# Brown Sheep 2014 Lambing-New Pictures



## BrownSheep (Sep 17, 2013)

Just thought I should start this because it is only 122 day away!


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## Four Winds Ranch (Sep 17, 2013)

Lol, getting excited already!!!!


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## Ruus (Sep 18, 2013)

BrownSheep said:
			
		

> Just thought I should start this because it is only 122 day away!


 Is that all? I'm jealous, my lambies aren't even "in the works" yet.


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## BrownSheep (Oct 3, 2013)

Well, last time I was home we managed to get Eli out of the ewes pasture....Apparently he jumped two fences and is back in. Bothe fences are at least 4.5ft.


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## n8ivetxn (Nov 10, 2013)

Yes, lambs! I'm nervous and excited  at the same time!


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## Southdown (Dec 21, 2013)

Any pregnancy pictures?


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## BrownSheep (Jan 1, 2014)

I actually tried to get some the other day!....and sadly got nothing 
They either are just mob shots






Or close up head shots . I'll try to get some now that I know some one want to see them. I didnt see this till just now!


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## BrownSheep (Jan 7, 2014)

This is Freckles, not so freckley now, and she is by far one of our widest ewes 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 right now. Although her bag isn't very large yet.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 7, 2014)

Clara.




Clara and Freckles are part of triplet sisters who have both produced triplets themselves their past two lambings. Freckles lost one lamb. While Clara lost two her first year (one stepped on, one died later on). She lost two last year also, premature.


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## HeatherL (Jan 8, 2014)

BrownSheep-are your girls Targhees?


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## BrownSheep (Jan 8, 2014)

Not to my knowledge. Their momma was a Suffolk mix of some sort and their sire is a horned Dorset


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## HeatherL (Jan 8, 2014)

Wow, they look like my girls who are Targhees.  It's amazing how much some breeds resemble others.  I was just curious.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 8, 2014)

They might have some of the same background breeding that went into the Targhees.


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## Southdown (Jan 13, 2014)

No doubts about their pregnancy status!


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## BrownSheep (Jan 24, 2014)

Well it has begun!
2 ewes producing 4 lambs. Unfortunately one of the ram lambs was gone by the time my parents made it home. 
So 2 rams and one ewe.
Pictures tomorrow.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 25, 2014)




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## Ruus (Jan 26, 2014)

So cute! I love the one with the spotted face!


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## BrownSheep (Jan 26, 2014)

He is a cutie!


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## Goat Whisperer (Jan 26, 2014)

They are adorable! CONGRATS!!!! That spotted face .


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## bonbean01 (Jan 26, 2014)

Congrats!!!!  They are adorable, and sorry for the lost one.  Thanks for the adorable pics!!!


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## BrownSheep (Jan 26, 2014)

Thanks!
We had another baby today. My dad *thinks* she is a ewe lamb. He was moving her in to the lambs pen quick so her momma could finish cleaning her off and just glanced. http://www.backyardherds.com/attachments/bllamb-jpg.1169/?temp_hash=c97367b9cc245711e064b998a66e2f10


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## BrownSheep (Jan 29, 2014)

Two more tonight. Ram lambs. Pictures tomorrow maybe.


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## BrownSheep (Jan 30, 2014)

The two new bous. Pretty big guys!


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## BrownSheep (Jan 31, 2014)

Another ram lamb....up to 7


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## BrownSheep (Feb 2, 2014)

2 more ewes. Purebred Ramboulliets


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## bonbean01 (Feb 2, 2014)




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## BrownSheep (Feb 2, 2014)

Well I am naughty and didn't get any pictures. :

I went home this weekend with my Grammy and my sister. The ram lamb was born sometime shortly before we got there on Friday and I was the one who found him. He's a little stud muffin, or was since we castrated him today. 

I went out about one today to find the new twins. Their momma hadn't shown any signs of  lambing when we fed about 2 hours earlier. It must have been a real wam, bam, thank you ma'am sort of deal since they hadn't been there 10 minutes earlier when I peaked out the window. 

They are tiny! which was to be expected since we were only expecting a single. The other new born is about twice their size. Unfortunately their mommy isn't super interested in them. She cleaned them off and will *occasionally* call to them. She doesn't butt them off when they try to nurse she just doesn't ever stand still. I held her to make certain they got some colostrum before I left. 
They are active and walking around yelling. If they are still only being so,so taken care of tomorrow morninng my sister ( who has this week off) will give them a bottle. 
The count thus far
Betsy- 1 Ram 1 Ewe 1 stillborn ram
Olive- 1 Ram
Black Sheep- 1Ewe ( huge and VERY active)
Ellie- 2 rams
Billy- 1Ram ( she is an insanely good mom, she will literally try to herd you if you carry her baby)
Molly- 2 Ewes

Every one except our newest additions got tagged (ewes only), docked, and castrated today as well.


