Premier Sheep-Goats

Premier Sheep-Goats Equipment and advice from the folks that use it…Every Day! Premier has partnered with renowned veterinarians to provide our customers professional advice.
(48)

Our on-staff sheep/goat nutritionist plus veterinarians have years of real-world experience. For this free service send us an email at [email protected]—they’re available during our regular office hours. (Note: We also strongly urge that all livestock owners establish a close working relationship with their local veterinarians.)

10/09/2024

Question:
I have a 4yr old southdown ewe who continues to mount other ewes, she has been marked 3 times by the ram. Does she have cystics ovaries? Any remedies if so?

Veterinarian Response:
You are likely looking at a hormonal problem with the ewe. She may have cystic ovaries or it may be something different that is causing an increase in hormones causing her to exhibit ram like behavior. The great majority of these simply get culled from the flock and we never really know what the cause of the problem is. There is little that we can do other than treating her with a dose of GnRH (gonadotropin releasing hormone) to cause ovulation and regression of a follicular cyst if that is the problem.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

09/26/2024

Farm Manager position in Washington, IA.

Premier Experimental Farms is seeking a working farm manager to work along side our livestock manager (Fiona) in managing 900 acres of pastures, fences, crp, woodland, crops (hay/silage), buildings. Our farm consists of 700 ewes, meat goats and pastured chickens. It also field-tests products for Premier 1 Supplies (same owners), and assists with photo opportunities of products in use. The opportunity exists to assist Premier with developing new products. The ideal candidate will permanently relocate to Washington County, Iowa.

Premier Experimental Farms is equipped with modern farm machines and 50,000 sq. ft. of barn space.

Desired Skills and Experience:
• Management aptitude with the ability to manage two full-time farm staff
• Ability to operate farm machinery: Balers, mowers, loaders, truck, etc.
• Sheep and goat experience
• Basic mechanic skills
• Positive attitude
• Ability to work well with others
• Excellent pay and benefits including: 401K, health, vision, dental, and bonus opportunities. Relocation assistance will be considered.

Please email resume to [email protected].

09/10/2024

Question:
I have a question on bottle jaw in yearling sheep. When we woke up this morning she has a soft squishy lump that's pretty big on the bottom of her jaw and neck. She eats and drinks just fine so far this morning. Could bottle jaw develop overnight? I did look at her eyes and they are more pale pink with white. I read this is mostly parasite related. We move our sheep daily. They are always in fresh pasture. Is there something I can give her? Also should I be giving her a protein block? Or iron? There is a lot of iron in our water naturally.

Veterinarian Response:
Bottle jaw is fluid in the tissues due to low blood protein. The number one cause of low blood protein in sheep is a heavy parasite load. Bottle jaw may “appear” or “disappear” suddenly based on position of the head prior to observation. If the sheep was grazing the fluid will pool below the jaw due to gravity. If the same sheep had its head up for 10 minutes prior to observation the fluid will be in the base of the neck and unobservable. Once the parasites are killed it will take 1-2 weeks to replenish blood protein. Therefore, while bottle jaw can be used as an indicator of parasitism it should never be used to determine if deworming was successful or unsuccessful.

There are a number of dewormers available including ivermectin, dectomax, cydection, valbazen, prohibit (levamisole) that all work very well. They do not require a prescription from your Veterinarian. I would deworm this sheep and all pen mates. You will need to deworm 2 to 10 times a year depending on climate, rainfall, local weather, genetics of the sheep, pasture rotation, pasture stocking density and temperature. Rotation between 2-3 dewormers will avoid the development of resistance.

Supplementing iron is not necessary in ruminants. Ruminants will get all of the iron they will every need through the forage they consume. They do not become iron deficient and rate limiting step in red blood cell production is not iron like monogastric animals, it is time.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

09/06/2024

Question:
We have a ewe that is vaginal prolapsing during the times she is cycling to breed. I'm going to cull her but was curious if this would be a deficiency or something I need to test for? All I've read about online just talks about a heavy pregnant ewe doing it.

Veterinarian Response:
She is prolapsing due to the increased estrogen causing loosening of the tissues in the perineal area. This also happens in late gestation. It is uncommon to see when the ewes are cycling, however if you do see it now it will be way more severe in late pregnancy. Cull her now.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

08/13/2024

Question:
I'm wondering about some rams we have. They were tested and a few are deferred due to bent tails. What we are wondering is if we turn them out as extras what are the downsides? Will they cause deformity in the lambs or failed pregnancies? Is there anything we can do to correct it?

