SheepGirl's Journal - Photos of the sheep 4/25

[Straw Hat Kikos]

The Zebras are awesome. I like the cattle, but I'm not a fan of Brahma cattle. That Brown Swiss is adorable though!! The Hogs are great as are the Alpacas. I love the goats and that Jacob x Dorset ewe is a looker!!

 

[SheepGirl]

I got a picture of my Hank the other day and I was finally able to put it side by side the picture I got of him when he first got here. In the picture it looks like they're from different spots, but if you look closely his cannon bone is the same length. Look at how plump and muscular he's gotten as I've fattened him up Which means I was right about him gaining muscle as he gains weight & I'm so proud of him! He still has more muscle/fat to gain since he's still hovering in the 2.5/5 BCS range. (I stopped feeding him grain about a month or so ago so all he's on now is average grass.) I will weigh him when I weigh the lambs next week to see how much he's gained since I last weighed him.

I'm also excited because he has Bev Pearsall Texel genetics in him, too (some people say the best texels on the east coast).

 

[autumnprairie]

the pictures

 

[SheepGirl]

The Zebras are awesome. I like the cattle, but I'm not a fan of Brahma cattle. That Brown Swiss is adorable though!! The Hogs are great as are the Alpacas. I love the goats and that Jacob x Dorset ewe is a looker!!

The zebras were pretty cool. Nobody is allowed to get within 6' of them but I was able to (and so I snapped pictures only when I was behind the fence) because I moved Reba from her day pen into the field and she has to go through the zebra's field to get to hers.

I'm not a fan of brahmas either (I think they're ugly ), but Red Bull was really muscular and so sweet & he protected us from Cody any time we went in there to open their gate in the evenings. I don't know if it's just him, or if it's the breed that's like that. But I was impressed. And the brown swiss was sooo sweet. But of course the only time she pooped or peed was when she was being milked or when she was being led back into the field with Red Bull, Samantha, and Cody in the mornings. Just more for me to clean up, lol.

I loved the baby pigs. They are actually for sale, too, $40/hd. I really want to buy the two larger gilts and the largest barrow but my mom thinks hogs are ugly so she won't let me have any I told her I would still buy one and she said if she found a pig on her property I gotta move out. I love hogs and I want to raise them, but not as long as I'm living with my parents :/

The alpacas were nice looking animals but they were complete brats. The llamas had a much better temperament & you could just walk right up to them and put a halter/lead on them to bring them into the barn. It took a half hour each morning for three of us to catch 3 alpacas. And the one black alpaca always kicked at us and her yearling daughter started doing the same thing, too.

Of course you would love the goats BTW, is that buck a kiko? I know he's not a dairy breed, but I couldn't pinpoint exactly what he was.

 

[SheepGirl]

the pictures

Thanks!

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Judging by the length of the buck's hair I'm going to say he's an older buck. He's over a year old for sure. If he's that old then he is a short Kiko. He doesn't have Kiko horns and his legs are too short. Like Nigerian short. His head looks like a Kiko head would but lots of goats have heads like that. The biggest thing that tells me he isn't Kiko is his ears. Those are Nigerian ears. I would say that if he has any Kiko in him it is crossed and he doesn't have much in him. Alot of times Kiko ears carry thru on crosses. He looks to be a bigger Nigerian or a Nigerian cross to me.

btw I like pigs too. I really want pigs but that'll never happen here. :/

As for Brahmas. I think they are ugly too.Not all though. The bulls look good sometimes but I HATE the ears and I hate how the cows look like they're crying all the time. But I do like the size and the muscle of them.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Awesome pics!!!! Thanks!!

 

[SheepGirl]

SHK - Nigerian may be it because he is smaller, but he looked too stocky to be dairy (or at least purebred dairy). So maybe he's a Nigerian x meat goat cross?

FWR - Thanks!

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Today I had a day off. I started my day going out to lunch with my old boss and co-worker from the petting farm I worked at. I had a great time and I went back to the farm and (I knew I should've brought my camera) there were SOO many baby goats (like there was 15 does that had kidded), plus the animals from their other MD location were moved there so there were a bunch more critters! And omg the pigs got sooo big! Even little Bacon!

Then I went home for about 2 hrs and then off on the road again! I went to Southern States to get more feed & I placed an order for custom tags (okay, so they weren't really custom...I just wanted a color/size/number range they didn't have in stock). Then I went to Sheepman Supply & got some feed pans, a crook, and a halter. My friend works there so I spent like forever talking to her and I got so sidetracked I forgot half the things on my list! And of course I didn't write it down, and I realized how much I forgot when I went to class. Well SS isn't open past 5 so I had to go to TSC and buy some things I didn't get at SS. (I didn't buy everything because TSC is overpriced IMO.) Basically I'm buying stuff that my neighbor gave me that's expired...which is pretty much everything. Some of the stuff is still good, so that saves me some money! lol. So I think on Saturday I will go back to Sheepman and buy the other stuff I forgot.

So that was my day

I'm half tempted to order some chickies, too. I want to get some White Rocks, White Leghorns, and Red Sex Links, but I want at least 25 of each breed...but I don't think my parents would let me order 75 chicks, even if I did promise to sell/get rid of over half of them when they are a couple weeks old. My mom already said I could (I didn't tell her how many I wanted, though!!), but I have to ask my dad first. And he didn't give me an answer yet.

 

[Southern by choice]

Hi Sheep girl!
I loved the pics. There were a lot of pics of sheep!
I thought the buck had those weird Kiko (Moses) eyes too!
Are the zebras mean? They look cool but also like you'd wanna stay away from them.

Hope you have a good weekend!

 

[BrownSheep]

Let me warn you. Chickens are such a pain in the butt. Right now I have about 80 and I am only get 3-8 eggs a day due to A) molt b) age(of some)and C) the cold. They eat sooooooooooo much feed and make such a mess. If I could I would cut down to a flock of twenty made up of my BCMs EEs and either the Redstars or Welsummers.

Turkeys on the other hand . I love my turkeys soooooo much. IMO they have much more personality than the chickens and are way more social. I have heritage and the meat birds and I love them both. I reallllly want more turkeys.