Now the Show season has finished, the sheep are having a well deserved break.
The ram lambs went to Melton, but with the increase of Blue Tongue the buyers were not there, with a lot of pedigree breeders not making there reserves. So they have come home and I will see how they turn out next year. The ewes are hopefully all in lamb for the new year! So I will be getting the lambing tunnel set up ready for them at the end of the month.
We are now in a Blue Tongue restricted zone, which has brought some concern to whether Blue Tongue spreads our way. Luckily, it can only spread by midges, so hopefully we won’t have any infected ones come our way. A vaccination is available but there is much concern about fertility and abortions, so I’m waiting on more information from my vets before we decide what the best plan is. Hopefully the weather will become colder and kill them off.
Next year’s shows could look very different to this year if Blue Tongue continues….The positive is my sheep are happy and healthy for now so will pray for some frosts.
