After a long day of filming & visitor’s I deal with a case of fly strike

Үй жануарлары мен аңдар

Some days are long in hours, with a huge amount of interesting things occurring. Yet routine farm jobs must still be done. I might be tired but still enjoy my relatively quiet work with the ewes in the evening light.
Zwartbles Ireland is a small company run from a farm in County Kilkenny in Ireland. We are a regenerative farm which means restoring soils health and regenerating its natural carbon and nutrient cycle with biodiversity of pasture sward with grasses, legumes, forbs and herbs. This also means we farm with nature. Healthy soils are important for healthy environment. So we encourage all life from the microbial to dung beetles, ants, pollinators to flora biodiversity, birds, hare, hedgehogs, rabbits, fox, badger as well as our livestock. This mean we farm in a style of mob grazing and giving fields long rest times between grazings. We have seen a huge increase and return of wildlife including woodcock and snipe in winter months foraging for dung beetle larvae, red squirrel, wood peckers and pine martens. We also have the rare natter bat and previously thought extinct Tawny Mining bees.
We sell, Zwartbles sheep, Zwartbles blankets and yarn made from the sheep, and calendars featuring Inca the World's Smallest Sheepdog and her coworkers. We also sell alpaca yarn spun for our own alpaca. Our yarns are 100 percent natural, grown by our sheep which grazing our small green Irish fields. This wool is naturally sequestered carbon which you can then knit into warm environmental friendly clothing.

Пікірлер: 25

  • @marleneclough3173
    @marleneclough31739 ай бұрын

    Oh I hope your shearer can come soon

  • @karenhall2926
    @karenhall292623 сағат бұрын

    You treat your animals so kindly you can see that they trust you❤

  • @lindaoostmeyer4637
    @lindaoostmeyer46379 ай бұрын

    Love how Ebony "listens" to Inca!

  • @angelareimann6433
    @angelareimann64339 ай бұрын

    Interesting to see the fleeces close up.

  • @nancysmith-baker1813
    @nancysmith-baker18136 ай бұрын

    They are so funny . Fun video , thankyou

  • @zz4396
    @zz43969 ай бұрын

    Little Bit is so chill. ❤

  • @elizabethneill3825
    @elizabethneill38259 ай бұрын

    Good girl Inca! Inca comes to the rescue!

  • @maryfrances7744
    @maryfrances77449 ай бұрын

    Such lovely apple treats!

  • @hn6634
    @hn66349 ай бұрын

    I hate fly strike😣

  • @lesliegalen7018
    @lesliegalen70189 ай бұрын

    Do we need to do a gofundme to get a bloody shearer to get out here? Hey shearers! We need some help!

  • @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    9 ай бұрын

    Problem is there aren’t enough and many now leaving for shearing in Australia

  • @lesliegalen7018

    @lesliegalen7018

    9 ай бұрын

    But will the sheep be well not being sheared? Maybe if I yell louder 😲

  • @reka0803

    @reka0803

    9 ай бұрын

    ​@@SuzannaCramptonIrelandIt's a single day. There are 25 zwartbles, ewes and rams, and three alpacas. The lambs aren't even sheared yet. Just one day. I don't understand it. Where is the Irish solidarity between sheep farmers and shearers? I'm really angry from afar. Just one day. 😢

  • @elizabethneill3825

    @elizabethneill3825

    9 ай бұрын

    @@SuzannaCramptonIreland Is this a seasonal visit or emigration?

  • @elizabethneill3825

    @elizabethneill3825

    9 ай бұрын

    I mean for the shearers.

  • @ritabrunton4391
    @ritabrunton43919 күн бұрын

    Can the maggots get transferred to another sheep since the sheep get so close together?

  • @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    8 күн бұрын

    not unless another sheep lies down in the exact spot. birds are quick to clean up the maggots on the ground

  • @yesidtac7863
    @yesidtac78639 ай бұрын

    Ovejita

  • @user-yp9xi2xp2c
    @user-yp9xi2xp2c4 ай бұрын

    Its disgusting how your sheep got flystrke.and you dont treat it you need to treat it you dont need sheep

  • @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    4 ай бұрын

    Sadly you must be unaware of the extremely detrimental effect that fly strike treatments have on the wider environment. Fly strike treatments and wormers are part of the problem which is causing environmental ecocide. All the insects that eat the manure from animals treated with wormers and insecticides, include beneficial insects like many pollinators, bumblebees, hover flies, honeybees, butterflies and dung beetles. In Ireland we’re supposed to have over 40 different types of dung beetles which are becoming rare/extinct. Dung Beetles are vital for soil health as well as for feeding hedgehogs, many birds, badgers, also fed weaned bats and fledged birds. I farm with nature, which means catching fly strike as soon as possible. Flystrike can occur very quickly and more often than not I catch it early. As for worming my sheep, they graze a multi species sward which contains a diversity of plants that contain tannins. Tannins are detrimental to parasitic worms. In 2023 a routine vet check discovered our flock didn’t have worms. This was because of how I farm and not because I use insecticides.

  • @talibrashad1686
    @talibrashad1686Ай бұрын

    Ma'am you have a large enough flock to know that fly strike happens and there's preventive measures you can take to deal with the problem. One of these being having portable shears with you at all times, being that fly strike develops so rapidly, in some cases it can kill the animal within a week. I've seen a few of your vids picking the maggots out with your hands and letting them run free, that's not treatment. The best treatment is a close shear, you don't need insecticide to rid the lamb of the maggots...

  • @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    @SuzannaCramptonIreland

    Ай бұрын

    I have portable shears and use them regularly. If you saw me picking maggots out by hand that’s as a demonstration for the viewer. After area of fly strike is closely shorn sheep get disinfectant wash & a small dose of click to kill remainder of maggots. Even with a close shear flys often return to same sheep to lay maggots if they haven’t been treated. I have used herbal washes which work but if it’s humid and lots of rain this washes off while insecticide remains present longer.

  • @talibrashad1686

    @talibrashad1686

    Ай бұрын

    And today I've learned something new, thank you for this explanation ma'am I was clearly misinformed so please excuse my ignorance. I love animals and wish nothing more for them to be happy and healthy, the love you have for your sheep seeps through the screen to us viewers and we appreciate you😄

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