Veterinarian Response:
No, they will not cause deformities in the lambs. Bent tails are a storage defect in s***m production. They are not indicative of infection and may improve with time. The defect in the s***m prevents the s***m cell from penetrating the outer coating of the o**m or egg.

While at first glance turning the rams out as insurance seem harmless, however I advise against that thought. If one of these rams is dominant he will isolate the ewes that he breeds from other rams. This may result in only this ram breeding the ewes. If he is subfertile this can result in delayed conception/lambing and/or a higher rate of open ewes. I would not turn them out with ewes until that pass a breeding soundness exam.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

07/29/2024

Question:
A few of my sheep are showing signs of pinkeye. Do you have anything available that I can administer?

Veterinarian Response:
Pinkeye in sheep is usually caused by a bacteria call Chlamydia. This is a separate strain than the one that causes abortion or polyarthritis. Usually the infection is self-limiting, meaning that it often clears up on its own without treatment. If there is persistent ocular discharge or if there is a white lesion in the cornea (the other surface of the eye) the sheep should be treated with tetracycline ophthalmic ointment or systemic (injectable) tetracycline. These are Prescription drugs and will need to be acquired from a Veterinarian or with a Prescription from a Veterinarian.
Any sheep with pinkeye will benefit from being housed in a dark barn as sunlight will make the infection worse.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

07/02/2024

Question:
When using ciders, the package says to leave in for 5 days, but many people do, 10, 12, or 14. Is there a be if it to leaving it in longer? Also some give pg600 when they pull. Either a full 5cc dose or a 3cc dose. Should pg600 be given, will it help bring them into esterous?

Veterinarian Response:
CIDR’s need to be in for a minimum of 5 days. I actually prefer longer. Any length up to 12 days. What I usually recommend is to place the CIDR’s in a group of ewes all on the same day and stagger the removal with giving the ram no more than 2 ewes per day if a young ram and no more than 3 per day on a mature ram. So, you pull them starting at day 5 and finishing at day 12.

Warning: if you do not stagger you will overwhelm your ram. I have experience with people pulling 50 CIDR’s on the same day and turning them out with one ram. Take my advice…it is a disaster.

Adding PG600 may improve the response by around 5%. However it is very difficult to find now as it is on manufacture backorder until December. If you cannot get it you certainly can synchronize for out of season without it by using CIDR’s alone. If you do have it you can ½ dose (2.5 mL IM) or full dose (5 mL IM). Inject at the time of CIDR removal.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

05/24/2024

Question:
Our ram lamb who is about 4 months old has a soft round mass on his neck…. I’ve read possible iodine deficiency, could this be? And if so best treatment for it.

Nutritionist Response:
I do not think it is goiter/iodine deficiency. The thyroid is located at the lower jaw neck junction. If it is one side or the other of the neck than definitely not goiter.
You can put 10 cc of iodine on the back between the lambs shoulders blades. Just shoot it on the skin. Lamb will absorb the iodine.
– Dr. Dan Morrical, Production Expert - Premier 1 Supplies

04/18/2024

Question:
Someone recommended setting up a mineral bar for my sheep to let them decide which minerals they need instead of using pre-mixed mineral. Are you aware of any research on this?

Nutritionist Response:
All the research shows that animals cannot and will not balance their mineral intake with cafeteria mineral feeding systems.

Many of the individual minerals are not tasty and that is why most complete minerals have flavor enhancers and byproducts to get adequate intake. So by themselves they will not be consumed in adequate amounts.

Many mineral sources use some chelated minerals. This improves absorption but also increases cost. A cheaper approach is to increase the level of the specic mineral in the recipe. An example this zinc methionine (zinpro) versus zinc sulfate.
– Dr. Dan Morrical, Production Expert - Premier 1 Supplies

04/17/2024

Question:
I realize there has not been injectable or pour on dewormers for sheep for sometime. Is there any new products to consider. My rotational grazing and nutrition seems to work most of the time, but wanted to know if any new unlabeled (or labeled new) products could be used on sheep other than drenching.

