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Ridgetop
Herd Master
Yesterday the check came from the auction. $160 per head. Same buyer bought all 3. After 10% commission and $1/hd yardage my total was $429.00 for the 3 lambs. I think this was a good result, and I will be taking my other ram lambs down to Euclid again. Since they all sold for the same amount, I will take them in around 75 lbd. At $160/hd at 77 lbs. the smaller of the 3 came in around $2/lb. The arger they are the less I got per lb. so smaller it is which I like better since my cost going into feeding them is less and I can get the ewes back to the rams sooner. I will try to sell them at 50 lbs. for $150/hd first to the Halal and Armenian buyers since that is even better rice per lb. Otherwise, another month on grass or alfalfa will bring them to 70 lbs. and no worries about mastitis for the ewes with super early weaning. I will take them to the auction for a quick sale at 70 lbs. I think we can make enough to pay for the hay this winter.
Hay prices are down to $12.00 per bale (cheap for here), so we want to start bringing in our winter alfalfa now. We have removed out most of the equipment that was stored between the two Connexes. That space is surrounded by horse corral making a space of 20’ x 12’ or more so we can store quite a lot of hay in there. I will attach wire around the bottom to keep out rabbits, and vinyl horse netting over the corral panels to keep Josie the Mule honest. We can either tarp over the top of the bales, or get a metal carport to protect it instead of putting up a permanent roof. I would prefer a roof, but time and cost are a consideration as always.
The garden is coming along We picked the first summer squash today. DS1 dug out a huge amount of massive tree roots left from the downed tree. It was over 50 years old. I thought when we had the stump ground up that the roots were removed but apparently grinding the stump does not include digging out all the enormous tap root and its tributaries. DH, DS1 and DS2 cut the pieces up and filled our green barrels for the trash pickup tomorrow.
The new ewes still jump like marionettes when I enter the barn. The old ewes also jump, but for joy that I am coming to feed them. I need to turn the new ewes out with the field ewes so they can acclimate and learn their way into the fold and barns. The ewe with the lamb will go into the creep pen, after I worm her and feed her some extra groceries. I think I bought a bag of special ewe conditioner feed so she can have that for a couple weeks to build her up. If the lamb was not enormous and fat I might think she did not get enough to eat. But there are 2 fall Lewis ewe lambs that I am keeping for the other buyer till he gets here to pick up next week. They look fine. I think it is just the lambing, nursing, and the stress that has dropped her weight. She is a big rangy ewe. That is not the style I normally buy since I prefer smaller size ewes, but I wanted the bloodlines she brings, along with her lamb whose lines are even better due to her sire. The breeders, Paul and Kathy Lewis, are the only west coast breeders that are on Lambplan. Lambplan printouts show the projected muscle depth, weaning weights, post weaning weights, “shear force” (which is not for fleece I found out but for tenderness of the meat LOL) etc., production vaues which the ewe or ram will throw. 50% of those traits from each parent’s printout will come through on the lamb. That is how you figure out what you want to buy depending on do you want larger or smaller birth weight lambs, larger or smaller weaning weight lambs, more muscle, better milking, more survivability, etc. The results are all scientifically calculated by keeping extreme records doing ultrasound muscle depth testing and submitting the information to the main site in Australia. That site then does all the calculations for you and sends you the results. Those printouts can tell you the qualities the individual sheep should produce in their lambs. Oh yes, there is also a parasite resistance section and wool quality section for the wool breeds. Complicated. I have a headache from thinking about it and have probably explained it wrong.
The ewe I bought is top ten % for quite a few things – I don’t remember what exactly, but she was one of their keeper ewes that they decided to sell. They decided to cut back by about one third since their son is no longer working full time with them on their combination sheep/beef ranch. This ewe looks very scraggy right now since she is shedding her wool completely at the moment, and they had a late cold spring with snow this year. Large chunks of wool are just dropping off her body! You wanted pix – I will go down and get some.
