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There's sort of a random mix of docked and undocked tails this year. I dock all of the cormos and cvms because they get big woolly butts and it would be super gross and unhealthy to have tails making it worse. The jacobs don't really need it done but I got nervous because I was reading in the jacob sheep group that a bunch of people refused to buy breeding ewes with tails or would buy them and dock them as adults (which I think is unacceptable). So I decided to dock just the ewes, figuring a long life as a breeding animal was worth the pain of having a tail dock done, but my resolve sort of wavered by the end. I really hate docking tails. So there are some jacob ewes with tails and all of the jacob rams have tails.
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Aug 25, 2016 15:56
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I finally got my 50 mm lens back after lending it to someone about a year ago so I took sheep pictures. Gotta rub all over that tree. Good stuff.  Wonder is such a doof   Willow  This is Aster's ewe lamb who I wasn't going to keep but her fleece is amazing so I might cave.  The cormo/jacob crosses definitely ended up with the jacob face.  You're not a sheep at all, Opal.  This dude decided to test his boundaries and tried to take me down. You have handles on your head dingus, don't start that poo poo with me. I sat on him for a while so he could re-evaluate his life choices and he seems to have got it out of his system now. He's 2 and in a new place and trying to impress ladies so I won't hold one rear end in a top hat day against him but if he tries again it won't matter how pretty he is, he will be on an all expense paid trip to freezer camp. 
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Sep 7, 2016 22:10
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LoreOfSerpents posted:If he does it again, would you consider selling him to someone who doesn't care about well-behaved rams? Would the person you got him from be offended if they knew? Chaosfeather posted:I love the way the cross looks, too. Are crosses like that sterile or are they more like dog breeds that have really close genetics despite looking different? I was breaking up a fight between him and Murphy (who was trying really hard to not be in a fight) and he turned and charged me instead. I grabbed his horn to stop him and he sideswiped me to try and get me off. I'm fine, just a little bruised and banged but I was pissed. There were plenty of extenuating circumstances so I won't hold that against him. He's only 2 which is prime rear end in a top hat age, I was taking him away from his ladyfriend and putting him in with other rams so he was really worked up. Plus he's pretty new and doesn't know me that well so he probably wasn't aware of my feelings on rear end in a top hat rams. Now he is so if he makes a decision to charge me specifically again he's going to be in trouble. It's ok to get worked up and have a tantrum, it's not ok to go after humans. While he's in with a breeding group I'll work on halter breaking him and teach him how to be safe around people and I think between that and being introduced to the big boys this winter he should turn out fine. Two is excellent at teaching young rams manners. Personally I think there are too many pretty rams in the world to keep ones that as also douchebags, even if it turned out to be a very expensive stew. My health and safety is worth more than any purchase price. I wouldn't sell an actually aggressive ram to anyone but a slaughterhouse. I would feel awful if an animal I sold went on to hurt someone and most other buyers would be hunters who would want to turn him lose and have people pay to hunt him down for his horns and I wouldn't do that to Glen. His breeder would understand if I made that choice, sheep people are nothing if not practical. Some nasty rams do pass on their aggressive personalities and I wouldn't breed from them but I don't think that's the situation here. Murphy says he is a good and sweet ram unlike that young hooligan.  Sheep breeds are just like dog breeds. They're all sheep in the end and can interbreed and have fertile mutt offspring. Crosses are actually really important for the lamb industry because you can produce specific crosses that are hardy and produce a lot of milk then breed them to a "terminal sire" which is any big fat meaty breed that produces giant lambs but maybe aren't great mothers or have lovely parasite resistance. That way you have excellent mothers producing much larger, faster growing lambs than she would have otherwise. Avshalom I love your goatlings 
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Sep 11, 2016 16:17
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People pay a lot more to go out and shoot a sheep than they do to just buy meat (warning dead sheep pictures in this link). It's dumb and makes me mad. Both the rams and the bucks expect cuddles year round. The rams get kind of musky but they don't piss all over themselves like the goats so I'm a lot more open to sheep cuddles in the fall than goat. Heath and Rex have gross boners pretty much nonstop this time of year so hugs are not going to happen. Murphy is a great, chill dude. He's giant but he just gives zero shits about anything.
