[Jacob-list] Wool loss

[ARTHUR PARTRIDGE]

--Previous Message--

> had my flock sheared a month ago, in mid-May. Most of the ewes are

>growing back their wool, but a few --all lactating ewes-- are sloughing

>wool.

============
I think it is something normal.  There was a debate on Sheep-l where some
shear the sheep before lambing on the premise that the cold ewes will take
the lambs into the shelters.  Others shear after lambing for these reasons
(1) don't have to feed cold ewes as much, they will eat more to keep warm
in a cold spell, and (2) a few weeks after lambing there is a natural break
in the wool and some of it will slough off (shed?) on it's own.  So I think
what you are seeing is normal wool loss.
 
Anyway, I am really late shearing because we are having constant rain this
spring.  I had to cancel shearing twice now.  One of my mother ewes looks
horrible.  The wool is gone from around her neck and tail and she is
dragging around some belly wool.  Her wool is different than the other
lactating ewes; maybe the more primitive type with longer fibers and some
hair fibers.  The other mothers, with the shorter, whiter, hairless,
crimped wool, don't show as much wool loss.  So I think what you are seeing
is normal.  A real surprise is my Pygora goat, the fiber is coming out by
the handful and she never kidded.  That is normal too.

Another reason the ewes could be losing wool is if they were subjected to
extreme stress, a very serious previous illness, lack of minerals (a bad
diet), any extreme trauma of some kind.. 

Cathy
Moscow, Idaho