Lewis fall lamb, my 2 new Patton bred ewes one facing the camera the other facing away, and hidden behind is the other Lewis Fall lamb. You can see that she still carries her wool.
Here is a good broadside shot of the Patton ewe showing her extreme length and thickness. Hopefully thickness also due to pregnancy. 
The pen with the 4 ewes holds two fall ewe lambs bred by Lewis, and two 2 year old bred ewes bred by Wes Patton. Wes shears his for the sales, which I like since I can see body structure more easily. You can see th darker strip along the topline. That is where Wes sheared of the toupee on the ewes. They will shed well. One of the younger ewes has shed out completely while the other one is still dropping wool. Paul doesn’t shear for the sales since his sheep are guaranteed to have complete shedding. Paul’s sheep sell high based on their Lambplan production evaluations. He never hoof trims his sheep either and their feet are always good. I do trim but only once or twice a year. Running on our hard stony ground wears off the hooves almost perfectly and only a couple of my ewes need any more attention.
The two larger ewes are the two year old bred ewes I bought from Wes. They are half sisters to one of my other ewes that I really love, and are bred to the son of an imported Fullblood ram. One of them is also related on her mother’s side to another of my favorite ewes. I really love Wes Patton’s White Dorpers. They are a nice size, friendly, docile, easy to handle, good mothers and producers, as well as easy keepers. What’s not to like?!
The other two ewes in the pen are Fall lambs. One of them is still shedding her winter wool, while the other one has completely shed out. The funny thing is that I had actually bid on those two ewe lambs before I concentrated all my $$ on the ones I finally bought. LOL They are really good lambs with excellent parental evaluation scores.
The last ewe with her lamb is really looking bad with her dreadlocks hanging down! LOL She is big, and her lamb will be big too. The lamb, as you can see, is huge for a 3 week old lamb. Yes she is really only 3 weeks old! I have not weighed her yet, but expect her to top the 5 week olds in the creep pen. I was going to hold these two in the jug for a couple weeks to make sure the lamb would be large enough not to get hurt by the older lambs in the creep but she is more likely to hurt them! As soon as I worm her mama and get a few extra groceries into mom, they can join the other ewes with young lambs.
FDIL just came in and reported a dog attack on my rose bed. It is fenced so how did the culprit jump in? Are there any LGD breeds that will protect garden premises from digging dog attacks????
I thought gophers were my only enemies!
Snowflake says "HI!"
Hay prices are down to $12.00 per bale (cheap for here), so we want to start bringing in our winter alfalfa now. We have removed out most of the equipment that was stored between the two Connexes. That space is surrounded by horse corral making a space of 20’ x 12’ or more so we can store quite a lot of hay in there. I will attach wire around the bottom to keep out rabbits, and vinyl horse netting over the corral panels to keep Josie the Mule honest. We can either tarp over the top of the bales, or get a metal carport to protect it instead of putting up a permanent roof. I would prefer a roof, but time and cost are a consideration as always.
The garden is coming along We picked the first summer squash today. DS1 dug out a huge amount of massive tree roots left from the downed tree. It was over 50 years old. I thought when we had the stump ground up that the roots were removed but apparently grinding the stump does not include digging out all the enormous tap root and its tributaries. DH, DS1 and DS2 cut the pieces up and filled our green barrels for the trash pickup tomorrow.
