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

[Bridgemoof]

That's exciting Sheepgirl! So I take it Ali and Ciqala aren't related, right? That sounds like a good plan. It's fun to be able to improve your flock. I really don't want to take my ram lamb Mac to market because he turned out so good! I think I'll hang on to him and breed him to a few different sheep. Let me ask you this. Dipsy was Mac's daddy. LaLa is Dipsy's sister. Can I safely breed Mac to Lala? Or is nephew to aunt to close?

Good luck with the shed!

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Dipsy was Mac's daddy. LaLa is Dipsy's sister. Can I safely breed Mac to Lala? Or is nephew to aunt to close?

imo yes. I will not and do not agree with people when they breed within three generations. But that's just me.

 

[Bridgemoof]

Thanks Straw for your humble opinion

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

Thanks Straw for your humble opinion

Oh you're welcome Bridge. Anything for you. lol

But like I said, that is me. Alot of people, I'm sure, do not agree and are fine with that kind of thing.

 

[SheepGirl]

That's exciting Sheepgirl! So I take it Ali and Ciqala aren't related, right? That sounds like a good plan. It's fun to be able to improve your flock. I really don't want to take my ram lamb Mac to market because he turned out so good! I think I'll hang on to him and breed him to a few different sheep. Let me ask you this. Dipsy was Mac's daddy. LaLa is Dipsy's sister. Can I safely breed Mac to Lala? Or is nephew to aunt to close?

Good luck with the shed!

Actually, Ali is Ciqala's daughter. So I will be inbreeding/linebreeding, depending on who's son I use (if I use Ali's it will be grandson x granddam or if I use Ciqala's it will be half brother x half sister). I think it will help homogenize the good traits. ETA: I think if I do the half sibling breeding it will concentrate more on Ciqala's genetics, which is more of what I want lol--I like her traits better than Ali's! haha

And I have bred son x dam, half brother x half sister, and twins to each other before. Of course on accident, thanks to Billy. 5 of the 8 lambs were either stillborn or died at 1 day old. I think it was more of a nutritional deficiency moreso than anything else because their symptoms matched up with a selenium deficiency or polio. Or it could've been something genetic with those same symptoms. But I think you will be safe.

TBH, I'm thinking KP & LG are actually Ali's babies because they just look so much like her, rather than Ciqala's. My neighbor told me he watched 44 lamb and then I moved her & the lambs in a pen, and then I went down to the barn a couple hours later and there were 2 more lambs in there. So maybe he confused my two ewes? He was almost 80 and I know he was in a rush because he had my mom come and pick me up from school to come take care of them lol and maybe he forgot to wear his glasses lol... And that would explain why she 'randomly' came into milk (though she didn't come into milk until about a week after she lambed) but if they are Ali's babies, that means they are the result of a twin sibling breeding. And they turned out fine. For the most part LOL...I could've done without KP's mouth!

 

[SheepGirl]

Found a baby picture of Ciqala! This is when we first caught her and penned her up for me to get tame. She was a wild little thing and that ewe lamb penned with her broke her leg. She ended up being sent to market and then she has a ram lamb as a companion and then a wether lamb. She eventually was turned out to pasture with the other 2006 ewe lambs, once she was friendly enough. In this picture, she is no more than 4 mo old. I think she's more around 3 mo though. She grew pretty fast for a 1/2 Babydoll lamb! Of course she is also 1/2 Montadale lol

 

[SheepGirl]

I had a calendar made with my sheep photographs I took throughout the year last year and it came in the mail today and it looks GREAT!

 

[SheepGirl]

Okay, I have a day off today and so I spent like 1.5-2 hrs outside taking photos of my sheep. Sooo here they are!

Ciqala's starting to get a baby bump

Here's everybody

The lambs

A Texel ram and a 1/2 Montadale ewe

Next 4 pictures are of eyelids.... in order left to right it's Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Ali, and Hank. I couldn't catch Ciqala so no pics of her eyelids.


And two mouth pictures.... first one is of Hank and he is growing his 2nd 2 yr tooth and it is almost all the way in. Second one is of Ali and her terrible mouth conformation. 1, she has an overbite; 2, her teeth are off center; 3, she has a split pad. When she was a lamb, she lost one of her 2 yr teeth (don't know how she lost it) and her teeth all moved together. So that may be a reason why her teeth are off center. BUT even though her mouth conformation is considered 'bad,' she still comes out of winter every year with a BCS of 3.5 or 4, usually on just the dormant grass alone.

Hank wanted some feed....

And then I got behind him and took this picture.

Here's the ewe flock

These ladies were staring at Katy Perry beating up a cat.

This cat always rolls around when he's near me. It doesn't matter where he is: straw, snow, grass, dirt, mud, poop.

Hank chased him away after sniffing him

And here's another picture of Hank. Still underweight (but looking MUCH better than when I got him), but I'm not too worried. He's healthy & active and I also want to see how big his leg muscles are when I get him sheared before he gets too much fat on him.

I liked the way this one turned out.

I don't know if you can see this or not, but look at her teeth I may have to edit this photo on my computer and then upload it so you can see what I'm talking about.

 

[SheepGirl]

Okay, here's a cropped version of the last photo...she just kept standing there like she forgot to close her mouth! lol so I took a picture

 

[greenbean]

They're all so cute!