Baymule’s 4th Lambing

[Baymule]

This is the ram I used. I raised him from last year. His mother is Miranda, full brother to Eve and half brother to Lucy, Lil' Cutie, Domino and Moon Pie.

I put him on Craigslist for sale, no response. He has a date Wednesday for slaughter. Too bad, he throws nice babies and has a good disposition. But we will have Ringo for the next season and don't need two rams.

I will, as usual slaughter the ram/wethers and keep the best of the ewes, I have 5 from this lambing and so far, they all look real nice. Three of them are twins, two of them are singles.

 

[Mini Horses]

AT LAST -- a colored ewe. Looks to be a good ram, shame he's not making more ewes!! But, appears he will make nice lamb chops.

So, at what point do you feel you will hold a ram more than one season?

 

[Baymule]

When I bring Ringo home. He will stay forever. I’ll just get another ram and have two, LOL.

The ram we are taking to slaughter is VERY related to most of the flock, except 3 ewes.

At some point I want 2-3 registered ewes to go with Ringo. I will probably cull out one or two of this years ewe lambs. If I keep them all I’ll have 14 ewes. Looking to have a flock of 12 ewes.

 

[Dale HWA]

Looking to have a flock of 12 ewes.

This is the same number i'm looking to get up to. We own 10 acres up in canada and the get the better part of 3.5 acres to share with our guardian llama. I hope 12 ewes will produce enough lambs to pay for the Hay they eat over the winter.

How many Lambing jugs do you have for 12 ewes?

 

[Baymule]

@Dale HWA I don't use lambing jugs. Never have used a heat lamp either. Most of the time they lamb outside. I have a few that will go to the barn and lamb. This year I had 2 FF that lambed during the daytime. Most of the time they lamb at night and surprise me the next morning. They are hair sheep and pretty hardy. We have a mild climate here too. We do have snow sometimes, last winter it got to 14 F and we had snow. But our snow is generally gone in 3-4 days. This winter we have had rain, cold, in the 20'sF and 30'sF. I have a sheep lot with a 20'x24' lean to "roof" with a small shelter in it that has walls. If it is particularly cold and rainy, I will close them up at night in hopes of them not giving birth out in the cold rain. I fluff up the inside of the little shelter with compressed bags of pine shavings, the lambs snuggle down in them.

I had 9 ewes to lamb this season. 15 lambs were born, lost 2 for a total of 13 live lambs. 5 of them are ewe lambs, looks like I will keep 4 of them. I castrate the boys and name them Dinner. LOL

Are you going to fence in more acres for the sheep so you can rotate pastures? What type of grasses does your farm have? Would love to see pictures. Would you please put your general location on your avatar? It is nice to know what part of the world you are in and it keeps you from having to announce it in every post. LOL

Most important of all, welcome again to the forum. I am glad to have you here and hope you like to "talk" a lot about sheep!

 

[Baymule]

We took our ram to slaughter this morning. I have to say that I felt bad about it. He was a good boy, not aggressive, threw good lambs, and was just a nice ram. I was coaxing him out of the trailer, calling him Baby and talking sweet to him. I told Mr. Jim that I felt bad about bringing him in. Oh well. We went back later for the sheep skin. Mr. Jim had already salted it. It is in the freezer for now until I decide if I am going to send it off or do it myself. I am keeping the hides this year, so many gorgeous, pretty BOYS!

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Sorry Bay...., sucks when practically and reality have to collide....he had a great life with you...lucky little man lamb.... enjoy that jacket !

 

[Baymule]

My sister thinks I am a horrible person for eating the animals I raise. My food has names. Yet, she will eat meat from the store. Haha, if I show up wearing a lamb skin coat, she will think me a total barbarian. And she will be right. BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!

 

[Mike CHS]

Once I got used to the idea of eating Hoss, I was OK with the rest of them.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

I still will do two at a time, then i don't know who is dinner.....even with the chickens and rabbits, .....