[Jacob-list] speaking of eartags

[Mary Hansson]

Linda,
 
There is a picture of a rabbit restrained on a board in Leslie Samson's Completely Angora.  I never tried it and felt like any self-respecting rabbit would be scared out of his mind restrained like that.  Simply having him sitting on my lap or on a table seemed to work quite well, and often the bunny was too happy anyway---checking the place out making the shearing quite difficult sometimes.  Lots of laughs, though, shearing with curious bunnies.
 
Banding tails:  My vets have absolutely HATED the process as I am sure they have seen too many cases of fly strike and infection as a result.  I have found that if you band the little guy's tails in the cold of the morning (pick a cool day, too), it is rare for the lamb to show a single sign of pain.  Try the reverse of getting the band on mid-day on a warm day and you have a lamb decked out bawling his heart out for over 20 minutes.  I only dock tails now when lambs come early AND before I start seeing any flies.  Sometimes we have flies here good and strong in February and other years it is closer to April.  Here's hoping it will be later this year to kill off some of those little bugs.
 
Mary Ellen

Linda Bjarkman <patchworkfibers at alltel.net> wrote:
Did you catch the reference to Angora rabbits being tied to a board, kicking and
screaming (I'm paraphrasing here - I don't think it actually said screaming)

So far, I have not yet figured out how to tie a rabbit to a board. I have enough
trouble trying to get my cat into the cat carrier!

Linda

On Fri, 9 Jan 2004 16:24:33 -0800 (PST), J Thomas wrote:
>Incredible site! GOSH! Makes us all seem like axe murderers! I admit, there
>are some who are cruel to their animals, but most shepherds and ranchers tend
>to their animals well - a healthy animal gives more fleece, more angora, etc.
>I especially chuckled at the reference to the sheep being shorn "before they
>naturally shed". I didn't think sheep, except the hair sheep, shed their
>fleece.

http://www.PatchworkFibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep & Angora Rabbits
Handspun Yarns




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Mary Ellen Hansson, MEd, RD, LDN
ISeeSpots Farm
Jacob Sheep:  Lambs, adults, wool
www.iseespots.com
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