| Suzie Local conditions for sheep vary even within the UK and local advice from local shepherds and vets is always valuable. In the UK we vaccinate the lambs twice and the adults once per year against all the clostridial diseases and pasturella. Whether this will apply in France I don't know but the clostridial problems are probably universal. From late spring until autumn we spray against blow fly attack every 6 - 8 weeks. We don't have a local tick problem so I can't comment on that. If your pasture is wet you may find you have a liver fluke problem but local advice will clarify this point for you. Where we are we don't have an enzoitic abortion problem and I have never heard of Vibriosis but again, I would listen to your local advice. I would certainly not rely on a belief that Ouessants only need worming once a year. We worm as necessary, the lambs every 4 weeks or so and then the interval increases for adult sheep up to twice a year or so. The worming interval will depend entirely on the worm burden that your pasture carries and this will be significantly reduced if you can alternate your grazing year on year. i.e. don't use the same grazing in two consecutive years. We also alternate wormer types ( white and yellow) year on year to stop the flocks developing immune worms. Whatever you do, you must keep a watch on droppings for signs of worms and worm everything as soon as you see any signs. (Tape worm segments look like grains of rice). If you find anything that is coughing badly, and frequently, then you should suspect lung worm and treat accordingly or discuss with your vet. Feet need to be inspected regularly and clipped if necessary. Some breeds, e.g. primitive breeds such as Ouessants, very rarely need anything doing to them; however, their feet still need to be inspected. As regards feeding, I agree that Ouessants will do well on the kind of poor grazing that other breeds would find inadequate for sustaining themselves; however, we still feed Ouessants a normal sheep ration appropriate to their size, condition and available grazing quality and quantity. We have never had any Ouessant illness following this principle. As regards lambing you need to decide when you want your lambs. They will appear 148 days after the ewe has been covered by the ram and you therefore introduce him to the girls as necessary to meet your planned lambing period. The ewes will probably come into season in mid to late september and will remain receptive possibly until early december. It is difficult to find a marking system that works with black fleeced ewes. We have tried both white and yellow without much success. There is now a Ouessant Sheep Society of Great Britain which has just been formed. The Secretary is Louise Weeks, Great Drove Farm, Bostal Road, Steyning, West Sussex, BN 44 3PD. You might find some further English speaking Ouessant advice useful. |