Never Say Never

We had seriously considered not producing any more lambs.  The barn is full of animals and I don't want to 'get rid of' anyone, either selling into another flock or <shudder> send to auction.  As we have chosen to discontinue the freezer lamb part of the farm business it was hard to justify producing animals without a specific need or purpose.  And, knowing how long our sheep tend to live (we have three right now who are fifteen years old) part of our long range plan was to let the flock dwindle from natural causes until in a dozen years there would be just a few that us old farmers could manage.

But.....having been contacted by a few buyers who really, really wanted lambs in the future we decided (OK, it was pretty much just me) that we'd expose a maximum of ten ewes to three different rams.  While my decision to not breed again didn't hold, I can say that we are D-O-N-E with trying to shear and lamb in frigid winter weather.  Sheep gestation falls quite reliably between 145 and 149 days so one does the math, looks at the calendar and sets the schedule.  The boys were put with ewes in mid-December so the earliest possible lambing date is after I return from the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in May.  Likewise, they are scheduled to come out shortly so that the last possible date will be before I attend the Central New York Fiber Festival.

In the non-Cotswold group we have big handsome Brick in with Taffy, Macaroon, Tiffany and Violet.  They are all super crimpy medium wools, and Brick should add some length and solid body to them.  All except Taffy carry moorit genes (Tiffany herself actually is a moorit herself so that will double her odds) but the color is a recessive trait so it will depend on how the genetic dice roll.   I would love to get a moorit lamb or two as some of my very old girls like Ruby and Foxy won't be around much longer.  All have been covered by him and Taffy has repeated.  I'm not too surprised since she's fat as a market hog over conditioned and may not conceive at all but I'm hoping his full attention during the second heat will have done the trick. 

Old Isador is the last able-bodied F1 (first generation) Cotswold ram from the AI we had done ten years ago using a British ram and I really hated to not ever see lambs from him again especially since I have such nice young ewes who aren't related to him.  He has a group of three -  Paige, Peggy and Olivia.

The third group is exposed to the young colored Cotswold Norris.  He has three ewes - Lovey, Ophelia and Oleander.  Lovey is two-tone gray like Norris.  The other two ewes are white but have colored parents so the chances of colored lambs from them is high.  And white would be OK too as I'm sure the fleeces will be lovely.  They are housed in a long but narrow ad hoc pen which will be fine for a limited time frame. 

Once the rams have been returned to the bachelor barn the ten ewes will be housed together in the last pen on the floor where Isador's group is now.  We can feed them most appropriately if they are together. 

So the die is cast!  We'll be lambing in May when the sun is shining and the grass is growing! 

Apple Party

Every fall our for ancient apple trees give us far more fruit than we can make use of.  The Wageners come ripe first, followed by the Wolf Rivers, then the Pound Sweet and then the Northern Spy.  I try to find time to use the best ones and I feel very guilty letting a large part of the bounty go unused but we don't let it go to waste entirely.  The rams are happy to get a small bucket of small or damaged or wormy or knotty apples every morning when they are turned out into the large, back pasture.


Our big Cotswold ram, Neville, doesn't care for them and waits by the water tub for some petting while the others are eating.  Not liking apples is a bit odd, like a dog not wanting cheese, but he's certain he does. not. want.

Castillo and Brick noticed me hanging around the gate and had to see what I was up to.

I really like how Brick is built.  He's a very pretty gray under the sunburned tips.

And then Norris and his two 'uncles' are turned out into their small close-to-the-barn pasture. We cut the apples into smaller chunks for him and the old guys.  Norris likes apples very much but can't get his jaws around them well enough to crunch them if they are whole.  The old boys have some missing teeth so it's harder for them too.  The last thing we'd want is to have somebody choke to death because they couldn't chew a whole apple. First Norris eats with Isador. Then he runs over to Ian's pile to 'help'.  (Ian has a stiff shoulder and limps.  Two piles keep the shoving to a minimum).
It's always a hard sell at the end of fall when the apples stop dropping and there are no more to distribute and I have to convince the rams I haven't just forgotten.  But it's good while it lasts!

Sparkling White

...and gray and brown and ......

Tuesday gave us two inches of rain.  Thankfully, it was a warm rain that came and went throughout the day with no dramatic wind, hail or lightning.  Andy has been on a barn cleaning marathon and with the weird cool spring we've had, the flock can be locked out all day and not need to come in for shade.   Keeping the barn well bedded doesn't stop wool from getting dusty and grimy so I love having the sheep cleaned off by the rain.

