High Desert Cowboy- How far is it up north?

[Mike CHS]

They are looking good

 

[Latestarter]

You can see where they've been using the fence as a scratching area... Good looking animals.

 

[Ridgetop]

Nice looking lambs! Ewes or rams? The flock is growing.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

They’re a ewe and a ram.

 

[Ridgetop]

Goody! One to keep and one to eat!

 

[Baymule]

They look great!

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

I’m actually keeping them both. I bought their mom from a friend and it was quite the surprise when she lambed the night before I went to get her. He buys a few bottle lambs every year for his kids to raise for some cash. He was toying with the idea of keeping some of his bottle raised ewes this year to breed, and he’d already whethered his one ram lamb. He requested that I keep lambert intact with the possibility of using him to breed in the future. I agreed and we’re looking at the possibility of swapping him for one of his ewes or just loaning him for a bit. I do have the single whether though that has the possibility of being sold or making it to my freezer. You can see him in the background of the twins standing next to his mom. He’s a big boy. His mom also came pregnant which was a fun surprise. She’s the oldest ewe but I actually kind of like her. Then there’s bellwether, insane sheep extroardinaire. She is an obstinate brat. She will leave the rest of the group when we’re working and go running as fast as she can, refusing to come back to the group and relax. The dogs bring her back and she just runs through and keeps on running until I call them off and leave. She’s on my first gone list, unless by some miracle she has beautiful twins she will be my first cull from the group irregardless of age.

 

[High Desert Cowboy]

So fun story about Bellwether. You may recall how happy I was the day I brought Bellwether, Shaun, and Maa home. The sun was shining, birds were singing, everything’s going my way. For the first few days I kept them in a smaller pen made from cattle panels, to keep an eye on all of them because they came from an auction load. When I first pulled up to the house and back up to the panels my wife and daughter came outside to see and my wife insisted that I keep my three year old with me to help unload as she was smitten with her “baby lambs” and couldn’t be dragged away. My pleas that unloading animals with the help of a stubborn three year old was a poor idea fell on deaf ears and there I was. I had them unloaded, and told Mae to stand by me while I pulled the panels together. As I started moving the one side closer she of course decides that she needs to pet these sheep right now. Mae is under the impression that all animals on the planet want her to pet them, and it’s a very difficult habit to break. So she goes running over to the sheep just as I reach for the other panel to pull them together. Bellwether, in a panic, tries to bolt under the cattle panel I’m reaching for and blows the whole thing wide open. Cue 3 sheep fleeing, one confused 3 year old yelling “come back baby lambs” and one irate father. A quick call to my neighbor for backup began our wrangling efforts. No sooner he pulls up then his Aussie jumps off the truck and starts chasing the sheep ahead of us. Genius dog has zero drive to be a working dog, suddenly he’s on trial at soldier hollow.....not. He just drives them away while my neighbor curses his dog Jessie up one side and down the other. My wife trying to be helpful offers to turn my dogs loose to help. Having really just started with sheep, this was not the time to be putting their limited training into practice. We finally managed to get the sheep down the road to my neighbors house, where he had about 100 ewes who had just lambed and a lane that was fenced in both sides. I park my trailer at the end of the lane and me and the neighbor wait while his brother and Jessie bring those sheep down the lane. His brother gets lazy and starts getting distance between himself and the sheep figuring Jessie can do it, I mean he’s an Aussie. They get close and once again Bellwether loses it and starts panicking, riling her fellow escapees. Now Maa is an old ewe and know her way around dogs. She turns and seeing only Jessie she stomps her foot and suddenly Jessie remembers he’s not a sheepdog. We now have one blue Merle Aussie running the opposite direction with three sheep hot on his heels and my neighbors brother ill placed to be any help. The neighbor now calls Jessie’s heritage into question as we chase them twice around his house and finally into an old dog run beside the sheep pasture. Success! We loaded them up, got them back to their pen where this time they were locked away without Mae’s wonderful assistance and pictures are taken and posted on backyardherds.com. Since then Maa has learned that my dogs don’t back away from a stamping foot and I’ve only managed to lay hand on Bellwether a handful of times with help from the dogs, one of those times being the removing of Bella multiple times from her various body parts.
She better have good lambs next year!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Oh my goodness - what a rodeo!!

 

[Latestarter]

wow... kids and animals. So much fun, laughs and yet there are times of extra work/anger/frustration and sometimes down right fear. My middle daughter, like yours, had no fear of animals and while with me at my oldest daughters softball game, she was about 6, saw this big (well over 100 lbs), snarling/barking rottie and decided that he needed some lovin' so she just waltzed right up to him and started hugging/kissing on him. I about lost it! Pictures of torn up child, emergency rooms and doctors visits ran through my mind. She scared the daylights out of me with that one. Your initial sheep adventure sounds like it was quite a bit of all of that...