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## autumnprairie (Feb 3, 2014)

BrownSheep said:


>


They are adorable I l


BrownSheep said:


>


I   the freckles, congrats on the lambs. I don't know how I missed your thread


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## bonbean01 (Feb 3, 2014)

Love the pics!!!!  They are adorable!!!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 3, 2014)

Thanks guys!...I'll try to convince my sister to send me some photos.

Unfortunately Molly still isn't very interested in her babies...She is being jugged.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 4, 2014)

Two more ewes yesterday. Freckles, the very wide ewe from earlier, is the one who had the


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## BrownSheep (Feb 4, 2014)

We unfortunately lost one of Molly's twins. The other isn't looking so hot either. I'm wondering if she could sense something was off and that's why she was indifferent towards them


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 4, 2014)

Congrats on all the babies!!!! 

Sorry about the twin. 

Have you had any issues with UC by wethering the lambs so young? I don't know much about sheep. With goats lots people say NEVER castrate a kid that young. I take it sheep are fine?


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## BrownSheep (Feb 4, 2014)

We haven't had and issue with it nor have I heard of anybody else.

A lot of big/old operations swear the younger they are the better they handle the stress of it. Which thus far I have to agree. I've done everything from 2 days old to 2.5 months and so far the younger ones are fairing better. The oldest ones I have done actually lost a lot of weight and are a little dwarfed from the stress it had one them.

 We generally do it from a week to 2 weeks.

He just happened to be around when we did the batch of slightly older lambs.


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 4, 2014)

Very interesting. Thanks!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 5, 2014)

Well, Freckles ended up "passing" three more lambs, all still born.
Molly's remaining twin passed. I'm suspecting there was an underlying issue, going off how Molly( an experienced and loving momma) just ignored them.
It really upset my sister, who is ready to be done with sheep.  I think these losses just really hurt her and she is tired of the work.

Two more should be going soon.


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## norseofcourse (Feb 5, 2014)

So sorry for the losses


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## BrownSheep (Feb 12, 2014)

Clara had 4 lambs. It looked like 2 didn't make it when my dad pulled up. More later


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## BrownSheep (Feb 12, 2014)

Well, two were dead. They were much smaller than the two surviving  ram lambs. They are doing fine after a little TLC out of the rain.  

Clara and Freckles are sisters both have lambed with triplets their other 2 lambings.

I almost wonder if they got bred on a second heat since they both had much smaller lambs in conjuncture with the surviving ones.

I've been naughty about pictures but will try to upload some.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 12, 2014)

Black ewe lamb with the two of the ram lambs from the first week. ( The white one could be the ewe lamb I can't tell if it has a tag)




The two surviving ewe lambs from the quints.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 12, 2014)

Can you tell it has been cold, wet and nasty here?
They do have straw and housing...They just prefer laying in the mud!


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## Pioneer Chicken (Feb 12, 2014)

Sorry about your losses and  to you and your sister.  I know that's hard to go through.  Congrats on all the healthy lambs though! They are cute!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2014)

Daisy had twins. One black( with white cap) and one white ram lambs.
16 is working on some babies.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2014)

Oops I am a liar! She had triplets!
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




!6 has one so far. Pretty big looking little guy so she might be done.

My dad is taking a "lamb" day to stay home watch every one


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2014)

16 had twins we are 99% certain she is done.


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## Pioneer Chicken (Feb 13, 2014)

Congrats!!!  They are so cute!!!


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## bonbean01 (Feb 13, 2014)

Congrats on your adorable lambs...and so sorry for the losses!  You are in a lambie storm!!!!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2014)

Thanks guys!

It's kind of been go go go these past weeks. I know Lambing probably would have gone smoother if their was some one who was home during the day or had the time to do all nighters to pull lambs through.

Both of my parents work and they don't have super flexible schedules ( teacher & lawyer) so we are stuck doing what we can when we can.

Speaking of that 16 has decided twins are over rated and she just wants one. We will try to get him back on but who knows.

We have several options after that.

