Feelin' a bit sheepish...

[Beekissed]

Mostly word of mouth-mine! LOL I did post lamb on a local FB sale site, by the pound and got several responses. 2 of them later bought live lambs. A neighbor and her sister each bought live lambs and our son bought one too. Then we took the scrubby ones to auction and sold them at a better price than I thought they would bring.

In light of the difficulty getting things butchered on time, I doubt I can do that at this late date. I think one of my brothers wants to buy one and butcher it out here, but the other lambs will be sold as ram lambs in October to folks who didn't get their ram lambs on time for breeding season this year, hopefully.

 

[Baymule]

I won't have a slaughter date for next year, so will take them to auction.

 

[Beekissed]

I won't have a slaughter date for next year, so will take them to auction.

I have a feeling that, by next year, there will be a customer base wanting them for home butchering or for starting their own flock.

 

[Baymule]

I have a feeling that, by next year, there will be a customer base wanting them for home butchering or for starting their own flock.

I've thought about that too. I may advertise some for sale, but if there is no flurry of sales, auction!

 

[Beekissed]

The burdizzo worked like a charm and the two wethers we castrated show testicles that are steadily shrinking and no ill effects from the procedure. All in all it seemed pretty painless and they walked away from it like nothing happened.

Selling a fence jumper, May, and one of Rose's twins, a wether now, to a lady who wants them for eating of brush. Hate to sell May as she's our best sheep as far as conditioning, conformation, etc. but she's just too much trouble and she's teaching it to the younger sheep.

Had an answer to prayer about winter feeding and how to do it here without any winter stockpile hopes...we may be getting a lease on a neighboring field, just to keep it mowed down! I don't know how many acres it is, but possibly 10 and right now it's 3-4 ft tall and only gets brush hogged once a year, but it has a lot of good grasses, legumes and forbes in it. No fencing as it hasn't been grazed by any animals but deer for about 20 years now and the last animals were a few horses.

So, winter stockpile prayers answered and I praise His Holy name for it!!! That will take the pressure off our meager grass and give us a chance to clean up all the tree tops out of the paddocks here this winter.

Once all the wethers have been butchered and all the rams sold or butchered, we'll be down to just 10 sheep to winter over, so a field that size could feasibly last us most of the winter with small paddocks and 4 day moves.

We don't know whether to brush hog it on a high setting now so that the cool weather grasses can get some sun before winter or just start grazing it as is and do a clean up brush hogging in the early spring when we move the sheep closer to home for lambing.

 

[Baymule]

What a blessing! 10 acres of grass, I would positively swoon at the bounty of so much grass! I think I would graze it as is, then mow to knock down what the sheep wont eat in early spring.

 

[Beekissed]

What a blessing! 10 acres of grass, I would positively swoon at the bounty of so much grass! I think I would graze it as is, then mow to knock down what the sheep wont eat in early spring.

That's my inclination too. I'm going to take the ATV and run up into that field and assess just how much canopy I'm dealing with overall and what's lying beneath that, if the sheep can reasonably reach it, etc. If not, I'll try to get it brush hogged on a very high setting to clear out some of the canopy.

I'll get pics of it today and let you see what it's like!

 

[Beekissed]

It's the time of year when things have to be sorted, separated, and sold. We are still building and fencing, so haven't had time to get ready for it, but are stopping to throw together a sorting pen situation.

Going to butcher a nuisance ewe this weekend....hate to do it, but she's a consistent fence jumper and a leader of the young into the same behavior. We also need the meat, so it's a win/win, though she is a great sheep in all other aspects....it's a shame she's so stubbornly stupid.

Making decisions on what rams to keep, what rams to sell. I have one solid candidate that has stood out from early on and has maintained that quality while growing, but have to make a decision on a second ram between two also rans.

Right now I have the three older ewes in the garden doing clean up, while the younger flock are grazing outside the garden space. Plan to separate the males completely on Oct. 1st and move the females at the farthest distance on the land we can get. Individual breeding groups and their respective ram will rejoin Oct. 31st for breeding. Once in a blue moon.....

Will be selling 3 ram lambs and retaining two wethers for butchering later, one of which will be sold to a family member for butchering and the other will be for our own consumption.

All sheep except the eldest are in good body condition. Poor Rose has had her two wethers and 2 other ewe lambs nipping in for drinks all summer long, so this 8 yr old ewe has been nursing 4 lambs for the past 2 mo. Not bad for an oldster, but she needs a break so she can get some fat on her before winter. Not sure how we can wean all those off her when all the females will be pasturing together and with our limited resources for penning and separating long enough for a proper weaning. The wethers I can get off her but the ewe lambs will still be pestering her and she will still let them.

And so sheeping continues. I'm excited about having some sheep in pens so I can do some training on Dooley while they are there.

 

[Beekissed]

These Katahdin amaze me....was watching them today and noticing just how fat they are all. They've been in a brush paddock for several days, no grass to speak of and came out fatter than they went in. Seems like this breed can stay fat on the worst kind of feed. We have the most poor of pasture here, even the grass paddocks have bad grass...more trash than anything else and not much of that since we've had drought since July.

Hopefully making a deal with a neighbor for grazing an approx. 10 acre field just to help them keep it mowed down and to supplement our pasture....if we get that land, I can't imagine how well they will do this winter. That field has good browse on all the edges, along with better graze than we have and hasn't had livestock on it for nigh on 20 yrs or more. We'll have to build fence around it and haul water to it but it will be worth it to have that field for winter stockpile. Will need to get another dog to help our single LGD in that big of a paddock that's farther from our house, but it will be worth it. Will be trying to get a lease worked up tomorrow and hope to get it signed and notarized this week, if all goes well.

 

[Beekissed]

Used the three older gals to clean up the garden...took one night to strip most of it...that trellis in the background was a solid sheet of green just hours before this pic, with knee high weeds and flowers in behind it.

Poor 8 yr old Rose, on the right, is finally getting a break from all the lambs still nursing on her...I count 4 different lambs nipping in for a sip, two of hers and two from a group we bought a few months ago. The ewe on the left is the nuisance ewe that we will butcher tonight...it's a shame because she's young, a good producer and has great parasite resistance as well as feed thrift. Just too stupid to live in our setup.

Shine, 4 yrs old now, still nursing her big ol' 5 mo. old ram lamb, is also getting a break. She's our highest climber and keeps our honeysuckle well pruned.

Blue, our Anatolian, on guard and looking sweet....

Can you locate the wolf in sheep's clothing?

Noodles, 5 mo. and our choice to retain as a breeder this season, currently wearing a ram apron. He's top ram of the bunch and the most dominant and virile acting. He's Shine's boy, so will she will not be in his breeding group. He ain't pretty, but I like his length, his top line, his width of chest and his height, not to mention he's all ram, big jewels and can't wait to use them.

Not a great pic, but this black ram is one of two rams we are trying to decide on for our second breeder. He's second in dominance in the group and competing directly with Noodles all the time, though they are both in ram aprons to prevent breeding at the moment. He's full Katahdin and not related to any of our group.

Tank, on the right below, the second contender for second breeder, is May's boy(May, dead sheep walking), is 1/4 Dorper, is also showing good parasite resistance along with Noodles and the Black. Tank has no interest in the females, just in eating. Haven't seen him once checking for heat or pawing at a female. He's thick and chunky, has a great set of jewels, a tad shorter than the black but seems to have the same length of loin. He has the biggest balls of all the rams but the least sex drive...could be a late bloomer.

All sheep are paddocked in the yard and garden right now to clean up flowers, vines and garden....they are quick and efficient.