# Please welcome our new pet skunk...wait, our new holstein cow, wait, our new lamb?



## soarwitheagles (Jan 9, 2017)

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's superman!

Please welcome our new pet skunk...wait, our new tiny holstein cow, wait, could it be a new lamb?

We had a wonderful surprise a couple of days ago.

But we are still trying to figure out what to name our precious new addition...

Decisions, decisions:

Stinky?
Moo Moo?
Black _and_ White Lives Matter?
Heinz 57?

Please help us out...

By all means, please share your interesting naming ideas!


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## Baymule (Jan 9, 2017)

Personally, I like Moo-Moo!! 

Moo-Moo is a cutie! Ram? Ewe? Keeper? Eater?


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 9, 2017)

Baymule said:


> Personally, I like Moo-Moo!!
> 
> Moo-Moo is a cutie! Ram? Ewe? Keeper? Eater?



Hi Bay!

I kinda like that name too!

Here is the low down on this lamb:

This is a two day old ewe lamb.  Mama is Ms. Dorper in the pic, Papa was an American Blackbelly.  We purchased Mama when she was a tiny 6 week old lamb at a local auction for $70 in Dec. of 2015.  So I suppose Mama is a little over a year old.  American Blackbelly sheep require 18 months from birth to selling weight.  Dorpers require only 3-5 months to achieve selling weight.

What will we do with little Miss Moo-moo?  I suppose we will choose the wait-and-see route!  This lamb is significantly larger than most American Blackbelly lambs.  We kinda did this as an experiment and were curious how fast they will grow.

I can't wait to post an ad later in the year: Small Holstein Cows for Sale 

I wonder if we will get any buyers...


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## Baymule (Jan 9, 2017)

I see nothing wrong with keeping the ewes from the Dorper/American Blackbelly cross and breeding them to a Dorper ram. You might get real hardy, meaty sheep. I like your marketing strategy ....... Mini-Holsteins!

Mine are Katahdin/Dorper crosses and now I have a Dorper ram. As I learn more, in the next couple years, I will buy a registered Dorper ram, along with 2-3 registered ewes. I'll still keep my grade ewes, but will be able to offer registered breeding stock along with lambs for meat.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 9, 2017)

Baymule said:


> I see nothing wrong with keeping the ewes from the Dorper/American Blackbelly cross and breeding them to a Dorper ram. You might get real hardy, meaty sheep. I like your marketing strategy ....... Mini-Holsteins!
> 
> Mine are Katahdin/Dorper crosses and now I have a Dorper ram. As I learn more, in the next couple years, I will buy a registered Dorper ram, along with 2-3 registered ewes. I'll still keep my grade ewes, but will be able to offer registered breeding stock along with lambs for meat.



Bay,

Yes, I will have to give that a try...Dorper/American Blackbelly cross and breeding them to a Dorper ram.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

I like your idea of Katahdin/Dorper crosses.  Many, many ranchers say that is one of the very best crosses available on the planet.  I hope to try those one day.  Wish we lived closer to you!


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## Baymule (Jan 9, 2017)

It's wonderful that we have this forum so we can talk to others that are similarly afflicted as we ourselves are. Now we just gotta get everybody to move to northeast Texas.....


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## Baymule (Jan 9, 2017)

You'll be getting more splotchy lambs like Moo-Moo, so name the next one Flower--after the skunk on the cartoon movie, Bambi.


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## babsbag (Jan 9, 2017)

Clo, like the cow from Clover milk.  She is an adorable lamb, I love her markings.


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## cjc (Jan 10, 2017)

I like moo moo! Pretty cute!


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## Sheepshape (Jan 11, 2017)

Looks a bit like a puppy in the first pic to me.....GORGEOUS....and a lovely short tail that probably can stay. 

Usually I resort to a the Welsh word for what I see as the name of an animal (or some obvious feature....like I have Brownspot, Popeye, Horns, etc). So, Welsh for calf is Llo...so I'd call her LLola. My little avatar girl is LLeila (pretty much means 'less than', 'cause she was so much less than any of the other lambs around).

Skunk is NOT a good name, just NOT, so not Skunk or Skunky!