The new ewes still jump like marionettes when I enter the barn. The old ewes also jump, but for joy that I am coming to feed them. I need to turn the new ewes out with the field ewes so they can acclimate and learn their way into the fold and barns. The ewe with the lamb will go into the creep pen, after I worm her and feed her some extra groceries. I think I bought a bag of special ewe conditioner feed so she can have that for a couple weeks to build her up. If the lamb was not enormous and fat I might think she did not get enough to eat. But there are 2 fall Lewis ewe lambs that I am keeping for the other buyer till he gets here to pick up next week. They look fine. I think it is just the lambing, nursing, and the stress that has dropped her weight. She is a big rangy ewe. That is not the style I normally buy since I prefer smaller size ewes, but I wanted the bloodlines she brings, along with her lamb whose lines are even better due to her sire. The breeders, Paul and Kathy Lewis, are the only west coast breeders that are on Lambplan. Lambplan printouts show the projected muscle depth, weaning weights, post weaning weights, “shear force” (which is not for fleece I found out but for tenderness of the meat LOL) etc., production vaues which the ewe or ram will throw. 50% of those traits from each parent’s printout will come through on the lamb. That is how you figure out what you want to buy depending on do you want larger or smaller birth weight lambs, larger or smaller weaning weight lambs, more muscle, better milking, more survivability, etc. The results are all scientifically calculated by keeping extreme records doing ultrasound muscle depth testing and submitting the information to the main site in Australia. That site then does all the calculations for you and sends you the results. Those printouts can tell you the qualities the individual sheep should produce in their lambs. Oh yes, there is also a parasite resistance section and wool quality section for the wool breeds. Complicated. I have a headache from thinking about it and have probably explained it wrong.
The ewe I bought is top ten % for quite a few things – I don’t remember what exactly, but she was one of their keeper ewes that they decided to sell. They decided to cut back by about one third since their son is no longer working full time with them on their combination sheep/beef ranch. This ewe looks very scraggy right now since she is shedding her wool completely at the moment, and they had a late cold spring with snow this year. Large chunks of wool are just dropping off her body! You wanted pix – I will go down and get some.
Lewis fall lamb, my 2 new Patton bred ewes one facing the camera the other facing away, and hidden behind is the other Lewis Fall lamb. You can see that she still carries her wool. Here is a good broadside shot of the Patton ewe showing her extreme length and thickness. Hopefully thickness also due to pregnancy. The pen with the 4 ewes holds two fall ewe lambs bred by Lewis, and two 2 year old bred ewes bred by Wes Patton. Wes shears his for the sales, which I like since I can see body structure more easily. You can see th darker strip along the topline. That is where Wes sheared of the toupee on the ewes. They will shed well. One of the younger ewes has shed out completely while the other one is still dropping wool. Paul doesn’t shear for the sales since his sheep are guaranteed to have complete shedding. Paul’s sheep sell high based on their Lambplan production evaluations. He never hoof trims his sheep either and their feet are always good. I do trim but only once or twice a year. Running on our hard stony ground wears off the hooves almost perfectly and only a couple of my ewes need any more attention.
The two larger ewes are the two year old bred ewes I bought from Wes. They are half sisters to one of my other ewes that I really love, and are bred to the son of an imported Fullblood ram. One of them is also related on her mother’s side to another of my favorite ewes. I really love Wes Patton’s White Dorpers. They are a nice size, friendly, docile, easy to handle, good mothers and producers, as well as easy keepers. What’s not to like?!
The other two ewes in the pen are Fall lambs. One of them is still shedding her winter wool, while the other one has completely shed out. The funny thing is that I had actually bid on those two ewe lambs before I concentrated all my $$ on the ones I finally bought. LOL They are really good lambs with excellent parental evaluation scores.
The last ewe with her lamb is really looking bad with her dreadlocks hanging down! LOL She is big, and her lamb will be big too. The lamb, as you can see, is huge for a 3 week old lamb. Yes she is really only 3 weeks old! I have not weighed her yet, but expect her to top the 5 week olds in the creep pen. I was going to hold these two in the jug for a couple weeks to make sure the lamb would be large enough not to get hurt by the older lambs in the creep but she is more likely to hurt them! As soon as I worm her mama and get a few extra groceries into mom, they can join the other ewes with young lambs.FDIL just came in and reported a dog attack on my rose bed. It is fenced so how did the culprit jump in? Are there any LGD breeds that will protect garden premises from digging dog attacks????
I thought gophers were my only enemies!Snowflake says "HI!"