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Sep 11, 2016 18:41
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Glen has never lived with other rams before. His breeder keeps rams in with their own group of ewes year round. So Glen was feeling like hot stuff and then I threw him in with Murph, who is sweet and gentle but weights 100 lbs more than him, and Glen decided he needed to prove himself. Murphy was doing everything he could to show that he didn't want to be fighting but Glen wasn't listening because he was thinking with his balls. With the main group of boys Twofer intervenes in fights like that but with these guys it was on me to keep everyone safe.
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Sep 11, 2016 20:33
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We're chugging along getting ready for winter. Last weekend we put 600 bales of hay into the barn and this week I need to get the pens set up for breeding groups to be put together soon. I'm also having a Girl Scout troop out to the farm for a class project (for me, not them. but they will get a badge out of it) next month so I'm having to plan that out and get supplies together. The sheep and I are all very happy about the rapidly cooling weather, the goats will be sheared very soon and will probably be less happy. Have some pictures. Jazz, who is going on 12 but still trundles around like a blimp. If I let her breed she'd probably have another set of triplets. Such an overachiever.  Miss Maddie looking suspicious  Moose vacuuming up apples in the orchard  Dog  He's a farm animal too  Opal, looking like a mop. I really need to get on shearing them  Handsome Goliath  Spud bud  Jaffa is huge for a babby lamb 
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Oct 15, 2016 15:05
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Rams tend to burn out early, generally by 10 or so. Really large and commercial breed ewes probably get to around 10-12 too. Jacobs just keep on going on their own terms. I think the oldest jacob on record was in her early 20s when she died and the lady I got Glen from has a 16 year old ram.
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Oct 15, 2016 15:55
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My computer needed to be reset and I still have to get my photo editing programs back but I thought I'd do a quick update. Everyone who is going to be bred has been bred. It's going to be a drawn out lambing season (yay.) but hopefully it will be uneventful. I tried a different marking method this year and it failed but I saw most of them and the others will just have to be surprises.  Also Twofer is famous again. If you get Shepherd Magazine, and who doesn't, you might have noticed him in the December issue. 
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Jan 2, 2017 17:17
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my cat is norris posted:Dang, Isadore sure is busy! The ladies line up for Isadore, it's ridiculous. I know he's a handsome guy but I didn't think he was that much better looking than any of my other rams. He thinks he's a total rock star though. Writer Cath posted:No action for Heath? Heath got in with his daughters again (because they're weird Freudian hussies) but I shut that down. I tried to breed him to Ginger but she really wasn't having it so I don't know what's going on with goats this year. A few pictures finally! Lightroom is all borked but I made do with just Photoshop. Minnie  Reba's sweet face She's really come around recently after being pretty wild when I first got her and Glen. Mlem. This is Willow, Jewel's daughter from this year.  Mimosa, Aster's daughter from this year. I was planning on selling her but that fleece! It's so gorgeous and long and soft.  Jewel looking a bit pudge already.  Twofer! I love this sheep.  What is your face even doing, Two? 
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Jan 5, 2017 18:26
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Avshalom posted:guess what! Aaaaa so cute Jiminy Cricket has almost certainly been sheared but the rest might shed out. Dorper crosses are notoriously lovely about retaining their shedding qualities. You've got some time before you have to figure it out though. Congrats on your unexpected sheep bounty!School has started again so I'm crazy busy but I'll try to answer questions and post pictures soon.
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Feb 5, 2017 20:43
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Lambing season has started! I had a crazy stress dream last night about one of the jacobs having quads that were all hamster sized. I was frantically trying to measure out formula and heat it to bottle feed them but I kept messing up. Luckily when I woke up and went to the barn there were only two lambs and both had full bellies so I don't actually need to do any of that. These are Flirt the romeldale's lambs, sired by Goliath. I need to find my scale but they're pretty chunky lambs. Flirt was so enormous I would have put money on her having triplets. The white is a ewe and the spotty one is a ram. Floofy baby muttonchops  He's going to be a friendly, curious baby for sure.  He's got go-go boots on just like his daddy.  Now I've got a week or so until the tidal wave of jacob lambs starts. I hope you're all prepared.