She's so much prettier than Holstein cows...all bony backs and gigantic udders.

Whatever you call her she is ridiculously cute.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 11, 2017)

Thank you for the feedback everyone!

We are still weighing the pros and cons of each name!

We have have some more good news...

Massive rains have been hitting us for several days.  Models are showing 150%-200% of snow pack in the high Sierra's after tomorrow's storm...so this is making a significant dent in California's longest and most severe drought in recorded history.

Unfortunately, we had some significant flooding here.  No joke, a river ran right through our large AG building for 3 days in a row.  We moved here in the middle of the drought, so had no clue what unusually high levels or rainfall would bring...come spring time, we will need to build hundreds of feet of berms...

The sheep will not stay in their stable...they have been out all day in the rain eating to their hearts content.  Our little new born sheep is quite the trooper...she follows mama and the rest of the flock all day long, and doesn't look like a wet rug rat like some of the American Blackbelly lambs do.

Our 6"-12" stream/brook has turned into a raging stream at over 100 gallons per second.

Bad news: Dry Creek, just down the road crested over the top.  Yesterday I saw my neighbor rancher's 100+ animals out in his pasture at 4pm.  Dry Creek blew out last last night.  Early this morning, his entire grazing area of hundreds of acres was under what appeared to be 5-6 feet of water.  All nearby roads are now closed.  And all his animals were nowhere to be seen...I sure hope he did not lose all his animals...

Dry Creek which is normally a dry creek bed or 4-5 feet wide and super shallow was 40+ feet wide, 15+ feet deep, and running 30-40 miles per hour.  It overflowed the banks all night long.  I told my other neighbor with sheep that he needs to choose his best male and female sheep of each of his breeds and build an ark if it keeps raining this much!

Last, we have 5-6 ewes that have suddenly filled their udders in the last 24 hours.  Birthing time is here...right in the middle of this, um, blessing [or mess, depending upon your perspective].

What an udderly exciting winter...

To be continued...


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## BlessedWithGoats (Jan 11, 2017)

Baymule said:


> Now we just gotta get everybody to move to northeast Texas.....


LOL!


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## BlessedWithGoats (Jan 11, 2017)

Congrats on the cute lamb!


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## babsbag (Jan 11, 2017)

WOW to Dry Creek, I know that area...I sure do pray that your neighbors animals made it to safety, horrible thing to have happen if they didn't. Please let us know when you hear any news. As much as I curse our hillside of a homestead, it doesn't flood. We may lose our road but I won't lose our house, at least not to flooding. Everything is downhill from me. 

Exciting about my lambs being on their way soon. Hope it all goes well.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 11, 2017)

Oh....I DO hope you and Moo/Skunk/Whatever, the rest of your pregnant girlies and your poor neighbours are surviving in Wet Creek. Sheep are good at moving themselves to higher ground when flooding happens, but this does depend upon access to higher ground, of course. I understand they can also swim for short distances, but flash floods move at such a rate.

Intermittent field flooding is pretty much the rule here during the winter (improved over the last 2 years have we have done work on drainage), but we've got heavy snow/rain (usually snow at the altitude I live) forecast as from today.

Sending my best wishes for your biblical rains to stop.


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## Baymule (Jan 12, 2017)

Hope your neighbors animals made it to higher ground. Keep all yours close in, in case of emergency. Are you on high ground?


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## CntryBoy777 (Jan 12, 2017)

The little ewe is just Darling!!  If it were mine I'd name her Patches, she has white "Patches" all over, head to tail.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 12, 2017)

BlessedWithGoats said:


> Congrats on the cute lamb!



Thank you!



babsbag said:


> WOW to Dry Creek, I know that area...I sure do pray that your neighbors animals made it to safety, horrible thing to have happen if they didn't. Please let us know when you hear any news. As much as I curse our hillside of a homestead, it doesn't flood. We may lose our road but I won't lose our house, at least not to flooding. Everything is downhill from me.
> 
> Exciting about my lambs being on their way soon. Hope it all goes well.



babs,

Congrats on your soon to be born lambs!  And nice to hear about your high ground!  The neighbor's animals all made it to higher ground [I saw them this afternoon].  I thought he lost all of them.  I still am not sure how he moved them in the middle of the night, just before the river crested.  Dry Creek is back within her river banks...so the worst is over for now.