Veterinarian Response:
Do not expect to ever see a pour-on formulation that will work on sheep. The pour-on formulation will not be able to pe*****te the oil layer in the wool and thus will not be effective. There are some option, but they are not new. SafeGuard (fenbendazole) can be used in the feed or mineral to deworm sheep without drenching as can Morantel (usually marketed to goats as a feed grade dewormer). These have different mechanisms of action than the avermectins (ivermectin, dectomax and cydectin). The newest dewormer for sheep is cydectin drench (approved about 10 years ago).
There is a combination of Levamisole and dormectin called Valcor that has been approved for cattle. I have not used it on sheep yet so I don’t have any experience. However if you have not used Levamisole in the past it will be effective as the resistance that develops is transient (it disappears when you don’t use it for about 3 years). Levamisole was approved for sheep about 50 years ago and is sold under the brand name prohibit. I should be in your arsenal of dewormers that you use.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

04/09/2024

Question:
When the goat is affected by the mastitis, how do we do the injection?

Veterinarian Response:
It really depends on what you are injecting. If you are injecting an injectable antibiotic this should be administered S.Q. (under the skin) either in the neck or behind the front leg along the ribs. If you are using an intrammary preparation (antibiotic mastitis tube) then you will want to hand milk out the affected side of the udder and administer the tube up the teat canal. Be sure to clean off the end of the teat with alcohol or disinfectant so that you don’t drag more infection into the udder.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

03/29/2024

Question:
I had a ewe prolapse a day after lambing a set of twins. I put sugar on the prolapse to reduce it, then washed it off and put on a prolapse harness. My question is how long should I keep the harness on and should I keep her in the jug to restrict movement - or let her out in the paddock with the other ewes and lambs?

Veterinarian Response:
I would leave the harness on for two weeks and keep her in a small pen so that you can observe. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a lambing jug with just her. Rather it can be a small pen with 3-8 other ewes/families. Often due to the strong flock instinct in sheep when they are isolated they tend to get anxious and are more comfortable with a few penmates.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

03/26/2024

Question:
I have been having trouble with my sheep losing their wool. For awhile it was just one of my sheep who was missing a patch of wool on their side. Now, it is happening with 2 of my other sheep as well. So three out of five of my sheep are missing patches of wool on their sides or back. Their skin doesn't seem irritated or anything like that. This started about a month and a half before lambing (mid January). What do you think could be causing them to lose wool?

Veterinarian Response:
There are four common causes of wool loss in sheep:

1. Lice – affected animals may rub on gates or posts. Generally the skin looks normal and pink but not reddened from scratching. The lice are very small and you will not see them with the naked eye. Treatment with pour-on such as delice or ultraboss is very effective.

2. Wool Break or Wool Slip – this is 1-2 weeks post a severe metabolic event, such as a snowstorm, transport stress, lambing, severe illness/infection, feed or water deprivation. The wool shaft will have a weakness at the time of the event. At the time it is protected by the follicle. 1-2 weeks later the wool shaft has grown out of the follicle and will “break” or “slip”. Wool will appear to come off in patches with bare skin left. At this time the metabolic event is in the past and normal wool will grow and replace lost wool.

3. Bunk rub – If the sheep are feeding at a bunk or manger, they will have wool loss where they are rubbing to get more feed. This is usually on the neck or top and sides of shoulder.

4. Wool loss from overhead feed mangers – If sheep are fed hay in an elevated manger (over their heads) they will get leaves in the wool. Other sheep will pick at the wool and you will see wool loss on their back. This also happens if hay is thrown over the backs of the sheep into a hay manger as the leaves get in the wool on the back and flockmates will pick at it.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M

03/26/2024

Question:
I ususally vacinate with Covexin 8 when I band the tails and casterate with bands. Due to no availability what are my options?

Veterinarian Response:
Use Vision CD/T instead.
– J. L. Goelz, D.V.M.

03/18/2024

Question:
I had a few ewes go down last year with what appeared to be grass staggers - inability to walk, lack of coordination, tense legs, rolled back eyes, etc

Is there a magnesium supplement available that could prevent some of these issues? We're a grassfed operation, so I'd ideally be offering it as a standalone free choice or mixing it with their existing mineral.

Nutritionist Response:
Normally magnesium oxide is the product most commonly used for preventing grass tetany. However, it is not very palatable. Magnesium sulfate is way more palatable, but it contains less magnesium. I would suggest you mix your mineral with magnesium sulfate. Epsom Salts is magnesium sulfate. I would mix in 80:20. How much mineral the sheep are eating is dependent on the salt content of the mineral. You need to start the high mag mineral 2-3 weeks ahead of spring turnout. You can also get magnesium sulfate at your local feed mill. It will be cheaper than Epsom salts from pharmacy or Walmart.

