Tag Archives: ultrasound

Today on the Farm – Ultrasounds

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I’ve been having the vets come for ultrasounds the last few years. I tell them the first and last day the rams were with the ewes and they tell me the best date to confirm pregnancy and be able to count fetuses.

I gathered all the ewes into the barn and while I was waiting thought I could get a photo of a sheep and me both in wool. The wool I’m wearing is all handspun and knitted. You know that I am not a knitter, but I did knit the hat. One friend spun and knit the sweater and another spun and knit the dickie (which I just pulled out of the drawer today since we are now getting into the 30s at night). COZY, COZY!

That’s Jade on the left, Patchwork Bettylou in the middle, and Betty on the right. Betty is the second oldest sheep here–she’ll be 10 when she lambs in the spring.

Four veterinarians were here. One held the sheep. She was also at the end to do a quick FAMACHA score and check teeth on the old ones. No problems to report. The person who is crouching has the probe and they are all looking at the monitor (about the size of an ipad). The fourth vet recorded results.

They used to bring a small TV-sized monitor that had to be on a table. That meant we had to bring the sheep to the monitor. Now they are using this portable one. We can load all the lambing pens with four or five sheep and the vets move from pen to pen. They looked at about 50 sheep in two hours.

I wonder how long it takes before you are good at interpreting this. All I know is that the black part is fluid. I don’t make out the lambs very well.

They confirmed the breeding dates I had written down and where I had a question mark or two dates they gave an estimate of the correct date.

Results: All ewes I expected to be pregnant are pregnant. Ewes were all bred between September 10 and October 6. Lambs are due from February 5 to March 5. There are 45 pregnant ewes predicted to have 82 lambs. There are six marked 1+. That means they confirmed one but didn’t rule out a second, so there could be more than 82. Last year we had 96 lambs and my goal was to have fewer this time. I guess I met the goal but not by much.

I kept one ewe back when we were finished because I hadn’t changed her coat when I changed the others last week. This is what her fleece looks like. It may be on the coarser side compared to some but it is sure long.

Moonrise this evening.

Ultrasounds and other veterinary observations

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The veterinarians from UC Davis VMTH were here on Monday. The VMTH sponsors the State Fair Nursery so they will come here to ultrasound ewes. I will be breeding 3 or 4  ewes at the same time as all the others are lambing. This fall, while I was breeding ewes to 6 different rams I also had a non-breeding group. Unfortunately, one of the rams got in with that group on the last day of my breeding season. I gave the 2 ewes he bred the sheep equivalent of the morning-after pill, so Monday was the day to see if it had worked.

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No! Shelby is pregnant with a single and Mary has triplets. I think this is the photo of triplets. (If you must know, I can’t always tell what I’m seeing in these.) By the way, a lamb at 42 days gestation is about the size of a gummy bear. That’s not something that you find in a veterinary text, but vet students have pointed out the relationship to their teachers.

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Here is one that I could see. There is a large (relatively) single lamb here in the middle just under that dark line. (It doesn’t show up in this photo as well as it did seeing it on the screen.)

While the vets were here I showed them a wool sample from the fleece of a ram lamb, Presley.

DSC_6733It isn’t all that obvious in this photo, but can you see that distinct change in color and texture at the bottom of the locks? It is not weak at that point, but the fleece definitely changes color. That is the cut end, so the change occurred a couple of months before shearing. I thought that maybe this related to selenium deficiency or some other mineral issue. We looked at the ram.

DSC_5119This is Presley, taken in mid-September. One observation of mine is that he won’t register as a lilac ram, but his fleece is the brown/gray of a lilac and definitely not black and white. (In this photo the dark wool just shows sun-bleaching, but when you look at the fleece sample you can see that is is not black.) However his facial markings look black. I think this is what some people are calling a chocolate lilac.DSC_7089 This is Presley now. Take a look at his horns.

DSC_7091I hadn’t noticed before, but all 4 horns have a ridge in the same place and the vets wondered if this related to the same conditions that caused the change in the fleece sample. When you look back at the first photo of Presley from September 17 you see that his horns are smooth. I posted a video of Presley taken September 24 that shows what I think is one of the many possible symptoms of bluetongue. The last two photos were taken 3 months after that. Did the illness result in the change in horn growth and the fleece observations? It is not any matter of earth-shaking importance, but I find it an interesting idea. My simple question about the fleece has led to a lot of other inquiries.

