posted 3 weeks ago
Hi again Anne,
Do you have sheep?
I've yet to find a livestock feed store near me, just pet stores for dogs, cats, birds and fish. An awful lot is online post-pandemic. Large animal producers no doubt have their connections but some parts of Spain do transhumance sheep systems, small flocks are in decline and the biggest sheep event I've found involved the number of sheep you can see penned behind me in that picture. I don't know how far I would need to go to find a large-animal feed store to even ask the question.
Spain doesn't have a local equivalent of 4H that I know of and if we did it would be in the local language and most likely geared to younger people. I'm not really looking for a paid educational program or to be certified in anything. I've been educating myself on the topic for years, just not doing anything practical with my interest.
Even when sheep give birth without assistance there's still work for people. Some of it is just to keep watch to see if and when to intervene. Sometimes they're just born with too much placenta over their noses and not all ewes solve it promptly for them. Many lives are saved by a human stepping in to clear their way to breathing. Or to recognize when they're coming breech and struggling. Whether the ewes birth in barns or in fields there's still quite a bit of work dipping umbilical cords, vaccinating, recording data, keeping up with feed, water and cleanliness tasks. People walk fence lines, check gates, empty rodent traps, look for signs of predators. Folks with large managed flocks are likely to have some lambs that struggle, need warmers or need to be bottle fed. They watch the ewes for signs of toxemia before birthing or mastitis after. Lambs often get spray painted to match them to their mothers and/or ID tagged to meet local legal requirements. Some producers band testicals and tails. Sometimes you just need someone to make the tea or bring sandwiches. Cheer births, sympathize over deaths or let someone sleep until they're needed.
English is my first language so lots of local groups (for all kinds of things) sound good but don't necessarily end up being a good fit for me where I live. I speak Catalan at about a 5th grade level. Government-sponsored anything tends to be a hastle here. My husband has been ringing town hall about getting me a chicken license for weeks, for example, and hasn't received so much as the first promised email message.
I was just trying to cast a wide net here, potentially volunteer myself as a short term agrotourist and meet some new folks. Maybe I'll fly to the UK, Wales or Ireland if someone is willing to host me. Sardinia has more than 3 million dairy sheep but I can't exactly cold call them ;)
Do you have sheep?
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