We bring him to school and I raise him at my grandma's
Dad does it
We pay our 4-H leaders little girls to do it
or we sell him as a bottle baby.
That last one isn't to bad since I've seen some listed for $50 recently


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## BrownSheep (Feb 13, 2014)

2 MORE!...but they look a little premature.
The ewe had apparently been fighting a little earlier in the day and we think that triggered it.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 14, 2014)

One of the premature ones didn't make it but the other one is very with it.

I got home about an hour  ago. Somebody was dead in the middle of the pen...Until I picked him up....He is recooperating in front of the fire. I think it's my dads bottle baby. Looks like he wondered out of the shed and couldn't find his way back....but I think he's out of the woods.

New ram lamb today. Him and his very wild momma are locked in our rooster room for now.
Oh and rain lots and lots of rain....more rain than a place that gets 8 in/yr has any buisness getting


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## BrownSheep (Feb 14, 2014)

Well I am iffy about him. I'm thinking he might have been kicked in the head since he is acting oddly.
I'll keep tending him along though.

We've lost a lot of lambs this year. 10 in total. But when you consider more than half of those came from the quints (3) and quads(3) it really hasn't been too bad.

With our live lamb percentage we are at 141%


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## BrownSheep (Feb 14, 2014)

Finally got him standing and toddling. He still won't suckle.

He was apparently running & bouncing this morning. So I'm pretty certain he got kicked.

Pictures tomorrow.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 15, 2014)

One more lamb, a ewe , Beazus. She also had one DOA not out of the sack..cut it open and it look it was dead for a while

Also I am no longer counting stillborns as losses... Nothing we can do about those really.

Milly sounds like she's working on something.


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## Southern by choice (Feb 15, 2014)

Just reading through...and all I can say is WOW!

Quints, quads.... that's is crazy! What are you feeding those sheep? Lambs are adorable


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## BrownSheep (Feb 15, 2014)

That was my question too! They werent in the best shape going into breeding do to our drought, but I guess being on hay forso long might have worked like a mini flush.


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 15, 2014)

Congrats on all the lambs!  

Sorry about the losses 

Will be waiting for pics!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 15, 2014)

Black triplet ram






 All three
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



Somebody...I can't remember who these are.
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



Freckles and one of her surviving quint ewes.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 15, 2014)

One o the older ram lambs...Ellie's




Billy's ram lamb




Black ewe


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## Goat Whisperer (Feb 15, 2014)

Oh my gosh! They are so adorable! 

You should put some of those up for POW!


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## norseofcourse (Feb 15, 2014)

You have so many, and they are so cute!!

All these cute lambing pictures, and I won't have mine till April - I can hardly wait!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 16, 2014)

One more this morning.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 18, 2014)

Unfortunately the one born on Sunday ( a black ewe) didn't make it. She was incredibly tiny when she was born. Think legs like markers. We had kept her inside during the nights and made certain she got a surplus of colostrum ( very good eater). She unfortunately never stood.

We think her first time momma might have accidently stepped on her shortly after birth damaging her back end.


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## Womwotai (Feb 18, 2014)

So sorry to hear that BrownSheep.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 18, 2014)

It happens  not much we can do about it.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 19, 2014)

One more this afternoon from a first time ewe.

Also, I have to tell you I love this ewe lamb. She is one of the quints and her ears and nose don't match!


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## Heather (Feb 21, 2014)

Brownsheep, didnt you have a small lamb born?  In my set of triplets, one is quite smaller than the other two but I have seen her nurse once just after she was born last evening, this morning and just now.  I am worried about her being so small but she seems to know when to sneak in a quick meal from mom.  I am worried the other two larger ones will keep her from nursing.  Am I overreacting?  So far this year we have only lost the one(the triplets sister/brother) and there was no way it would have ever survived.  It was still in the sac and when I opened it to look at the lamb it was not fully formed and fit in the palm of my hand.  Mom is doing a good job so far and loves all her babies!


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## BrownSheep (Feb 22, 2014)

Big black ewe lamb this morning


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## BrownSheep (Feb 23, 2014)

Well that black ewe lamb just looks iffy...but she doesn't want a bottle and seams to be nursing from her momma.
As I told my dad, she's black, she's a ewe, and I really like her...of course she's trying to die.

We got every one banded and tagged. Minus two little rams whose testes were small enough we have left them for a latter date.

