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!

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.

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This is the view I got the most of.

He's a sweetie!

Looking Good

Sunday we finished readying the new pens for sheep, divided the ewes into their groups and introduced the rams late in the afternoon.

So far everything is working very well.  We have automatic waterers in most pens.  We only have to carry buckets to three groups and they are the smallest and so have the least water consumption.  I like these black water troughs from Tractor Supply.  They are large enough to allow 2-3 animals to drink at once but fairly shallow so if it gets dirty and needs cleaning it's not a big job.  Andy built an elevated platform for each trough so it wouldn't get bedding kicked into it.  The edges of the box come up a couple of inches so the trough can't get pushed off if the sheep crowd it.  We've found that they like to chew on the hoses sometimes - recreational destruction - so the hoses are shrouded in flexible plastic drainage pipe to keep sheep lips off.  Nugget, on the left, is bummed that we took all the fun out of it and it's just....water.  Most of the lambs are in the big "non-breeding" group which includes all adult ewes who aren't being bred for various reasons but we put this pen to use housing some of the smaller lambs who we want to make sure get enough to eat and don't get bossed around by the big ewes.  That's Daisy standing up front and center, Fortune a little blurry to the right and Fawn partially hidden on the bottom left.

A bit better view of Fortune.

She looks thin here but she's not, it's just the camera angle.  I can't get into the pen with them without being nearly trampled with affection which is great fun but not when you're trying to take pictures.

And little Snubby who is doing just fine although she always has something to say - loudly - about every situation.  I caught her chewing - not flattering - and had the shutter speed so slow to catch the light that things are a bit blurry.

Flopsy.  Her ears swivel independently like a cartoon animal and she's getting cute brown freckles on her nose.

We put Danielle in with the lambs.  Having had a stroke or two and being ten years old this year we thought she would benefit from minimal competition. She has a perpetual slight head tilt and doesn't turn to the right worth beans.  I think she has a lot of character in her face, kind of like Bette Davis after her stroke (and I mean that kindly and respectfully to both parties).  Interestingly, she and Snubby have struck up a friendship.  Animals.  They know.

Next to the lambs we penned Ian and eleven Cotswold ewes.  He's behaving himself very well.  We were a bit concerned that he might lust after the lambs but apparently the older girls are keeping him plenty occupied.  Wouldn't you know he'd turn his head just as I took the picture.

We're trying three ram lambs with small groups this year.  They are all taking to the task with enthusiasm.  This is Nigel, trying to convince Lovey she's in heat.  He is from a colored mom so should give me some colored Cotswold lambs from at least some of these colored ewes.  His fleece is showing good curl and really nice luster.  Ian is doing the heavy lifting this year with the other colored and color-carrying Cotswolds.  It's too many for a lamb to manage but if he does give me some colored lambs he'll be promoted next year and have a group of about twenty.

"Do you mind?!  This is hard enough without an audience.  Sheesh."

 

"Whatever, kid.  Just don't mess up my curls."

 

This is Neville.  He's auditioning to take Lucky's place in a year or so.  He's built nicer than the picture suggests and has good curls with a very small britch area.  He's been working the ladies like a pro, so he's got at least one talent.  Heh.

 

 

Everybody should have a job they're good at.  ;-)