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| TIPS PAGE |
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| Below is a list of tips comipled to help aide you in your showing, fitting, feeding, and conditioning of you animal. This information has been compiled by personal experience, the help of friends and fellow breeders, as well as internet resources such as Breeders World. Also, at the Bottom of the page, we have our Judges index. Please remember, these are only one person's opinion on someone elses opinion. These comments are also from personal experience, friend's, or comments on Breeders World. |
| EXCERCISE: Although some do not, we believe the proper excercise program is absolutely essential to producing a great market lamb when combined with proper genetics, feeding, and showing. We have two types of excercise programs, the county fair and jackpot lambs. With County Fair lambs, the emphasis is on size, as they must be at least in their mid 120's. Begin walking your lamb at around 100 pounds, any earlier and strenuous excercise may cause stunting of growth. Begin with a light walk to get the lamb leading on a halter, and varry the distance and intensity on the ammount of finish your lamb is carrying. Try keeping the lamb's head up on the walk all the time, this will get the lamb used to carrying its head high, and make your life easier in the show ring. For the jackpot lambs, especially showing as prospects, we like to start them on a very slight excercice program to start build some muscle tone. We start walking the lambs at about 70 pounds only 1/4 mile to help stimulate appetite, develop muscle tone and handle to these lambs.. TEADMILLS: While we do not use one anymore, many people have had great success using them. A word of caution, many people walk their lambs on an incline while on a treadmill to produce more muscle mass. If the incline is too great, you can develop a knott in the back of your lamb as well as increasing risk of possible prolapse if your lamb is genetically prone to do so. The walk on the treadmill should not be swift, but a slow, steady workout. If you have a treadmill where it has a reverse speed, this is a way of reaching leg muscles that are not used as extensively as walking forwards. BE CAREFUL NEVER TO LEAVE YOUR LAMB UNATTENDED! TRACKING: Tracking has become the best way to develop definition on your show animals. Tracking involves the use of highly trained and bred border collies which run the lambs around an oval track. Non-serious showmen should think twice before using this form of excercise. |
| Tips on Killing Fungus: We believe fungus is not just an external problem, but internal as well. In addition to topical ointments, we have found great success using Sodium Iodide IV combined with 5 days of treatment of fulvicin. Consult your vet for these products. As for topical ointments, Fluid Film, Captan (read warning labels), and Koppertox work extremely effectively, but the Koppertox does stain the wool a little. In this case, pick up a handcleaner at an auto store meant for removing oil. Lamicil, a mixture of Corn Meal and water, and Lime Sulfur all work great. Remember, the first step to curing fungus is to take the prevenatitve measures to never have it. |
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| SELECTION: An overview and tips for selecting market lambs. |
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| Some helpful links: |
| http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/LIVESTK/01618.html : A great place to learn how to formulate protein percentages when mixing up your lamb's feed. Courtesy of Colorado State University MyLamb.Com : A great website full of helpful links Breedersworld.com : Another great website with helpful people Nebraska sheep: A comprehensive breeders directory plus helpful articles. Sheep Management 101: A great place to seek answers about raising sheep. Maryland Small Ruminant Page: A great source for sheep information on the web. |
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| Isometrics: To view my article on Isometrics click Here I have been getting reports from families all across the country from county fairs to majors on how this Isometrics program is developing muscle expression on top of regular excercise by walking, treadmilling, and yes, even tracking. It took us a few years to develop the program, but in one month, you'll see a difference in how your lambs are handling down the top-line and the expression throughout the stifle and lower leg. Since the article has been written, a better implementation instead of the hill would be the brace box. |
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| Building Your Own Brace Box: Click on the link for plans on building a brace box. |
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| Bracing: Tips and methods of training a lamb to brace and set |