Many of our ewes have filled their udders to the full.  I believe we will have 10-14 lambs within the next 7 days.  I will do my best to post pics.



Sheepshape said:


> Oh....I DO hope you and Moo/Skunk/Whatever, the rest of your pregnant girlies and your poor neighbours are surviving in Wet Creek. Sheep are good at moving themselves to higher ground when flooding happens, but this does depend upon access to higher ground, of course. I understand they can also swim for short distances, but flash floods move at such a rate.
> 
> Intermittent field flooding is pretty much the rule here during the winter (improved over the last 2 years have we have done work on drainage), but we've got heavy snow/rain (usually snow at the altitude I live) forecast as from today.
> 
> Sending my best wishes for your biblical rains to stop.



Hi Sheepshape!  Thanks for your post.  So far, all have survived.  I had thought we lost our little Moo Moo, but found her sleeping under a tarp after looking for over 30 minutes...that sure was a stressful search.  I thought she was either eaten be a coyote or washed away in the flash flood.  And yes, it was a flash flood.  I have never seen our little brook turn into a 100 gallon a second loud raging stream before...and it remained that way for over a day.

BTW, where do you live?



Baymule said:


> Hope your neighbors animals made it to higher ground. Keep all yours close in, in case of emergency. Are you on high ground?



Bay, we are in the flatlands...and are vulnerable to flooding.  I found a pond in our forest that measures 100+ feet by 40 feet and is still over 6 feet deep.  I have never seen it fill more than a few inches since we moved here 3.5 years ago.  Our driveway had nearly 3 feet of water and most of the property now is no longer drive-able.  Tractor work is completely out of the question for the next 3-4 months.  Even my attempt at riding through the forest on a bicycle was unsuccessful.  Everything has become super saturated...similar to a swamp.

I saw all the neighbor's animals today and his pasture is back down to only inches of water whereas two days ago it appeared to be 6-8 feet of water.  Dry Creek is within her banks again.



CntryBoy777 said:


> The little ewe is just Darling!!  If it were mine I'd name her Patches, she has white "Patches" all over, head to tail.



CntryBoy777, I like that name...Patches seems so fitting!  Our neighbors daughters were in such shock and awe when they saw the new little lamb.  They both told me it really looks like a cow, and they really liked the name Moo Moo.  Their faces lit up like light bulbs when I asked if Moo Moo was a good name for the lamb.  So Moo Moo is the lambs new name.  Our other Dorper should have her baby/babies within the next couple of days.  We are hoping it will be just as unique and can't wait to find an appropriate name for her too.

Our flash flood war zone is now a soon-to-be maternity ward/neonatal unit.

Now I need to complete that hoop house for all the pregnant ewes and new borns.  BTW, all the sheep chose to remain outside during even the violent parts of the storm.  They ate down massive areas and now look like pigs.  I hope I did not let them eat too much...I was warned about letting them get too big because this can lead to breach birth especially with the American Blackbelly.  We do not want that!

Thanks again everyone for your help in sharing different names...

Will post more pics soon.


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## CntryBoy777 (Jan 12, 2017)

Glad to hear it has subsided out there for ya, and the neighbors were okay with their animals. Moo Moo is fitting too.  Hope ya got a full tank of Oxygen there, ya just might need a few wiffs between the Birthings.


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## babsbag (Jan 12, 2017)

Glad to hear that your neighbor got his animals out OK. I have seen pictures of flooded barnyards and it just breaks my heart to see how terrified the animals are. That pond sounds pretty impressive. All I can think about with all this rain is all the flowers for the bees.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 12, 2017)

MooMoo Patches sounds as though she has is pretty savvy, but WHAT a horrible time whilst you were looking for her. (Just had a much-loved hen 'lost', then found the feathers that the fox had left behind....). If Moo can sleep whilst all around are panicking, she will lead a charmed life...

It really sounds as though those floods have damaged the land, but, at least floods usually improve the soil fertility.

