Yesterday was the yearly Federal flock inspection. We are in the Scrapie Flock Certification program and are certified Scrapie Free. One of the things we have to do is have our flock inspected once per year. The inspector comes out and we run every single sheep through. He checks ear tag numbers against inventory. I also provide data on every single sheep that was born or on the premises at any time during the last year. This year, we also had to give shots, so as they went through, we gave each their yearly vaccination. We use the Covexin 8 vaccine, as we have all the clostridial diseases in our area, and it protects any lambs to come.
Some bobbles: we used the shearing sweep, and the sheep did not want to go in, but we got them all done. Ken sprained his ankle, and I fell over a root trying to move sheep from one pen to another. We’re both okay.
Once we checked every sheep and verified the federal ear tags, we went inside to do paperwork. I had a list of all the sheep that had been on the premises last year. I provided documentation showing whether they’d been sold, butchered, killed, or stillborn. For any that were sold, I have to provide the addresses of those to whom they were sold. Butcher animals have to have their age at slaughter listed, and any sheep that have died need documentation showing the cause of death. Dates of all the events are also required.
Our final numbers for 2007 are 80 sheep butchered, 32 sold, 3 died, and 5 stillborn. For 2008 so far, we have butchered four more sheep. We have 120 sheep alive currently. There are a few questions to answer: no outside sheep have had nose-to-nose contact with our sheep in the last year, we have not grazed them on any other property, and all sheep have been isolated from nose-to-nose contact while at shows.
Most of this record-keeping is required of all sheep and goat breeders in the US. However, people not enrolled in the certification program do not need to tag their sheep until they’re sold, whereas I have to tag everything over 12 months of age with an approved, tamper-evident tag featuring our flock ID and an individual ID number.
We finished our paperwork and called it good for the day.
Our next job will be trying to figure out how to get toes trimmed on the ewes before they go to pasture and get their wormer. With Ken injured, I’m not sure how to do it, as he usually holds the sheep while I trim toes.