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Mar 17, 2017 15:40
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 *bummer alert*The little ram seems to have been born without an anus (an explanation here). He was acting sort of uncomfortable so I went to give him an enema and there just wasn't anything there. I called the vet's emergency line and he let me know there wasn't anything to be done so I have to bring him in to be euthanized in the morning. The vet had never seen a case in a lamb before, it's just a freak genetic accident. That doesn't make me feel any better at the moment but farming means making the hard choices sometimes.
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Mar 18, 2017 02:17
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Kwyndig posted:Yeah that sucks but there isn't a lot to do here. Hopefully it was just a one off mutation and none of the other lambs Goliath sired get it. These are his only lambs for the year, the rest are sired by Spud. None of his or Flirt's previous lambs have had issues. Nature's just a bitch sometimes 
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Mar 18, 2017 03:06
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Thanks for the support you guys, it was a super lovely decision but the right one. A lady was at the vet's office having her dog put to sleep so we hugged and cried and lamented how much things suck sometimes. The vet said the defect is super rare and I probably won't ever see it again. Fingers crossed! Radio! posted:Can you at least, like, eat him? Or does chemical euthanasia mean he's uneatable? I mean the pink juice is super toxic because it's literally meant to kill things so that's no good, and maybe there are farmers out there who can shoot a newborn lamb but I am not one of them. Also he was like 8 lbs and super cute and there's no way I would go through the emotion wringer to eat him/feed him to my dog. I'm willing to take a loss on that one. McSharpie posted:
Flirt is doing ok and none of my ewes have gotten mad at me when I've had to take lambs away. She's confused and called for him some but her other lamb is keeping her busy. The romeldales are simple sheep and I think she'll move on quickly. Listening to mamas calling for dead babies is almost worse than having babies die to begin with. The main thing I'm concerned with is that she has a huge massive udder big enough to feed triplets and it's only going to one lamb now. I'm going to have to back off on her feed a bit and make sure she doesn't develop mastitis.
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Mar 18, 2017 19:55
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Avshalom posted:i'm checking this thread like ten times a day awaiting the jacob tsunami You and me both! Except instead of "this thread" it's sheep butts. Johnnie has milk in so I'm guessing she'll go first. I doubt it will be by last call tonight but I wouldn't be shocked if there were lambs tomorrow. She's spending the night in the maternity ward either way.
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Mar 22, 2017 01:11
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We've got a bunch of "before breakfast" lambers this year which means 5 am barn checks in my pajamas. But it also means we have a bunch of spotty babies today! I had my money on Johnnie since she's been bagged up since Tuesday but Aster pulled ahead to lamb first by about 2 hours. Aster had twin ewe lambs, Johnnie had twin ram lambs. Sorry for the phone pics, I'll take my camera out in a bit. Girlies   The smaller, darker girl has one silly floppy ear.  The boys are tall and dark and only had one thing on their minds.  Just legs and spots and blur. When I checked on Johnnie she only had one lamb and I was super confused because she was definitely big enough for twins. I checked inside for another lamb that might have been stuck when I saw this dude pop his head out from the pen next door. He had just gone wandering and hadn't quite figured out how to get back.  Also the romeldale lamb was sleeping like a goof  I had 5 ewes bred on the same day so there are more spots coming. They'll probably wait until after dinner but I have them in a pasture I can see from the house just in case.
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Mar 24, 2017 14:35
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I took out my real camera so you get even more lamb pictures. So many lamb pictures. One of the boys, this one has a big O on both sides of him.   The other boy, who keeps wandering off in search of adventure.    I really like this girl, she's so cute! Her sister was crashed out in a pile of hay and I didn't want to risk waking her up for pictures.    I couldn't leave out the big chubby girl. She is wild and crazy and tears around the pasture with all the adults like it's no big deal. 
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Mar 24, 2017 17:26
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Eifert Posting posted:Are these markings more or less set or do they change as they mature? What you see is what they've got. They'll get freckled sometimes as they get older but their main spots stay the same throughout their lives. When you register them you have to send in pictures for inspection and it can be really handy if an unknown sheep pops up to be able to compare the spots and figure out who it is. The head of the inspection committee has an amazing memory for sheep she's seen. Clementine had a ram and a ewe lamb this morning and is happily screaming at them in the barn. When I have a minute I'll take my camera out and get you guys some pictures.