I live in Wales, soarwitheagles....land of 12 million sheep and 3 million people....mist, rain,magic,mountains, and its own language. I was born and spent most of my life in England, so I can't really claim the place as my own, but I've fallen in love with my adopted land. The reality of where I live is lots of rain, damp that seems to permeate through to the bone, very stony soil, and a population around here that is less than in the 1800's. I've been to (bits of) the States and Canada, but can claim little real knowledge as your scales are so much more massive than ours.

We have had flash floods here a couple of times since I moved here 10 years ago. The rate of rise of the water level is scary. As we live on a mountainside, the floods largely flow past us, but our barn was flooded and the hay all ruined, huge boulders were deposited across fields where our tiny streams became raging torrents that broke their banks and bridges, cars, etc were all 'floated away'.

Sheep generally do seem to be unconcerned by even the most harsh weather (except some lowland sheep.....our Blue Faced Leicesters shiver and try to shelter in even the slightest bit of rain). They just move themselves to higher ground.

I think the problem  of prolapse with sheep who get/stay too fat at the end of their pregnancy is the main problem, but they can be so greedy!


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## SFogg (Jan 13, 2017)

Very cute, and unique!!


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## Baymule (Jan 13, 2017)

Glad your sheep are all ok and the floods have gone down. The good part is that the water will help the grass. I bet your heart was in your throat while looking for Moo Moo! Glad you found her and all is well.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 14, 2017)

Sheepshape said:


> MooMoo Patches sounds as though she has is pretty savvy, but WHAT a horrible time whilst you were looking for her. (Just had a much-loved hen 'lost', then found the feathers that the fox had left behind....). If Moo can sleep whilst all around are panicking, she will lead a charmed life...
> 
> It really sounds as though those floods have damaged the land, but, at least floods usually improve the soil fertility.
> 
> ...



Sheepshape,

Wales?  It must be very beautiful there!

Blue Faced Leicesters?  Wow, I had to look that breed up on Wiki!  Very interesting sheep!  May I ask what inspired you to choose the Blue Faced Leicesters?  Rams up to 240 lbs.  I would probably run away as fast as I could if I ever saw a sheep that big!

Flash floods are new to me here in our present location.  But in 1982 I lived in a Redwood tree rain forest high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  We had 24 inches of rain in 24 hours.  It was a freak storm and I saw large Redwood tree groves slide down mountains and move nearly 1/8 of a mile.  I always thought stuff like that only occurs in action movies.  Unfortunately several people lost their lives when a part of a mountain moved over their homes. It was called Love Creek and at the time I lived about 5 miles away.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/article/ZZ/20120106/NEWS/120108207

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Creek

So living in the flatlands, I was convinced that flash flooding was not possible.  Now I realize how wrong I was.  Nearby Highway 104 is still under water and completely impassable unless you have a nice boat.  A local sheriff officer had to be rescued from his submerged car there a couple of days ago.

These unusual storms are called "atmospheric rivers" and some people call them the "pineapple express."  They are unusually warm and they come from the direction of Hawaii.

Another  "atmospheric river" is due to hit us Tuesday.  I think it may finally be safe to say California's greatest and most severe drought in written history is now over.  So, looking on the brighter side of things, I am thankful for the rain..



SFogg said:


> Very cute, and unique!!



Thank you!



Baymule said:


> Glad your sheep are all ok and the floods have gone down. The good part is that the water will help the grass. I bet your heart was in your throat while looking for Moo Moo! Glad you found her and all is well.



I was so bummed out after looking for Moo Moo for nearly 30 minutes.  As I mentioned before, I was convinced she was either washed away in the storm or had been a delicious breakfast for a hungry coyote.  The search area was rather small, so I was convinced she was history.  Not even sure how she got under that tarp covering the hay, but she did!

Normally, I watch like a hawk to make certain all new born lambs are drinking from their mamas.  But with all the flooding, I could not find the time to sit long enough to see Moo Moo drinking from mama Dorper.  Today was the very first time I saw her filling up, so this was very comforting.

