Search results

I think the Mangledwurzels are like an ancestor of the sugar beet. In medieval and 19thC literature they are referred to as distinctly separate plants. But names change over the years, and the genetic diversity of our crops these days is considerably smaller... so perhaps mangelworzels and...

Sorry for the title, it's hard to know how to label this. Could you help me brain storm what's up with my rams? Both are still drinking, eating grass and chewing cud, so it's not as urgent as it could be...however... I have two Icelandic ram yearlings living together. They have just over...

That's great information. Thank you. I don't feel so bad about ploughing up a big portion of the back yard to plant them now.

I would love my goats (when I get them) to be pack goats too. I have a Oberhasli pair coming and I hear they make good pack animals. So glad for the link @kinder . Do you think it would be possible to train up an adult goat to carry a pack? Or will I have to wait till I have little goat...

What a great thread. Thanks for all the flavour ideas. I love making mead. My recipe is for a wild mead, as in you don't pasteurize or add any yeast. It's based on the book Wild Fermentation by Katz. Basically, wash everything, but don't' sterilize or use antibacterial soap Ingredients 1...

Back in the day in England, they use to feed Mangelworzles to sheep as winter fodder. It's like a giant chard root, the roots keeps wonderfully well over winter (so long as it doesn't freeze) in a clamp. They use to get a couple out and chop it up for the livestock, everything from cattle to...

Great advice, thank you all. So glad I found this forum. I'll double check about the colostrum and the vaccine. I know he had some shots, but I'll get more details. I don't know many farmers on our little island that vaccinate their sheep, so I'm trying to find resources to read up on what...

Thank you. That's good to know. Takes off a lot of stress knowing I can do things that way. Though I'm a bit worried about this fellow, for a month old meat sheep he's about the height and weight of a 2 week old icelandic - or a large house cat. I would have expected bigger. Is it possible...

What a really good thread. Ram's are so dangerous, and I'm glad that everyone's been lucky. I've had a few challenges from my ram, who I raised from a lamb. At the moment he's now stronger than me, and considerably heavier, but he doesn't know it. But I have a lot of experience getting...

I was wondering this too. Do the more primitive breeds play more than the modern ones? My friend's Icelandic flock which stayed on our farm for a while would play leap frog (well, leap sheep) with each other, about once a week. Adults and lambs. A bunch of them would stand chewing cud, while...

Thank you for the warm welcome. One of the things I wonder about the goat is I have choice right now: Buy 2 bottle babies at a very low cost, then raise them up from scratch... no specific bred, just generic goat with a bit of saanen and cashmere in the mix for some reason. Disadvantage of...

Hi all. New shepherd here with questions. I'm getting a 4 week old wethered bummer in a few days, and I'm was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about feeding. They say he's 4 weeks old, but he's pretty small. He's a mixed race, with quite a bit of Suffolk in him from the looks of...

Hi all. I've had rescue llamas and alpacas for some time now, and now am getting into sheep. A couple of years ago my friend lost her farm and needed somewhere for her Icelandic sheep to live for a few weeks. Well, I thought, we have some fenced pasture. Almost two years, and one lambing...