Ringo’s Lambs! Baymule’s 5th Lambing

Baymule

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How many more ewes left to lamb?

2 more, but for whatever reason, I think they bred later than the first 6 did. Ringo is with 2 ewes now, I saw him breed one of them October 7.

Bay, those are just the prettiest lambs ever!!! Where in the world did you get that Barbados blood in that flock? That is one beautiful lamb.

Can't WAIT to have a passel of lambs at my place. :love

Barbado? There is no Barbado in my flock. If you mean Aria, the pretty spotted ewe lamb, scroll back, Mike had 2 lambs marked just like her.
 

Beekissed

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Barbado? There is no Barbado in my flock. If you mean Aria, the pretty spotted ewe lamb, scroll back, Mike had 2 lambs marked just like her.

Huh! Maybe in Ringo's bloodline somewhere? Seems like whenever you see those markings in a flock that somewhere in the back breeding there is a little Barbado or Painted Desert sheep going on. I love those colors and markings in a sheep.
 

Mike CHS

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Huh! Maybe in Ringo's bloodline somewhere? Seems like whenever you see those markings in a flock that somewhere in the back breeding there is a little Barbado or Painted Desert sheep going on. I love those colors and markings in a sheep.

There definitely could be but I don't remember how many generations are listed on Ringo's papers. I know of several people that use some Barbie ewes and then record a few generations later for parasite resistance since they can be so hardy.
 

Baymule

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I have seen pictures of some real marked up Katahdins. There is a farm a county or so away that raises Painted Desert Sheep, they sure are pretty.
 

Mini Horses

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@Baymule I love the picture of all those lambs laying there :love

In the pic he photo bombed, you can see that boy is up on his feet as he should be! I see no issues there. Sometimes they just come out a little "off". Hey, they've been crowded and floating around for months...some time it takes a day or two to collect themselves. :D =D

I can remember occasionally needing to hold foals up to nurse, every few hours for a day or two. If they arrive a little early, they can be weak at first. Then those rascals race around with the best of them! :) Mother's milk is an amazing product.
 

Baymule

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@Beekissed started a good thread on Katahdin body styles.

https://www.backyardherds.com/threads/katahdin-body-styles.40104/

This made me take a good look at my own sheep, indeed, last year and the year before, using a Dorper ram, I had some of those curly coated wooly types lambs. Then I took a closer look at my ewes, particularly the ones I intend to cull. I have one that is the poster child for bad conformation.

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How did I miss THIS? Then I remembered, she was one of those shaggy ones who didn't shed well and had a thick wad of wool on her back. She and her lambs are already slated for the cull pen. So I did some more digging, where did this come from? I'll post this, have to switch to my cell phone to post more pictures.
 
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Baymule

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We bought a Dorper ram, in summer of 2016, from the same lady we bought our first 4 ewes from. I was very excited over him.

This is the picture she sent me of him.

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This is him in our trailer, bringing him home.

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NOW I see the high shoulder, the swayback dip and the hump back. Hard to see under the woolly layer, but it was there. I didn’t see it, in my ignorance I trusted the lady to choose a good ram.

In all fairness I chose mixed breed ewes to start from, I called them my learning Sheep and have I ever learned! I sure didn’t want to kill an expensive sheep out of stupidity and I have lost some along the way. My initial object was to have lambs for slaughter. As I have evolved and learned, I discovered I wanted a better flock of sheep. At first I wanted Dorpers, I slowly decided I wanted Katahdins for a variety of reasons. The Dorper ram I had was mean, it sealed his doom and he took a one way ride to freezer camp. I kept his son solely for the purpose of another lambing, then he too went to freezer camp. I had my eye on the ram of my dreams.

The moment @Mike CHS said he was going to change rams, I claimed Ringo. Mike and Teresa were satisfied that he would have a good home with us and the rest is history.

Now the moment of truth. What a difference! Look at the top line, straight, long and overall a beautiful example of what quality looks like.
Ringo is a beautiful ram with a personality to match.


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So now my attention turns to my ewes. I have some good, some not so good and a couple of just plain lousy ewes. The culling process will be hard, these are my pets, but if I ever want a good commercial flock, I have to keep my eye on the prize. As I take away from the flock, I want to add a few quality registered ewes. I have a much better idea of what I want and what to look for, enriched by the lumps and bumps along the way.
 
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