BTW, I suppose most people here already know this, but for me it was a bit of a shock...the female Dorper that is the mama consistently leaves Moo Moo alone, and expects Moo Moo to run and find her.  The American Blackbelly ewes are incredibly different.  They will not permit their new born lambs out of their sight, and if their lamb does get out of sight, the American Blackbelly ewes start to cry loudly for their babies.  I find an amazing difference between these two types of sheep when it comes to mothering skills and methods.


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## babsbag (Jan 14, 2017)

I had missed the part where you thought you lost Moo Moo, glad she was found. I have done that search a few times myself so I know that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach. 

Some of my goats will leave their young, others won't. I will interesting to see if the next Dorper ewe is the same as the first.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 15, 2017)

soarwitheagles said:


> Blue Faced Leicesters? Wow, I had to look that breed up on Wiki! Very interesting sheep! May I ask what inspired you to choose the Blue Faced Leicesters? Rams up to 240 lbs. I would probably run away as fast as I could if I ever saw a sheep that big!


Ha ha....Blue Faced Leicesters rams, 240lbs would be conservative, I think.....300lbs plus in many cases. 10lbs of nose and a few ounces of fleece. Size of ponies....and generally great big teddy bears. They have lovely placid natures and are usually an absolute breeze to handle...very, very rarely aggressive to folk. The mule cross with my other sheep, Beulah Speckled Face is very popular round here and if crossed again with a Texel produces a large, very heavily muscled lamb, highly prized for the meat.

Leicesters, however are vERY tender, can't stand the cold, hate the wet, and are extremely greedy.

Leicester lambs are wonderful.....huge, all ears, legs,nose and a tuneful low bleat.




 

I'm SO glad that your drought has gone, even if it it was a bit 'too much, too soon'. The pics we saw over her of the intense dryness and huge cracks where once there had been rivers were a sad sight. I guess that prolonged drought had baked the ground so hard that the water couldn't penetrate. Here's hoping it resolves soon.

Sending little Moo my love.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 15, 2017)

Sheepshape,

Thank you for sharing the pic of your beautiful Blue Faced Leicesters lambs.  Beautiful animals you have there!


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## babsbag (Jan 15, 2017)

Sheepshape said:


> Leicesters, however are vERY tender, can't stand the cold, hate the wet, and are extremely greedy.



Sounds like they would do well in a "normal" winter in California. @soarwitheagles  Maybe you should add a few.

@Sheepshape  Are there any Valais Blacknose sheep in Wales? Those little things would have me adding sheep to my menagerie, probably a good thing that there are none in the US.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 15, 2017)

UPDATE:  I think I need to go back to school and take a class on the birds and the bees...

Today my wife showed me that our little Moo Moo is indeed a male, not a female!  This is a game changer.  We promised each other that today is the last day we hug, cuddle, and pick up Moo Moo.

My local friend and rancher as well as many articles I have read state: "Do not hug, cuddle, befriend, etc. a male ram."  Apparently several people have been injured by rams that have lost their fear of humans.

Posting a pic of Moo Moo's last hug!

Now it is back to admiring Moo Moo from a distance, and no longer picking him up and hugging him.



 

PS Those are our winter crop of fava beans in the background!  This year we have over 1000 plants and hope to experiment making silage.  Seed cost: $10. Water cost = $0 due to it being a winter crop.  If this works out, next year, we hope to plant few acres of fava beans.


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## Bossroo (Jan 15, 2017)

Soar ,  Suffolk rams regularly grow to over 200 to 300 lbs, one of my neighbors had a show Suffolk  ram at 362 lbs. . Gentle as can be.  Now that you had a lesson in the birds and the bees,  I would recommend that you castrate that cute ram lamb.  He will not be a good breeding ram as  one half of your flock. You see, he will never produce a uniform lamb crop from him due to his genetics.  Using laws of genetic inheritance and depending on the ewe , 25% will be a meaty type , 50% will be in between, and 25% will be poor meat type. Now if you breed him to the Black Belly ewes,  cut those statistic numbers  by half to two- thirds+. Which equates to low auction prices for the lambs and small change in your pocket.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 15, 2017)

Dang BossRoo!

