Mike CHS
Herd Master
That would make some great pictures. 
Feelin' a bit sheepish...
Baymule
Herd Master
You can be friends with your ram. Lines of respect need to be drawn and you have done that. Scratching his favorite places can be a reward for him. Since he bugs you for food, you would probably avoid treats, but scratches are wonderful.
- Thread starter
- #33
Beekissed
Herd Master
The sheep are all sleek and fat on fall graze, even though we just came through a month of no rain and the grass is not its usual lush of fall. We are now getting rains and that should help regenerate some of the fall forage, but the sheep are looking FINE.
No feeding of grains here and will be doing no flushing of any kind, as all body conditions are at peak levels.
I've been rotating the girls and the ram on two day schedules so they each get good exposure to the graze and then a rest time with just hay. All feces look healthy and show a healthy rumen action.
Can't wait until they can all be together as a herd and I won't have to confine them any longer unless I just want them off pasture.
Luckily, a lot of the tree's leaves are falling while still green due to that drought time and that's just good nutrition on the ground right there...all the nutrition of the tree is still in those green leaves and the sheep are making good use of them.
They are also sampling from their minerals well and Shine's red patches are slowly leaving her coat and she's going back to shiny black.
The ram could use more muscling and fat padding on his back instead of that enormous gut he's got but I figure that will come with time. He's still a lamb with a lamb's bone structure and build, but I expect he'll fill out.
No feeding of grains here and will be doing no flushing of any kind, as all body conditions are at peak levels.
I've been rotating the girls and the ram on two day schedules so they each get good exposure to the graze and then a rest time with just hay. All feces look healthy and show a healthy rumen action.
Can't wait until they can all be together as a herd and I won't have to confine them any longer unless I just want them off pasture.
Luckily, a lot of the tree's leaves are falling while still green due to that drought time and that's just good nutrition on the ground right there...all the nutrition of the tree is still in those green leaves and the sheep are making good use of them.
They are also sampling from their minerals well and Shine's red patches are slowly leaving her coat and she's going back to shiny black.
The ram could use more muscling and fat padding on his back instead of that enormous gut he's got but I figure that will come with time. He's still a lamb with a lamb's bone structure and build, but I expect he'll fill out.
- Thread starter
- #34
Beekissed
Herd Master
Pics of the fat as a tick lady sheep today....forgot to get a pic of fat as a tick Jo. You can see the residual of the copper deficiency wool color on Shine's shoulders but that's getting less and less. You can also see a similar patch on the shoulders of Rose, and it's a light cream color.
Fat bottomed girls, they make the rockin' world go 'round! Look at how long Rose's tail is compared to Shine's. I hope she passes that along to her babies.
Fat bottomed girls, they make the rockin' world go 'round!
Look at how long Rose's tail is compared to Shine's. I hope she passes that along to her babies.
Mike CHS
Herd Master
That is the longest tail that I have seen on one of these guys.
- Thread starter
- #36
Beekissed
Herd Master
Me too! She's a bit long in the tooth, could be she's a bit long in the tail also.
I hope her babies get that long tail...more to swat flies with.- Thread starter
- #37
Beekissed
Herd Master
The neat thing is, these girls are getting fat on nothing but minimal graze, minimal hay, some browse and whatever else they manage to nibble on. No dewormers, no supplements...just whatever they can rustle up around here.
That's why I love the Katahdin breed...they have excellent feed conversion if you let them eat their natural diet.
That's why I love the Katahdin breed...they have excellent feed conversion if you let them eat their natural diet.
- Thread starter
- #38
Beekissed
Herd Master
I never hand feed him any treats, though I have done for the girls....big mistake! Now they come running every time they see me and stick their noses into anything I'm carrying. They are like a pack of thugs, those two!
Usually if I want to feed him anything special I'll put it in his pen, either on the ground or in a feed pan but never from my hand.
Just in the last week he seems to be filling out a little more on his muscling. To my eyes he's still a runt for his age, so I'm hoping his sire and dam genetics will show up soon.
Baymule
Herd Master
It could be that even if he turns out to be smaller than what you like, his genetics will show up in his offspring.
- Thread starter
- #40
Beekissed
Herd Master
I saw Shine eyeballing the peach tree leaves, which are still green but loose enough to drop off anyway. I pulled a branch down to her and those sheep started eating peach leaves like they were gourmet chocolate!!! So, I just ran my hand down several branches to wipe leaves onto the ground and they pigged out. I'll do that again this evening, just for a treat.
All that is so funny as I was just watching a vid on YT about an old fella feeding his cows "tree hay" and talking about how they used to do that in olden times. Harvest branches of trees while leaves still green and store them in the barn....his cows were going hog wild for them.
All that is so funny as I was just watching a vid on YT about an old fella feeding his cows "tree hay" and talking about how they used to do that in olden times. Harvest branches of trees while leaves still green and store them in the barn....his cows were going hog wild for them.
