Sunday, July 30, 2017

A Lamb Despite Not Breeding

Meet Norris, the newest addition to the Cotswold flock.


Norris is a lamb from the last colored Cotswold ram I sold who went to a very nice farm and shepherd in MA. (Norris' mom was from here too.)  That ram was the last son of Gilly, one of my favorite colored Cotswold ewes. She's now too old to breed again and I have been regretting not having any young males from her.  Long story short, young Norris here became available and so I couldn't resist adding him to the flock.  I hope to breed a very select number of ewes in the future and I can't wait to see lambs from this line.

He has a perfect companion in old Ian who has a stiff shoulder and is penned separately from the other rams to avoid further injury.  (Not to worry, they can all see and hear each other - nobody is housed truly alone.)  Anyway, I told Ian he was going to become an "Uncle".

"Excuse me?  I don't think I was consulted."

It's working out just fine and they go out together after their morning crunchies to graze the little pasture attached to the barn.  (The other boys are let out first and they pass through it to the larger pasture.)

 "Man, this kid is wearing me out."


But when Ian gets tired and goes in to rest Norris quite often stays out a while longer to graze.  He's a Cotswold, therefore a natural born good eater!

"I'm coming......just a minute....okay.....be right there............."

He's an extremely friendly and personable lamb who clearly got loved on a lot by his first shepherd.



.
This is the view I got the most of.




He's a sweetie!

15 comments:

  1. Hello Norris; you're a handsome lad. You will start a good line for Sheepmom. I love Ian's reaction. Have a great day. Jo

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful boy! and glad Ian is sharing his pen and pasture with him!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aww, Norris is adorable! Ian looks like he enjoys the young company. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations on your new addition! Norris has a beautiful fleece and a sweet personality; great traits to pass along to his progeny.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Norris! Okay, back up you close talker ;-D.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Doesn't Ian look excited! Congratulations to you and Norris, and on bringing fine breeding back home. That fleece is tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He is lovely! Bet Ian is still giving you the stink eye.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Don't know much about sheep but Norris has a face to love. Also I thoroughly enjoyed your visit to Equinox Farm! I didn't know those horses were Sara's...thought for years they belonged to a neighbor!




    ReplyDelete
  9. When you say Norris is a lamb despite not breeding, that means you're not breeding the flock, is that right? Just out of curiosity, what are the flock dynamics when you don't breed? Does anything change? Does the flock realize that it's missing a younger generation in some way?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, we haven't bred anyone for 2 years. The barn is full of animals I don't want to part with just for the sake of making more, plus we never were happy with the freezer lamb end of things so when the desired flock quality and quantity were reached the need to breed went away. I can't say that the flock seems to miss lambs in the spring but they do get restless during the fall breeding season. There is more head butting and general chattiness. As a whole, without the stress of lambing the wool clip is much nicer!

      Delete