Grace wrote :
"What I worry most about is newbies reading superficially about organic
practices and just letting the sheep "do their thing."
I worry about this, too. I also worry about newbies who believe that sheep
should be "routinely dewormed" or that "rotating wormers" is the both the
solution to parasite overload and prevents resistance. Neither of these
assumptions are wholly correct. I've taken exception, in the past, to the
statement that "anyone can raise sheep", and have been upbraided a bit for
disagreeing. I think it takes much dedication and quite a bit of knowledge
to raise animals well. You can never know enough, and will forever be
learning. I mess up on a regular basis, endure heartbreaks and
self-recrimination, and generally continue to fall short of my own
expectations -- call me a masochist, but that's also part of the fun of it
<g> So it goes without saying we would do well to be exceedingly kind to
those who know less than we do -- the challenge is to help guide newbies and
keep discussions open without fueling contentiousness. There is no single
"correct" way to raise sheep, as the variables are so numerous.
"I suspect possibly the terminology to
"drench" sheep with wormers may be part of the problem."
It may well be. But in large commercial flocks, sheep ARE routinely and
regularly drenched (given oral anthelmintics) regardless of severity of
parasite load or identification of specific parasites. That's a problem,
because it is detrimental to both the environment and the individual animal
-- though these concerns typically take a back seat to economic interests.
In the same way that organic gardening has served as both laboratory and
model for commercial agriculture, so too can smallholders or "cottage"
shepherding ultimately provide viable alternatives to the commercial wool
industry. It's an excruciatingly slow process, but I choose to believe it's
possible :)
Margot Grim
Grim's Faerytale Farm
Woodinville, WA
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