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Mar 25, 2017 15:54
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Angrymog posted:Knee spots seem to be common - is the pigmentation affected by temperature the way it is with cats and rabbits? Nope, it's just a common spot location. I really like the kneepads so I might have more of them in my flock than other people. I guess the UK jacob sheep standard says they should have all white legs so you don't generally get the knee spots over there.
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Mar 25, 2017 17:06
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I'm procrastinating on a giant paper about agrobiodiversity and also cleaning my house so have pictures of today's babies. Ewe lamb   Ram lamb  
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Mar 25, 2017 17:57
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Baby roundup. I've had 4 (?) lambs since my last update and have been remiss on posting them here. Anise had a single ewe lamb, very lovely but hates being in pictures.  Bramble had a teeny tiny 2.5 lb premature lamb. I was pretty sure she was going to kick the bucket but seems to be doing pretty good now. She's gained a whole pound and trucks around like any other lamb.  Barbie had a giant 8.5 lb ram lamb. He's a big strapping lad and she likes him but isn't great about letting him nurse. She doesn't run away but she slowly spins in a circle while he's trying to get in there. He seems to be sneaking enough though and I grab her and hold her still a couple times a day so he can get a big drink in. First timers just can be silly sometimes. Barbie is also the only sheep so far that has lambed outside of the 5am to 8 am lambing window. Clearly she didn't get the memo.  And finally Eleanor had a big cvm girl this morning.   The other lambs are all doing well too. Johnnie's boys are so sweet and friendly. It's hard to get pictures of them because they're usually clamoring all over my lap or begging for scritches.  Clem is still enjoying screaming at her babies, they don't seem to have inherited her loudness yet.  Aster's lambs are cool, sassy girls who run amok all over the barn.   No pictures of the big white romeldale girl because she never stops moving. She has decided Moose is her jungle gym and spends all night launching herself off Moose's back while her mom is off somewhere eating. The romeldales are such funny sheep.
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Apr 1, 2017 20:03
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my cat is norris posted:Is there a shearing day planned for this year? Would love to come see these little guys and gals! Yes! May 13th is shearing day. We're also having a special fleece day for people interested in buying spinning fleeces (and who also want to hug babies) on April 22nd but people need to RSVP for that because there are gifts and we don't want to run out.
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Apr 1, 2017 22:45
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Unless you think every farmer throughout all of time was a sociopath, no. No one farms because they just really hate animals and want them to die but we all have our jobs. Sometimes that job is to live a happy life, have one lovely day, and then be delicious.
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Apr 5, 2017 00:05
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Lava Lamp Goddess posted:Might stop by this year and drag the bf and mom with. I'm currently in my large animal class for my tech program and we have a severe lack of sheep or goat hands on content unfortunately. Gonna drive out to the OSU dairy farm facility in Wooster tomorrow for lab and I'm reaaaaally hoping to see some adorable calves. It's an hour and a half drive, there better be babies to ogle over. If you ever want some hands-on time with the small ruminants feel free to let me know. I'd love it if more vet techs knew anything about handling them! My livestock vet rarely brings a tech out so I end up doing all of it. WrenP-Complete posted:Instant Jellyfish, I'd love to buy some spinning wool, but I don't think I can make it out April 22nd! (My father lives in Grafton though, so not that far away) Could you please PM me details of how to do that? Or post in thread? Is it in the spinning thread that I'm not caught up on? There's some jacob roving on our etsy shop but if there is something else you want feel free to message my mom there or email her at info @ rovingacres.com with what you like spinning and she can probably hook you up. I get it off the animals and hand it right to her. More babies this morning but its storming like crazy so I'll get pictures later.