Your numbers and percentages are so depressing!  Ok, I will wait until he gets real big and then sell him as a Holstein cow...and if it works, I will raise large flocks of Moo Moo's, sell them quickly, then retire in the Bahama's and live happily ever after!


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## Bossroo (Jan 15, 2017)

Good luck with  growing  him out big and selling him as a Holstein cow ! According to the USDA,  up to 70% of small farmers are operating at a loss or stricktly as a hobby. So one needs to do what it takes to NOT loose money.    You have the best chance to making a little profit  IF you sell him NOW while he is still a cute little guy  as a pet weather .  Sorry to say , the reality is  the odds of selling him as all grown up  or raising large flocks of the same and then retiring to the Bahamas are slim to none. You would have a MUCH BETTER chance by raising 250 - 300 + lb. Suffolk rams.   Think back to the drawing board.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 15, 2017)

Bossroo,

Thanks for your reply.  I apologize.  I was trying to be funny and was just joking about selling him as a Holstein cow.  Just out of curiosity, my wife and I would like to keep Moo Moo to see what he turns out to be.  So I suppose it is safe to say we are not looking seriously at the monetary value of Moo Moo any more.

Regarding selling lambs...I learned something super important this year.  Back in September of this year, we had a local rancher offer to purchase all our very small 6 month old American Blackbelly lambs for $75 each.  They all were quite small and no one was interested in buying them when I placed an ad and pics on Craigslist.

Fast forward to Christmas time...what an incredible surprise for us...each of those little lambs nearly doubled their weight in a 3-4 month period.  We finally sold them for $160-$165 per head just before Christmas and I still get people calling me for more.   No one told me there is an incredible growth spurt with the American Blackbelly sheep, but it is true, we have seen it with our own eyes.  They went from 30-40 lbs right on up to 60-70 lbs in less than 4 months.  I am not sure if allowing them to browse and graze in our back forest had anything to do with this...

One thing I look forward to discovering is how fast a lamb like Moo Moo will grow.  I read that American Blackbellies require 18 months to reach selling weight whereas Dorpers only require 3-5 months...so it will be interesting to see how this pans out with a mixed breed.

I have a friend who is crossing significant numbers of Dorpers and Kathedins with AB's with the express intention of selling larger meat lambs.  I look forward to seeing his results.


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## Sheepshape (Jan 16, 2017)

soarwitheagles said:


> Today my wife showed me that our little Moo Moo is indeed a male, not a female! This is a game changer. We promised each other that today is the last day we hug, cuddle, and pick up Moo Moo.



Oh dear.....however, it really does depend entirely on the genetics and personality of the ram, I carry on cuddling my ram lambs. I'm still able to hug, rub faces/chests etc of my very large rams  and feel totally unthreatened whilst feeding and standing amongst them even when they have their ewes in with them. My largest ever ram (Goliath), Blue Faced Leicester, was the softest,gentlest guy ever, fathered hundreds of lambs, too heavy for the 300lb scale, all muscle.....recently went to a neighbour to continue his fertile career. If you have ram lambs from babies, it will become clear what his traits are and whether he is going to be gentle. Castrating Moo seems to be a sensible thing to do as you won't want to breed from him, and getting rid of his testosterone will certainly make him a much nicer guy to be around.

Will all those beans make them gassy? (Only joking....sheep seem to constantly produce gas from both ends).

Over here we use grass mileage as grass grows very well during the summer months.

Good Luck with lovely Moo.


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 16, 2017)

You should have seen our flock of rams (10 intact rams, 2 wethers) yesterday. They got loose while someone was fixing their paddock fence and they were "helping" us feed the ewes. Our rams are much more sensitive to personal space than our ewes. I've had ewes take me out when they want to get from point A to point B and I'm in between whereas the rams are more likely stop or go around. 

All of our rams (the ones born and raised here) are handled A LOT as lambs and not one has ever been aggressive as an adult. This is including several bottle babies that were kept as breeders. We have one ram that was purchased by an educational farm (we got him back when they were ready to swap rams) and they took him to the city to use in a kids program. That's how calm and gentle he is. 

