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Ok, so I got a couple pictures of Chone’s hoof. Sorry about the blur, but I think you can still see what’s going on:

Here is from the side. Gives you the best view of the separation, I think

And here is is more from the front- I’m separating the toes some a little so you can see the cleft area better.

And here is a scan of the tag from the sheep mineral:

The tag was bisected by the cord that stitched the bag shut, so you might not be able to make out the Manganese content- it’s 1,700 ppm.

Thoughts?

Edited to add: The hoof photos were taken today, after we’d applied the copper solution yesterday afternoon. So they’ve already hardened up some

The other day I got a good look at Chone’s back hooves, and realized that the boys probably needed to be trimmed up a bit.

So yesterday The Man and I went out there and rounded up the guys (except Griff, he’s still being a bit of a bugger) and did some hoof trimming.

What we found was that a fair number of the hooves have a problem with separation of the hard external covering and the sole underneath. Also seemed like the hooves were kind of softer than I would have expected, seeing as how we’re not even into our wet season yet.
They don’t look infected (not hot, swollen or smelly), but there was dirt and debris getting stuck in that crevice, and I know that can’t be good.

I suppose if would have helped if I’d taken some pictures of the hooves,, but we kinda had our hands full, being new to this whole thing 🙂

After doing some reading and going back to our farm store, we decided to use a copper naphthenate product applied with a sponge brush to the hooves. Guess we’ll be doing that every day or so for a while and see how it goes.

The thing is, I can’t help but wonder if there is some sort of trace mineral or element that they are missing that they need for health hoof development. I know that the mineral issue is kind of regionally complicated by soil composition and all.

I read this blog today by someone who lives a down near Seattle. She attributes her sheep’s recovered hoof health at least in part to switching to a goat mineral product that contains some copper. I’ve also heard that zinc is really important to hoof development. Perhaps my guys are not getting enough?

They currently have a free choice loose sheep mineral that I know they consume with regularity. Pretty sure it’s the Wilbur Ellis Range Country sheep mineral. I picked that one because it had more selenium in it that the other that was available locally, and I’d heard that our soil is generally selenium deficient.

Nobody is limping or showing signs of discomfort, but I really want to make sure that their hooves are in good shape going into the winter.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions.

Denise

Last week I completely forgot to tell y’all about the dyeing class I went to down at the WSU Research and Extension center in Mt. Vernon!

It was a Master Gardener-sponsored event taught by Tiny Stratton, and it was really inspiring.

Here are photos of some of the samples:

It was a short class, so there weren’t any hands-on dyeing opportunities.  It was more focused on educating people on all the beautiful results you can achieve with various plant materials using only alum and cream of tartar as mordants (way low toxicity).

The samples below were all dyed with Madder.

Love the Madder.

Anyone know of a local source?

Also got lots of recommendations for further reading–

Isn’t this just beautiful?

And I came away with a plant and some seeds to start my Dye Garden-

The plant is Agrimony and the sees are for Weld

But seriously- any thoughts on where I can get a madder plant?

Or Woad?

This year’s apple harvest is not impressive.

Usually we are overwhelmed with apples in early October.
I’ll maybe cook up a couple batches of applesauce, and some dried rings for snacks and that should about do it.
Just wasn’t much fruit out there.

But branches we have lots of,, and though I know it’s not the right time of year to be doing any significant pruning, I can’t deny the sheepers this special treat-

Edgar says “thanks Mom!”

Even Griff gave an appreciative nod as he headed back out to the yard

Bunch of satisfied Shetland boys hanging out and digesting-

Frank-

Felix-

Chone-

I’m glad the apple tree is at least making the sheep happy this year!

In knitting news, the stashbuster sweater is coming along nicely. Going to have to finish with a slightly lighter shade of Border Leicester than I started with,, but I think it will work-

And I did manage to get a start on the toe-up socks-

But I kind of cheated on the cast-on. I did a long tail and then divided the stitches up between two DPNs. Since then, I think I’ve figured out Judy’s magic thingamajig,, but I’m not about to start over,,, so this will have to do for now!