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Apr 6, 2017 14:55
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Ok, so this morning was like all of my lambing stress dreams come to life. Reba and Jewel decided that they were lambing at the same time, in the exact same spot about an hour before I went out for my morning barn check. Reba had twins, Jewel had triplets but in the confusion two of them didn't make it so when I showed up there were 3 live lamb and 2 dead lambs scattered all over the corner of the barn and I had no idea which ones belonged to who. I eventually got it sorted out but it was a real lovely way to start the day. Jewel and I are both bummed about the lambs but as Avshalom points out death is a big part of farming and you just need to move on to the ones still alive. Jewel's little girl. She's got a case of the blurs but is otherwise doing well. Jewel knows there should be more and it's pretty hard but she'll be ok.  Reba and her ram lamb  And her ewe lamb. She's very protective after this morning's confusion.  I think Juniper is the last left to go until Daisy and Eclair who are due at the end of the month. I'm trying to decide if I want to try for fall lambs since so many of my cormos and romeldales didn't take for various reasons.
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Apr 6, 2017 18:17
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take me to the beaver posted:Just out of curiosity, how do/did you sort out whose was whose? Their wool texture is really different between the lambs that are sired by Isadore and the ones sired by Glen. Reba is Glen's grandma so her lambs were very similar to his other lambs and Jewel's lamb looked very much like all of her previous lambs. Also I figured Jewel was more likely to have trips than Reba. Turns out I was more confused than I thought though because Jewel's remaining lamb is actually a boy. Oops! Don't know how I missed those. Lava Lamp Goddess posted:Thanks, I'll keep it in mind. Currently my schedule is pretty dang full with class daily and running to campus on Saturday's to take care of our lab animals. I know how that is, next year I'm syncing everyone to lamb during spring break. I'm going insane this year. I use the FAMACHA method to test for parasites and occasionally send fecals out to this place that does them cheap to double check that things are working. Juniper finally lambed this morning so I'm down to just Daisy who could lamb whenever and Eclair who is due the 24th. I need to take my camera out to get new pictures of Juni's boy and the rest of the indoor crew but here are some pictures of the older lambs. The wrinkly little cvm romeldale beeb. I mostly just call her Lil' Poopers. She's real cute.   The big giant romeldale who thinks she's a cormo. She very much does her own thing all the time.   My small friend who like to scritch me back when I give him scritches. He better turn out really nice because I luvs him.  His brother who is also pretty friendly but is not a scritch friend.  Anise and her girl  One of Aster's girls  Clem and her pair   
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Apr 10, 2017 01:56
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Easter lamb pictures! It was gorgeous today so all the lambs got to go out and run amok. Daisy had a single ram lamb while I was off shearing for someone on Tuesday so now we're just waiting for Eclair who is due on the 24th for sure this time. Daisy's boy. He has an overbite so he looks kind of dorky.   Juniper's boy. He's super cute!    Jewel's boy. Still needs to catch up a bit but he'll get there.  Bramble's little premie. She's normal lamb size now! Not as big as the lambs her age but a good size for a baby.  Reba's ewe. Her ram didn't cooperate but the ewe kept showing up.   Lil' Pooper's pajamas are starting to fit right.  Nap time 
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Apr 16, 2017 01:46
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Bonster posted:CVM lambs look like they were born into skin a few sizes too big. If you think the CVMs have enormous pajamas take a look at this cormo boy! His mom waited until our last visitor for Meet Your Fleece pulled out out of the driveway to get things started. It was the most ridiculous birth I've been around for in a while. Eclair's water broke and she decided TIME TO FITE!!! and went around butting people for a while until she got distracted and started grazing. She started having more contractions then and started following her yearling lamb around making baby noises clearly very confused about the whole experience. Eventually I got her into a pen expecting her to get to business once she was penned up and quiet but no such luck. I ended up having to give her a dose of oxytocin and going in. The lamb was trying to come out face first with his front legs braced against her pelvis so I rearranged things and ended up just pulling him as soon as she started contracting again. He then wasn't sure he actually wanted to be alive but some vigorous rubbing and suctioning all the goop out of his mouth and nose got him going. After all that he's totally fine now! Good thing no visitors were around to see me all up the back side of a sheep. He's pretty cute though.  I took some other baby pictures too! Lucky Charm   Lil' Poopers aka Hi-Jinx  Anise and her girl who barely fits under there anymore.  One of Aster's girls  Thistle's girlie  Daisy's boy who she spends all day and night yelling about. No one cares, Daisy!  I'm all done with lambs for the spring now! Of course I have lost my mind and am thinking of experimenting with fall lambs so there may be more in 5-6 months.
