Although winter hay feeding is necessary and pasture lambing requires more shelter during winter storms, we were pleased with how well our White Dorpers adapted to the climate change. Besides irrigated pastures, our flock is grazed on sagebrush rangeland, particularly in the spring and fall. We are busy converting cattle fences to electrified sheep fencing to have better control of grazing and to extend the grazing season with seasonal and stockpiled forage. 

We manage our registered flock in much the same way as our commercial flock except for the need to eartag and identify registered lambs at birth. Lambs are born outside except for periods of very inclement weather since quite a bit of shelter is provided by juniper trees. The good maternal qualities of the ewes are evident and it is seldom necessary to pen or jug ewes with their newborn lambs. All ewes are vaccinated with 8-way clostridium vaccine four weeks prior to the start of lambing and lambs are vaccinated at six weeks of age, nine weeks and again at weaning. Adult ewes are treated for internal parasites only as needed although replacement yearling ewes are dewormed once in the fall. Lambs are treated for internal parasites as needed to maintain thriftiness and weight gain. 

Although we do not routinely test for diseases, in 2001 we participated in the NAHMS Survey (National Animal Health Monitoring System) where random sheep from our flock were selected and tested for OPP (Ovine Progressive Pneumonia) and Johne ’s disease. All our test results were negative for both diseases. Our ewe flock has been closed since 2004. 

We enrolled in the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program in April 1999 and became a Complete Monitored Certified Scrapie Free Flock in January, 2006. We codon test some of our stud and sale rams for scrapie resistance to maintain a level of resistant sheep in our flock and identify RR rams for sale. 

For predator control our livestock guardian dogs are essential. These consist of seven Maremma and Maremma-Polish Tatra crosses and they range in age from three months to 13 years. Our dogs stay with the sheep at all times and we prefer to run the dogs in pairs consisting of spayed or neutered littermates. We have one breeding pair and should have young guard dogs for sale in the future. 

Working Border Collies are also essential to our operation. With our rugged rangeland, gathering and working the sheep would be almost impossible without them. These dogs are our work partners and we are grateful for the help and companionship they provide.