This afternoon I tried giving the aforementioned lamb a bottle. She didn't want it and we didn't really want to leave it in the fridge, where it most likely would be later tossed. So my dad started feeding it to the bottle babies from years past.
We had every former bottle baby ( and some non-bummers) trying to drink it. It  was pretty entertaining watch 4 year old ewes fight with yearlings for a bottle.


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## BrownSheep (Feb 25, 2014)

Black ewe is fine! Just figured she seem off enough to keep me worried at school.

We have hippity hops going on and the group of little lambs will be sent out to join everyone else soon. 

Milly still hasn't lambed. I am a little conserved just due to her size.


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## Goat Whisperer (Mar 1, 2014)

How are all the lambs and ewes doing?


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## BrownSheep (Mar 2, 2014)

Great! Milly FINALLY had a ram and a ewe, gigantic and healthy.

Everybody else has the hippity hops and are causing trouble. The smallest lamb has figured out she can jump through the panel squares so she has been having fun with that.


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## Goat Whisperer (Mar 3, 2014)

Glad all is well!

Jumping thru the fence.... been there! They have so many toys, but they HAVE to get out


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## BrownSheep (Mar 4, 2014)

Twin rams yesterday from a first time ewe. One black and one mottle faced. 

Milly's lambs are about 6 inches taller  .


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## BrownSheep (Mar 10, 2014)

So finally got some pictures! First let me show you this as to why I don't have too many "good" ones.





Its pretty much a mob.
Some of the "littles"




Littles, a big (6wks), and Mugs ( a bottle baby from last year)




What a difference a couple weeks of growth makes!
1wk ( twin), 4 wks ( quint), and 6 wk olds ( twins)




More later!


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## BrownSheep (Mar 10, 2014)

Ellie's twin wethers




Tiny....She is a midget..




The two black ewes from this year.....I'm a sucker for color.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 12, 2014)

Two more today. A ram and a ewe....From a somebody....All I know is it wasn't Max( my guess) and she's got little horns....Aka a no name.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 13, 2014)

One more lamb this morning. My dad was in his suit so I don't know if it was a ram or a ewe. It trotting around after mom so all is well.


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## Goat Whisperer (Mar 13, 2014)

Love the pics! Ellie's twins are to cute! Congrats on the babies! How many lambs are you up to now? Also, what breeds of sheep do you raise?


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## BrownSheep (Mar 13, 2014)

I will need to go over my stats but I think 24 ish not counting the ones we lost.
We started out with Suffolk and Suffolk X ewes and a Horn Dorset ram.  In the past couple years we have been moving towards more rambouillet blood.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 13, 2014)

Yep a solid 24. 9 ewes, 14 rams and the new unknown.


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## BrownSheep (Mar 13, 2014)

The new lamb from this morning....a ram! 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




Twins from yesterday


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## BrownSheep (Mar 18, 2014)

so we actually have 26 lambs...I missed someone in the throws of all this.
The new little ram lamb has a "deformed" tail. He actually has extra flaps of skin on either side. This caused him to get plugged up...Kind of like a not so pleasant water balloon. Caught him and got him cleaned up ( the dogs actually did most of the work )  The Betsy's twin ewe from the first of the year has a pretty good limp going on. My dad and I couldn't catch her after 1/2 an hour of trying so I am assuming she just sprained it. I'll give her a good look over if she still wont walk on it next time I am home.


I am kind of out of it so please excuse any mistakes.


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## bonbean01 (Mar 18, 2014)

Congrats on all your lambies!!!!


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## BrownSheep (Mar 27, 2014)

Thanks!

We had a boy/girl set of twins born to a first timer, Hoof.  Both of them are black with white caps.
We have everybody tagged, castrated, banded, and vaccinated on Tuesday. We also took in six lambs into the butcher. Our 4-hers came and looked at the lambs.

Tuesday killed me...It was a long day. Keep in mind we have no chutes so we have to manually catch every sheep.


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## PyrOfTheFlock (Apr 8, 2014)

I have rambouillet/merino mixes, I was wondering how far down you dock their tails? It probably doesn't matter for mixes but since I have ram lambs that have to go I want them to be as presentable or close to the standard as possible so their new owners will keep them as long as they can. Should I castrate them too? I just want them to have more of a chance of not getting eaten.


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## BrownSheep (Apr 8, 2014)

We use to do just to where the skin on the underside became visible, but we were have issues with it collecting manure. Nothing like fly strike happened but I just didn't like seeing poopy ended sheep. This year we've been doing it up higher and have been very happy with the results.

It's a preference thing. With the fine wool breeds that you have I would suggest going a little higher.


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