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Apr 23, 2017 23:09
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my cat is norris posted:Can I get more details on Shearing Day, please? What time can I show up? It's May 13th 11-4! I'll be shearing different animals throughout the day so there's no worry about missing that no matter what time you show up and of course the babbies aren't going anywhere. The FB event page is here and I think I have finally actually put our address on things but if you can't find it let me know! Here are some of the fine creatures you may experience: Jewel's boy.  Poopers, she really likes face rubs and is generally the sweetest baby ever.  Truffle being a big fatty fat.  Lucky Charm wouldn't let me into her secret clubhouse   Seriously, Poops is just the best and I should stop calling her Poopers.  Benny kept running into things so he was the first boy to get a haircut this year. He's amazed at how bright everything is now! 
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Apr 27, 2017 22:16
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Eifert Posting posted:Do sheep ever learn to like a shearing or do they think you're murdering them until it's over. So this is the traditional way to shear a sheep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Y4uagy2Z0 It's fast, it's efficient, and I am real bad at it. You have to have long arms and legs, which I do not, and it takes a lot of skill, which I have not developed. What I do instead of wrestling sheep while holding rapidly moving blades near my face is shear them on a stand like you would groom a dog. I even use tiny little dog clippers. It takes way longer than the traditional method but it's much easier on my body and less stressful for the sheep than me fumbling around with them on their butts for 30 minutes. So the first time I sheer a sheep or goat they generally lose their poo poo. They buck and stomp and if they're a goat they scream and bite. But because they're in a stand and I'm going slowly I stop and give them treats the whole time. And because I'm using tiny dog clippers I don't cut them even when they're flailing around so they never learn that they can get hurt during shearing. Usually by the end of their first time they are happy to stand there and gobble up goodies. I usually have to push them off the stand and toss them outside or they'll just keep jumping up wanting more. I've even had some do the wiggly leg thing that dogs do when you scratch a good spot After the first time most of them get the picture and are happy to be sheared every year. The goats and the cormos still pitch a fit pretty regularly but in general they really like shearing and I like getting some one on one time to really get my hands on each animal and make sure they're doing well. At some point I'll make a video because no one believes me when I say I use dog clippers and when I show up to shear for other people they look at me like I'm a crazy person until I get going. Also my dog loves getting nail trims and is really sad if I use my dremel for anything else.
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Apr 28, 2017 02:28
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Angrymog posted:I noticed in that video that the sheep were basically just laying there - is that some advanced sheep control technique, or just sheep that are used to the whole process? Part of it is his handling of them. If their feet aren't touching the ground and they don't feel like they can stand up a lot of them will just sit there. Sheep are sort of built like tables so if you hold them just right they can't actually do anything about it. The other part is that those look like at least 2 year old rams so they're big, they're chill, and they've been through shearing before.
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Apr 28, 2017 19:15
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:part of it is that the second one flails like a dumbass for a little bit That was during the hardest series of "blows" as they're called. You have to keep the sheep on an angle, curved into a U around your legs at just the right angle or they try to twist and get their feet on the ground. That was where everyone lost their sheep in shearing school because it really takes a while to learn exactly where to put your feet and how to manipulate the weight of the sheep to your advantage.
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Apr 29, 2017 03:01
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Finally a sunny day! I spent it sitting in the grass being gnawed on by lambs and it was fantastic. Romeldales being goobers.   Cormo boy still hasn't grown into his pajamas.   This little ram is like 15-20 lbs tops but really wants to fight Major, the 80 lb dog. He's lucky Major knows sheep are not for biting.   His brother is much more easy going.  I'm crazy about this ram, he's a really striking guy. I'm hoping someone will be in the market for a super handsome 2 horned ram and want him.  Reba's girl, I always get her confused with Anise's girl so I'm going to have to be careful when I do vaccines and ear tags soon. 