We looked at the rest of the rams while the vets were here.

DSC_7098 This is Larry, who was breeding a friend’s flock and just came home. The friend told me that she thought Larry had blue tongue also. Note the ridges on his horns.

The reason that I asked the vets about Presley’s fleece is that I had remembered seeing another fleece with the same discoloration. I had taken a photo of it at the time.

DSC_6663 Ginseng is also a lilac lamb and her fleece shows the color change at the same place as does Presley’s.

I have no answers yet (except that Mary and Shelby won’t be going to the fair), but I’m going to examine the rest of the fleeces as I sort through them and I think I’ll pay more attention to horn growth after this. I’ll report back if the vets give me any answers.

Tay Sachs and Sheep?

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Friday was an interesting day. Veterinarians I know had agreed to help with the project of testing my flock for the gene for lysosomal storage disease. I’ll back track and explain briefly.  A gene for lysosomal storage disease has been identified in Jacob sheep. Carriers are unaffected but if two carriers produce an affected lamb it will develop symptoms of the disease and eventually die. There is interest among some breeders in identifying carriers so that they can either avoid the problem (don’t breed carrier to carrier) or remove the problem (cull carrier sheep). But there is more to it than protecting our flocks. Researchers at Texas A&M and New York University Medical Center found that this disease identified in Jacob sheep is the same as the lysosomal storage disease in children, known as Tay Sachs. So there is interest in maintaining a carrier flock of sheep for use in studying human medicine. One of the members of the Tay Sachs Gene Therapy Consortium stated:

“The goal of identi­fying and eliminating Tay-Sachs in Jacob sheep in order to conserve the breed is a noble goal. But we who are working on a human gene therapy cure are very happy that you did not succeed and kept the car­riers for the last decade. These sheep are genetically significant.”

This article it will give more background.

First up was to do ultrasounds on the sheep and one goat that will be part of the UC Davis VMTH Livestock Nursery at the CA State Fair.  I have provided sheep for the nursery for the last couple of years and because we’re breeding out of season we like to check and make sure they are really pregnant.  I’m pleased to announce that Stephanie, the Toggenburg goat, and 3 ewes are pregnant and will be at the fair in July.

A protocol was developed to enable sheep producers to gather blood samples from their flocks themselves. The DNA test can be done with a few drops of blood on a filter paper. It was recommended to use a special lancet and take the blood from the ear. The Farm Club members and I worked on that a few weeks ago but it turns out that we didn’t have the right supplies and it was a struggle. While I was waiting forthe correct supplies I talked to my veterinarian friend who suggested obtaining the blood from the jugular vein as you would for any other blood test. It’s easier on the sheep (minimal pain) and easier on the person (if you know what you’re doing).   In this photo I’m getting a lesson on how to do this.

I’m pleased to say that after a few missed attempts I was able to get four in a row. Then I figured that I at least knew how to do it and I went back to helping move sheep. We had a “clean” person who labeled and handled the samples, 2 people drawing blood and the rest of us caught and held sheep so we could work through the whole flock quickly. Oh, one of the Farm Club members was the photographer and took all these photos. Thanks,  Shelby.

It was a little more difficult getting blood from the rams. This is Tioga.

My son, Chris,  helped move sheep.

As much as I love my donkey sometimes she makes things more difficult. She is standing right in the gate where the sheep are supposed to go.

These are some of the samples that will be sent to NY for testing.

This is Sid, a wether who will go home with Jackie when he’s old enough.

Thanks to the veterinarians who helped with this project and to the Jackie, Shelby, and Kathy of the Farm Club.

Baby pictures

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I had the opportunity to have my flock ultrasounded last week. The senior students had a chance to practice sheep ultrasound and I found out who was pregnant. A win-win situation. As I expected all the sheep were pregnant (except for 3 I held back to breed for State Fair lambs next year). Most sheep except for the 2008 lambs, have twins. That was also expected.

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Can you see the lamb?

Can you see the lamb?

By the time we were finished I could even pick out the lambs, although I can’t tell on this photo. It is fascinating to see the little rib cages and see the little feet moving around.