BAYMULE FINALLY HAS SHEEP!! BABIES!

[goatgurl]

years back i went to buy a leg of lamb for Easter and they wanted over $65.00 for one leg. i said something like "i don't think so" or maybe it was more like "my azz". so i went and bought 2 young ewes and a ram and started building my own leg of lamb. because of the acreage i have it costs almost nothing to raise them and my butcher charges $36. to butcher them. win win for me. i sell the extra lambs and turn a nice profit.

 

[Baymule]

I have done some checking around here and going price for hanging weight is $6 to $8 a pound. Good price for the buyer and a good price for the seller.

 

[Latestarter]

The semi-boneless leg that I bought was over $40, and was ~5 lbs... I had some of the gravy over white rice for dinner Forgot how good rice can be when mixed with the right ingredients...

 

[Ridgetop]

I am glad you have sheep now. I hope your dog gets better with them. Dog holes are horrible to repair, and can be dangerous is you go out at night without light. We had a dog that liked to dig out of our acreage and we bought rolls of 6' chain link which we separated into 4' pieces. We laid them on the ground along the fence bottoms and wired it to the bottom of the fences so it extended inside our fence along the ground. The grass and brush grew up through it and it was impermeable. You will get about 150' of fenceline chain link laying along the ground from a 100' roll of 6' chain link fencing. The dogs can't dig out and it will be hard for the predators to dig in. Check for used fencing from construction sites. You will only have to use it on the problem areas. We had a section of about 500' in a gully that the dog routinely dug out of and it worked like a charm. We don't have that dog anymore, but that chain link secures the gaps under our fencing where the rains washed out on the hillsides.
Why don't you try turning her loose in the pasture outside the sheep pen so she can patrol around them, at least at night. Will she dig out of that pasture? Why is she digging out? Does she want to come into the house? Maybe you need a dog that has already been bonded to livestock who could then help teach her to accept the sheep. We pen our sheep up at night since I like to check them out each day and we don't have easy visibility into the sheep area. Our Anatolian accompanies them into the barn, checks them into their pens, and then shows up at the patio door for her family time inside. After a few hours she goes back out to patrol. Maybe your dog will get more acclimated to the sheep if she can move freely around them but is separated from them unless you are with her. Do you have any sheep that are aggressive enough to punish her for her roughness? Aggressive ewes can nip overly rough play in the bud, but it takes a special type of sheep or goat personality to be an effective guardian trainer.
I will be interested in how you like the Dorper crosses. I am thinking about bringing in a Dorper ram in a couple of years after we have used our Dorset ram to the max. The Dorpers are supposed to shed out their wool so if you don't want to be bothered with shearing they are easier. Dorpers are a cross between Dorsets and Persian Blackface so I think what I love in my Dorsets would show up in the Dorpers.
I sell my finished lambs for $200 on the hoof, delivered to the butcher/processor here in southern California. My processor charges by the head for slaughter and custom cut & wrap. My customers pick up the meat and pay the butcher direct. He says my prices are too low for finished lambs but it is hard to advertise here because of the animal rights people. He suggested I advertise at his shop with a flyer, and also to sell for fair lambs since I have 7 ewes due in January which would be ideal for late summer and fall fairs. A lot of kids can't afford a $400 show animal and I will probably only charge the 4-H and FFA kids $150 for a younger lamb since I don't have to finish it. My ewes usually are spaced out more, but this year they were all exposed to the ram at once so of course all bred at once. I hope most of them are ram lambs this year since my pasture is barren from the drought. Naturally since that is what I am hoping for this year, they will probably be mostly pretty little ewe lambs - sigh.
Have fun and I hope the weather clears for you - TX has been having too much flooding this year. Send us some of that rain, we are waiting for El Nino here. Should break around February, but since all my ewes are due in January - in January! LOL

 

[Baymule]

@Ridgetop you asked some very good questions. Paris seems to be location bound. She hated being out of her yard, plus she didn't think much of the sheep. We only have a very small shelter for the sheep right now, but will be building a larger permanent lean to off the side of the portable building. When we get that built, I will put in a dog kennel for Paris with a wire bottom so she can't dig out. I'll pen her up at night with them in the shed with her. During the day, I'll put her in a larger area next to the sheep and over time, start letting her out when the sheep are penned up so she can claim "her" pasture. I think once there are lambs, she might get possessive of them and want to protect them. We'll see......

Your prices do seem to be low, maybe the butcher can help you get a better price. I like your idea of helping the 4H and FFA kids that can't afford an expensive show lamb. Your heart is in the right place.

 

[Baymule]

Well we had our first lamb last night-dead. I found her this morning, a tiny black ewe with a patch of white on the top of her head. I quickly looked at the ewes to see whose it was and it was Ewe-nique. I thought Ewe-nique was the least likely one to lamb, she barely even looked pregnant. I wasn't even expecting her to lamb anytime soon. I have two others that look like they will explode, they are so big and their udders are getting full too.

Could have Ewe-nique miscarried? The lamb was tiny and Ewe-nique sure didn't have "pregnant belly". Ewe-nique had passed the placenta, so that was good. I watched her carefully, she was eating and drinking, so that was good. I contacted the breeder we bought them from and she was heartbroken for me. I buried the lamb and placenta, covered them with lime so odor won't bring in scavengers and so my own dogs won't dig it up.

I've been down in the dumps today. I know all too well that when you have livestock, you get dead stock, but did it have to be my first lamb? I got my smile back though. I wanted to move them to another pasture, so I got a can of feed and shook it. Instantly I had 4 ewes for best friends. I opened the gate and they followed me closely to the other pasture and I opened that gate. I poured some feed on a board for them, but they were so excited to have fresh grass, they barely noticed. When it was time to move them back for the night, I just repeated the process. It made me smile to have them following me like a pack of dogs. I love them.

Picture of the lamb.

Stop here if you don't want to see her.

 

[Southern by choice]

Oh Bay, I am so sorry.

She seems very tiny... what was her coat like?
Hoping your lambing goes smoothly from here on.

 

[Baymule]

Her coat was very short. I have no other lambings to compare to...but she did seem awfully tiny to me. The ewe barely had a belly bulge, especially compared to the others, two of which look ready to explode. I hope the next lambings go better too.

 

[Southern by choice]

If it ever happens again take the lamb and refrigerate- send to lab. We get necropsys on kids for $10-30 from our lab... and it is always good info.

We lost our first kid too. She had twins one lived one died at a few days... we knew she would... the lab results were very conclusive and helped a great deal. Sometimes they find nothing but that is also good info.

Again very sorry, I know it hurts and it is very sad.

 

[BlessedWithGoats]

I'm so sorry Baymule!