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May 8, 2017 23:16
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Ear tagging day! The jacobs have such tiny ears that I usually wait until their first shots to tag them and I can usually tell them all apart, no problem. This year for some reason I've been really struggling to tell some of them apart so I had to make myself a cheat sheet. Luckily their spots don't change and I had pictures of all of them from birth. They are all very suspicious of me now but with 3 people it went very fast and smooth and I really like the size of the new ear tags I got. I'm hoping they stay in better than my old ones. I spent $40 on a new ear tag applicator so they had better!      Also I broke up the group I had in with the ram for fall lambs this year. I'll probably do pregnancy tests in a month to see if they took. Fingers crossed for October babies! 
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May 18, 2017 22:58
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my cat is norris posted:How was Shearing Day? I didn't make it out; car issues. It went really well and the weather was fantastic! Sorry you were having car issues We're talking about having another open house in the fall with some natural dyeing activities and stuff that aren't practical in the spring. Luckily we have some time to brainstorm that.
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May 19, 2017 22:54
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Eifert Posting posted:Where yat again? I'm in far NE OH, near Ashtabula. People have been coming in all the way from Columbus and Pittsburgh!
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May 20, 2017 18:25
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Everyone is sheared finally! I don't know what to do with all the free time but posting pictures will do for now. I'm also working on my sales list which is a bummer because I want everyone to stay here but I currently have 60 sheep and that's too many sheep. Valkyrie, who is staying and might be bred for fall lambs. She likes to hang around and get hugs every night after I feed them all.   I think Goliath needs a new flock this year, he's too closely related to everyone here even though I love the big squish.  I'm planning on cutting back on goats as well. I'll be keeping some favorites but some need to find new herds.   Babies still have a few months to grow out before I make final decisions on them. They'll be weaned soon though!       Mr. Handsomeface's horns better stay nice  
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Jun 1, 2017 03:01
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Ok so I know I said I was downsizing but I have a bunch of sheep who are basically sold and just waiting for AGM next month and I got a really good deal so meet the new guys. They're all 3/4 cotswold crosses. The big wether in the back is mixed with teeswater and the twin ram and ewe in the front are mixed with leicester longwool. I'm hoping to cut back on stupid goat shenanigans and replace them with longwool sheep so these guys are my test run. The teeswater came with the name George, which I was going to change because I already have George the guinea pi, but he's from Virginia and his ear tag is #1 so he can stay George Washington. I'm thinking the longwool's theme can be musicals and the twins can be Eliza and Philip. So far they're super cute and the fleece is gorgeous but they came from some very hands off people and need some maintenance before they step foot on my pasture. Tomorrow the cvms are getting blood drawn for pregnancy tests and I'm weaning the lambs that are getting sold at AGM. Someone asked me recently if summer was my easy time of year and I just laughed at them.
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Jun 19, 2017 00:22
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HungryMedusa posted:Those sheep are very handsome. Are the goats a lot more work than the sheep? I really like mohair and it's hard to find domestic mohair that isn't expensive. Congrats on the new guys. I find the goats more work than sheep, although some people feel the opposite. On my farm, if an animal is sick or doing something stupid or escaping it's going to be a goat. Plus they need to be sheared twice a year which gives me a second shearing season every fall. Also I hate dealing with weirdo goat people and would happily never do it again. The mohair is really fantastic though! We'll see how these longwools compare.
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Jun 20, 2017 02:17
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 03:00 |
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SUPERMAN'S GAL PAL posted:Are goat people the livestock industry equivalent of fandoms like Undertale or Homestuck? Or is it more like people who get into a holistic MLM and have really bought into the hype? Oh man, it's like a combination of the two. So many of them believe each goat is like a child, a precious gift from god, and only they know the correct way to care for them. It's like they have forgotten that goats are supposed to be livestock. The lady I got my first goats from was adamant that the goats needed a minimum of 30 minutes of petting a day and the goats refused to step outside because they had been given pounds of grain every day so had never had to actually eat grass. People on the angora goat facebook group regularly post about their bucks trying to murder them in the fall but don't want to eat them because they looooove them and their fleece is soooo nice. Fluffy Bunnies should tell her goat lady story as well because it's peak goatlady insanity. The lady I got the longwools from also got out of goats so she didn't have to deal with goatladies, it's an honest to goodness thing.
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Jun 21, 2017 20:48
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