Search results

Great photos. I love that very first pic of Murphy - he really does look like a polar bear out taking a walk on the ice!

Thanks guys. The lamb was not on his back but rather held vertical (head high, butt down). We were not able to push them down into the scrotum easily and didn't want to risk hurting him too much so we decided to give it a couple of days and try again. I'll see if there is any way to keep him...

Heather, I would say try it and be prepared to put them back up if you have any issues. When my first lamb was 2 days old, I let her and her mother out with the flock. The ram immediately started trying to mount the ewe and in her efforts to ward him off, the lamb was knocked flying several...

My first lambs ever were born a week or so ago, so yesterday DH and I decided it was time to castrate the little ram. Having never done it before, I read a lot about it as well as watching a few YouTube videos, and thought I was all prepared. I loaded a band onto the bander, DH held the lamb...

Are you sure he didn't say this in a joking way, like "Ewes always pick the worst time to deliver so she'll probably have it at 2am" or something like that? I can't imagine any vet would actually predict the exact time an animal will give birth. Even when they're pushing, it is sometimes...

Our pasture is planted to native grasses. We had it cut and baled last fall and even our third (the baler got the other ⅔ which is standard around here) was more than we needed to over-winter the sheep. MN may not have as much in the way of native grasses as we do down here on the prairie, but...

Thanks bcnewe2! We've had the sheep going on a year so Sammie has been exposed to them for quite awhile, but apparently although she is supposedly half BC, she got NONE of the BC tendency to work animals. She is all retriever - ball obsessed but will fetch a stick if that's all that is...

Ok, another question….I talked to someone who said she tags females in the left ear and males in the right so that from a distance she knows which is which. But I just watched a YouTube video to see how its done and they suggested tagging all animals in the right ear, for efficiencies in sale...

You raise another interesting question @SheepGirl - what is the purpose of having a farm tag in addition to the Scrapie tag? My adults actually have NO identification - no tattoo, farm tag or scrapie tag. I was going to let the scrapie tag serve as the identification for any lambs born here...

An update….I called on Monday of last week (Feb 10th) and was told they would arrive in "2-3 weeks" but they just got here - only 11 days after making the call! So this weekend we will be doing some flock work, both tagging and banding the new lambs. Question: most of my adults are not tagged...

Please don't everyone throw your chair at me, but I'm wondering what would be the point of dry-lotting? The way I look at it, I can go to the grocery store any day of the week and buy beef that was fed in a dry lot. The whole point for me of raising my own is to produce BETTER meat than I can...

Welcome to BYH! I'm pretty new here myself but have found this to be a friendly bunch :)

My first ewe lambed in the field - in a pasture covered in snow. The ewe did fine and so did the lamb. As soon as she was born, the ewe brought her up to the barn and at that time I set up a secure area for her to stay for a few days as the night was supposed to get cold. My second ewe came...

My 3 older ewes are full Dorset (wool). My two 5-month-old ewe lambs are full Dorper (hair). The ram is…..I dunno. He was given to me by a guy and I know where he got his original stock. I know she keeps mostly hair sheep but I don't know if this guy had mixed in anything else in the 4 years...

My experience with goats is minimal so take this as you will but perhaps some of it depends on breed? My two goats (pair) are Boer. The horns curve backward and are not as severe as pics of some breeds I have seen. They don't use them as weapons - ever. They do, however use them to scratch...

Gotcha. Yeah, I don't need my flock to get too big either. They have a 7-acre pasture and at one point our research suggested 5 sheep/goats per acre. That would mean 35 which I personally feel is too many. Prior to lambing we had 6 sheep and 2 goats. I figured I would keep all ewe...

Now I have decisions to make re wethering. I had planned on doing it until last week when I saw a thread where people said they didn't think the meat tasted any different if they are left intact. I'd rather not do a procedure I don't need to do. On the other hand, if he and his dad are going...

Welcome to Backyard Herds!

I had that same thought :)

Thanks Pioneer Chicken! And congrats Parsnip - they are awesome! :love