My lamb hoof-clippers haven't arrived from the UK yet so I decided to get started using the secateurs. Last year I used the Fiskars model but this year I tried the blue and orange Gardena secateurs and they are a bit better, probably because the blades are thinnner. Every lamb has different shaped hoofs (I'll try and take some photos) and some are easier to clip than others. Given the wet weather, it's really important to keep their hoofs trimmed so that muck doesn't get stuck under overgrown nail (abaxial wall in the photo) and leave to bacteria infections and inflamation. I've used this guide from the Three Gables Farm in Canada which is easy to follow and very comprehensive. Clipping will be easier when I get the proper tools but on the whole the sheep seem to quite enjoy the attention and will happily sit while I give them the pedicure. The black sheep are the hardest to deal with as the soft sole is not so distinguishable from the heel and the wall. Some lambs have really tiny hoofs and they are more fiddly. I think I've done about 8 or 9 lambs so far. I should've kept notes but catching them is an opportunist affair. I just grab one when it least expects it for example when they are eating something like fresh willow. Most will happily keep munching while I trim away.
I'm having problems with #210 (my "Friend") who was, incidentally, the first to volunteer for hoof trimming. She gets jealous when I'm clipping the other ewes and on Saturday she started head-butting me and another ewe while I was in the middle of a trimming session! Talking of food, Peter read that sheep enjoy eating fresh spruce and pine shoots which provide extra nutients. So we collected some fresh pine and spruce growth and sure enough they took to it straight away. They are quite picky though and only ate the young shoots at the tips of the branches, leaving the rest.
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