There is a big part that is genetics, some rams will become aggressive no matter what, but another part that is all about HOW you handle them. Pick them up, snuggle them, kiss them, but don't allow them to climb on you, rub their heads on you, or play butt you. And halter train them! That teaches them a lot of respect right there. 

We have a zero aggression policy around here. Either you get your attitude fixed or it's Freezer Camp for you!


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## Sheepshape (Jan 16, 2017)

babsbag said:


> Are there any Valais Blacknose sheep in Wales?



Oh, I love these sheep. I'm not aware of any....I think that there's the combined problem of them being VERY expensive and there's too much rain which they can''t tolerate. A neighbour was thinking of importing some (from Switzerland) and breeding them, but they were costing well over £1,000. Oh well, we can but dream.


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## purplequeenvt (Jan 16, 2017)

I got to see some Valais when I was in Scotland last year. My friend and I went to the Royal Highland Show and saw SOOO many sheep. 

Maybe I'll post a thread with some of the sheep pictures soon. It was interesting to see the differences between the UK version of a breed and the US type that I'm used to. Suffolks for example are short and stumpy in the UK and here they are tall and lean. Jacobs on the other hand were big, solid animals there and here they are much smaller.


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## soarwitheagles (Jan 16, 2017)

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on sheep safety everyone!  It is good to hear from a variety of people on this issue.

I still think it amazing at the wide ranging responses when it comes to sheep handling and possibilities of injuries.  I suppose if I must err, I will err on the side of caution...

Here's four interesting articles relating to sheep safety:

First article contends that with proper management, sheep will not be dangerous and gives several suggestions for proper management.

http://countrysidenetwork.com/daily/livestock/sheep/are-rams-dangerous-facts-about-rams/

Second article reports government gathered data on humans injured by sheep, and gives the number of humans injured by sheep in one year as 1612 injuries [please keep in mind these statistics are from New Zealand, where sheep outnumber humans on a 5:1 ratio]!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/9661819/Sheep-top-our-most-dangerous-farm-animal-list

The third article comes from the University of Auburn [they recently kicked Alabama's butt in football in the last few seconds of the game].  This article gives very strong warnings in regards to never trusting a ram that was a pet as a lamb.

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/~schmisp/safety/sheep.htm

The last article I am posting was written by Joseph M. Stookey Professor of Animal Behaviour at Western College.  He addresses the scientifically proven phenomenon called "imprinting."

https://www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied-ethology/Bottle-raised males can be very dangerous.pdf

I am glad your sheep are kind, friendly, and not dangerous.  For me, especially with the wilder American Blackbelly, I choose to maintain what I feel is a safe distance from them...


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## Sheepshape (Jan 17, 2017)

soarwitheagles said:


> I am glad your sheep are kind, friendly, and not dangerous. For me, especially with the wilder American Blackbelly, I choose to maintain what I feel is a safe distance from them...


 Very sensible approach. Different breeds of sheep (and of any animal for that matter) have very different characters. Be advised by those who have a good knowledge of the breed(and then still do your own thing!). Intact rams can be difficult to handle and, unless you intend to breed from a particular ram, why put up with unpredictable ways?

Leicesters, Suffolks, LLeyns (all very large breeds), tend to be placid. Smaller breeds can be 'feisty' and unpredictable. The other sheep that I keep (Beulah Speckled Face)...see below, are named after a small town less than 20 miles away.




 

Beulahs ('Specklies') were developed locally, over a hundred years ago....medium sized, thick, waterproof fleece, excellent mothers, hardy... but rams can be less predictable. One I had, Ivor the A***hole,  had great looks, but deserved his name. I gave him to my neighbour (who keeps 2,00 plus ewes) who was fully aware of his character. I would not have chose to let him grow old.



purplequeenvt said:


> It was interesting to see the differences between the UK version of a breed and the US type that I'm used to



It IS strange that there are different breed standards on the two sides of the pond. Suffolks over here, as you say, purplequeenvt, are not so tall, but Very thick set, huge bones, massive muscles, long droopy ears, and the males have the biggest 'assets' of any of the sheep. They are extremely powerful, but, much like Blue Faced Leicesters over here, tend to have calm, quiet natures. These big guys can 'serve' 100 ewes or more.


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