And of course, especially with the Cotswolds, if you are standing on food you might as well keep eating it.  Being "hungry" doesn't really enter into the equation which is why we slowly acclimate the flock after a winter of dry hay.

Peanut, standing with her feet up on the curb of the feeder in the bunk which exaggerates her full gut, but still.....  Geez, Peanut.

Stewart and Luellen came to say hi..... and beg for beet pulp pellets even though they are clearly stuffed.

 Ophelia's dark spot shows right up when the rest of her is clean and white.

And everybody has to poke around in the fresh bedding to see if there's anything good to eat even though they have just been eating. all. day.

The boys also were shut out all day and came in sparkling clean and rolling with fat good health.  In order of appearance they are Brick, Neville, Castillo, Nigel, B.B., Titan, Wee Little and old Isador who has to grab one more mouthful coming through the gate.



Neville must be carrying a bushel basket of grass in that rumen.  It's called having a lot of capacity and it's a good thing - a body built to carry a lot of feed or a lot of lamb is a plus if you're a sheep.

Both Neville and Nigel are Cotswolds and their curls are starting to show up already.

Nigel has coarser curls but they carry well down into his lower hind leg which is a hard place to get nice wool to grow.

Brick says,

"I'm not curly but I'm so clean I squeak.  I think some of my gray washed off!"
After the day's heavy rain I took Holly for a late walk and enjoyed some dramatic skies.

And the frogs in the wet spot in the lower field (which we not-so-cheerfully refer to as 'Lake Wheeler') were really happy.  It's loud but peaceful at the same time.  

All in all, everybody had a good day.

International Hug a Sheep Day!............Was Yesterday

And I knew it was and hugged a lot of sheep but didn't get the post up until now.  Maybe we can think of it like the Twelve Days of Christmas and make it last.  After all, every day is a good day to hug some sheep!

Salsa got a hug.......

So Gem and Snubby had to get one too.

Two hugs at once.

And Peanut gets her own hug.

And Brick and the other boys get hugs too.

https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/hug-a-sheep-day/https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/hug-a-sheep-day/So if you didn't get to hug sheep yesterday you still have time - like sending a thank you card, it's never too late!

Off to Work

We bring our sheep in off the pasture every night.  We have sufficient floor space for them to spread out and be comfortable between the actual barn, the concrete barn yard and the long feed bunk where we used to feed the dairy cattle.  They are happy with this routine and come inside at the proper time even if we're late for evening chores.  I'm sure they consider themselves civilized individuals who sleep 'in the house' at night, not outside like livestock. 

Every morning when we turn them out they trudge out in a business-like manner and get down to the work of grazing.  I always think of the LooneyTunes cartoon dog Ralph and the coyote carrying lunchpails and clocking in and out in the mornings.

I'm sure there are some older sheep who are the actual leaders of the flock but in the mornings the lambs usually get out front and lead the way.

 

 

Some sheep head to the north side of the pasture and some veer off to the south.  A few head straight out and go over the bank.

 

 

In just a very few minutes they've all dispersed.

 



 

What looks like a pale lake between the hills is actually moring fog lying down in the valley.  I'm awfully glad I live on a hill where we usually start the day with some degree of sunshine instead of cold dampness.

After letting the girls out we go up behind the house and yard to let the rams and ram lambs out of the 'bachelor pad'.  They also are brought into the barn for the night although they do have a larger fenced outside area to hang out in than the ewe flock.  In wet weather they come sleep inside but if it's a dry night and especially if it's warm they like to sleep outside.  This time of year they spend a lot of time testing each other, pushing, posturing, growling and grunting.  If someone didn't know what the noise was it would be pretty unsettling to hear coming from the backyard at night.

 

Again, it's the younger animals who lead the way.  All that peppy youthful energy......

 



 

The faded brown lamb in the middle with the letter "A" on his face is Brick.  I really like the way he's growing and his fleece and temper are great so he will be staying here.

 



 

BB has grown into a nice sized ram and is still super sweet and loves attention.  Although I have no plans to use him as a breeding ram there was no reason to have him castrated since the boys are housed securely away from the girls.  Of course you should never trust a ram completely but our guys are about as close to fool proof as one can get.

 



This Cotswold lamb was very suspicious of me walking along the fenceline where he doesn't usually see people.

Then it was off to the farther corners of their pasture to graze under a warm autumn sun.

Have a good day!