If you are fertilizing your pastures you may want to split the applications doing half in spring and half in June. Or maybe only half as much put on in June. Manure does the same thing. Also you need to watch your potassium and avoid fertilizing with excess potassium.
– Dan Morrical, Production Expert - Premier 1 Supplies

03/06/2024

Question:
I was wondering if you have any thoughts on feeding fescue hay to sheep and goats? I've found very conflicting articles on the subject.

Nutritionist Response:
Sheep and goats are more tolerant to fescue than cattle. Generally sheep and goats are bred in the fall when temperatures are cooler where as cattle tend to be bred in summer heat for spring calves. Cattle have also been primarily converted to black hair and hides which creates even more heat stress. Sheep have wool insulation to help prevent heat stress.

Other than that information I am not sure what to add. Fescue tends to be dilution issue. So either feed some grain or other type of hay to dilute out the endophyte.
– Dan Morrical, Production Expert - Premier 1 Supplies

03/05/2024

Question:
We are using your trace mineral pack mixed with plain salt for our commercial flock. We are experiencing a few goiters this lambing season. Do you have any ideas was is going on? Thanks for your insights.

Nutritionist Response:
We all know the typical iodine deficiency of enlarged goiters and poorly developed wool covering of newborn lambs. Still births are also symptom of iodine deficiency. Iodine is required for hormones that set the basal metabolic rate of an animal. Thermoregulation is one of iodine’s involvement in the body.
Premier’s Sheep Trace Mineral pack is designed to fully meet the iodine needs of your flock with 545 ppm iodine. So, to evaluate other mineral sources you would need 125 ppm iodine with one ounce intake to equal our trace mineral salt. The 2007 Small Ruminant NRC set the iodine requirements at .5ppm for growth and .8ppm for lactating ewes. Very few studies have evaluated the iodine level in forages. We conducted a study of Iowa forages a few years before I retired. Our study found hay samples in Iowa averaged .35 ppm iodine and Dairyland Laboratories reported average Iodine levels of .25 ppm. So, we are short in Iowa and probably the Midwest. The last aspect of iodine requirements is
that they increase during cold weather. Some research indicates up to five times. Our formulation is set at almost 200% of NRC to account for cold stress and animal to animal variation.

One of the things we do not discuss very often is the individual variation in mineral intake by a group of ewes. Research has been done on mineral intake and one way of increasing intake is to ensure more feeder space such that shy, timid ewes have easier access to the mineral. Research under grazing conditions demonstrated that up to 19% of the ewes ate almost no mineral. They just do not read and follow the feed tag. Dry lotted ewes have more consistent intakes. Lastly to ensure intake try to keep
the mineral dry. With the Midwest drought that is easy right now. Spring rains will eventually arrive and Premier webpage has ideas on conditioners that you can add to help prevent caking. If one is
feeding a total mixed ration than including the flocks daily mineral needs in the TMR is the best way to insure uniform and correct level of mineral intake. Another option is to include their daily mineral needs in the grain mix.

There are two forms of iodine hormones in the sheep’s body, T3 and T4. An enzyme that contains selenium is necessary to convert T3 to the active form of T4. So, if selenium is short, you could see an iodine deficiency when it is actually a selenium shortage.

High levels of iron interfere with iodine absorption. Some hays have 300 or more ppm iron and would negatively impact iodine uptake. Try to keep mowers out of the dirt and control the gophers to decrease iron levels.
– Dan Morrical, Production Expert - Premier 1 Supplies

Address

2031 300th Street
Washington, IA
52353

Opening Hours

Monday 7am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 7am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 7am - 5:30pm
Thursday 7am - 5:30pm
Friday 7am - 5:30pm
Saturday 8am - 12pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Premier Sheep-Goats posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Premier Sheep-Goats:

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Our Story

Have a question about sheep or goats? Premier 1 Supplies has partnered with Pipestone Veterinary Services to provide our customers with professional advice. We now have an on-staff sheep/goat nutritionist plus Pipestone veterinarians with years of real-world experience. Post your question to our page, call or send us an email, they’re available during regular office hours. (Note: We also strongly urge that all livestock owners establish a close working relationship with their local veterinarians.)

Pipestone Veterinary Services has provided sheep production and health knowledge, feeds, supplements and supplies to sheep and goat producers throughout the United States for 75 years.

Both Premier and Pipestone have shared a similar mission for the sheep and goat industry. Premier will continue to focus on providing innovative products, including those previously offered by Pipestone. And we will expand our role as a world-class resource for up-to-date information and advice, with the same core values you’ve come to expect from both Pipestone and Premier. The future for our industry is bright!

Other Washington pet stores & pet services

Show All