Apple Cider Vinegar Your Flock



With lambing season just around the corner, we are getting our checklists checked and ready to go. So I am reading and reading everything I can on lambing (for the 15th time). It's funny you start to recognize sheep farms online the minute you begin reading an article. You just know you've read it before, probably printed it and hole punched it and slipped it into your "sheep" binder. But still, you read it again, on the off chance there was something you missed, and just because your pushover for anything about your fluffy Icelandic sheep!


But every once in a while you run into something new, something so cool that you just can't wait to try it and you sure can't wait to share what you've just found. Now I know most of you have heard about the health benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar in humans, and maybe even some have heard of the benefits of it on sheep but I didn't know to what extent.


My first experience with ACV was last fall after our sheep were delivered. We'd had them about 6 weeks and we ran into obvious parasite troubles. Being new to the sheep thing I was doing what I could but it wasn't helping. Their eye membranes were pale, runny poop, all the signs were there. The vet couldn't get out to us for a few days to take a stool sample so I gave them Safeguard (a dewormer) on there recommendation.


As luck would have it, Margaret Flowers from Trinity Farms was delivering a Shetland wether to us and I asked her opinion. That my friends was a loaded question. When she saw their eyes she said rather alarmed "you've got a severe barpol parasite situation here and Safeguard won't begin to touch it"!


The following are the ingredients for the ACV Drench Margaret recommended.  I don't have the exact recipe right now (its in the "sheep" binder).


Apple Cider Vinegar
Garlic Powder (a generous amount...don't be shy)
Molasses
Sheep Nutri-Drench


In two days time their eyes were pink and fresh and the runs were a thing of the past!  I did give them a dose of  Ivermectin three days later for good measure.  But truly I think the quick treatment with the ACV had alot to do with their speedy recovery.

Now there are many varied opinions on whether the vinegar should be " or pasteurized and some say it is not necessary, while others say any ol' brand will do.  I for one used Heinz brand and like I said, it worked like a charm!

Some shepherds have reported that once they began a routine of administering the ACV to their flocks in their drinking water beginning at three weeks before lambing who had previous problematic births, the problems all but disappeared.  And others swear that their fleeces have improved by repeated use of the ACV.  One thing most agree on is that alone or combined with garlic and other ingredients, it can act as a natural antibiotic and barrier to diseases. 

Every flock is different as are the shepherds, but as the saying goes, everything in moderation.  I for one will be trying this ACV beginning at three weeks before lambing at a rate of 3-4 ml per week per head and see how it goes.  I will also use it as the first line of defense in future parasite situations especially during the hot months.

Hope this tidbit of information helps.  We are always on the look out for anything that can help us better care for our wonderful breed of sheep.  Remember, do your own research and make your own determination if ACV is something you would like to use with your flock.

Learning about my flock

Well, finally got an appointment with the vet to come out and give the flock a once over.  They probably don't need it but I sure do!  The day after we brought them home I noticed some "irregularities" in the holding area we had them in and thought "oh oh" parasites! Yuck! After contacting the sellers they recommended Valbazen dewormer and said they should all be fine.  I checked their eyes for that pale anemic look and they were all nice and pink.  Our guess was that the stress of travel must have woken up some sleepy worms. Nice! But such is life with the sheep, better I get used to it.
A week later after being dewormed with the drench of Valbazen, some of the sheep were still not "regular" if you follow me.  It was quite a messy sight.  Ok, now I was getting nervous.  We had a visitor to the farm, Margaret from Trinity Farm who sold us Rhum the Shetland wethered ram and while she was dropping him  off she offered to check my flocks eyes for me.  YIKES!!!! White as snow they were.  She thought it may be the dreaded barpole parasite in the stomach that sucks the very life out of a sheep.  She recommended, a drench of ACV, nutri drench for sheep, molasses, and lots of garlic powder along with a serious dewormer drench of Ivermectin.  We administered both and two days later their eyes were returning to normal.  Thank God!! Was it the treatments? Was it nothing? Who knows, but better safe than sorry.
Now truth be told the sheep never displayed any other warning signs that they were extremely sick. Don't we wish they could speak.  They have been fine since.
Shortly after this episode, I noticed my black ewe lamb Ania had a cough.  Sounded much like a cat coughing up a fur ball.  Ok, my new shepherd nerves were on high alert "now what?"  So that's why I am having the vet come out and give them a once over to settle my own mind.  I think they are well but since the little sheepy can't whisper in my ear, I'd rather be on the safe side of things.


Here is a picture of me giving our ram lamb his drench of ACV. And my good friend Kelly after I talked her squeamish self into helping me tend the sheep!! Good job!! Who says we city girls can't rastle a sheep or two!