Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

We have had almost nonstop rain for the last three days and even though we have our handling area under shelter out of the weather, I still don't like dealing with the sheep in the mud. Today was nice enough that the chute is dry so we will sort the sheep tomorrow and then take them to where Oshi will be to start the breeding season. Oshi and I have a good routine but we shall see how he behaves when he has 30 ewes around who have been flaunting themselves ever since he got here. He has kept a respectful distance but I make it a point to have a broken step-in post in my hands when I'm in with him which his nose has been on the receiving end of that post a few times.

 

[Baymule]

Whack A Mole!!!!
Oshi finally gets to have some fun!

 

[Mike CHS]

I know it isn't for everyone but we have been regularly watching episodes of the series "The Others" from Angel Studios. We wound up buying the DVD;s since we have watched most of the episodes more than once and you keep seeing things you missed before.

 

[Mike CHS]

We brought the sheep in and separated the 8 keeper lambs and Pete the wether, then took the ewes out to introduce them to Oshi. He joined them on some lush grass but started taking care of business right away. Pete is six years old so I'm planning on making another wether lamb next season. Pete has made it so easy to handle new lambs that he has a place here for his life so hopefully he can train the next wether as well as he trains lambs.

 

[Ridgetop]

Was Pete a bottle lamb?

 

[Mike CHS]

Was Pete a bottle lamb?

No he wasn't but all of our sheep act like they were. The only reason we didn't market him was that he was a slow grower and at two months old he was a runt at a time prices were way down so we decided to keep him for meat. Instead he learned how to make himself useful and because of that, a whole lot more valuable than meat. He stays around 200 pounds now so no longer a runt.

 

[Mike CHS]

We don't handle our lambs much until they are weaned. The exception to this bunch was the daughter of Pepper because Pepper was one of the ewes I have been bringing in for extra feed and her daughter decided early on that something good must be happening inside that door and she started coming in also. When I'm hand feeding lambs, I hold the bowl of feed in my hands so they have to get past any skittishness if they want the food.

The other 7 haven't been handled much except for getting small pieces of Animal Crackers so by the time they are weaned, they have lost most of any fear they might have had earlier. They were calling their moms a lot for a couple of hours after we separated them but our routine for further taming lambs is to use their searching for mom by replacing her. I go down many times during the days and give them a small amount of feed and then break up a bunch of crackers. It doesn't take but a few times so every time I start the Ranger to go to them, they come running with no hesitation. Usually by the second day, they are completely tolerant of my hands touching them.

 

[Mike CHS]

I think I have posted more in the last few days than I have in the last month.

We have our first set of twins out of Oshi and a ewe that came from the farm of Dr. Boyd who is no longer with us. He spent years developing his sheep for all of those points we all strive for. Tavalin Farm (we got Oshi) had bought all of the Dr. Boyd ewes and we picked her up when we got the ram. Her confirmation was the perfect lines to join with Oshi's. She had been with a ram so on the assumption that she was already with lamb, we just left her with Oshi. After doing the math from the time we got her and the fact that she didn't lamb when we thought she would, it became obvious that Oshi was the sire.

Wendy has about a 2" thick coat and she is still wearing about half of it.

 

[Baymule]

Oahu’s first babies on your farm! Congratulations!

 

[Mike CHS]

I give the lambs some grain when I am down feeding the dogs and it's pretty routine. This afternoon, several of the lambs came in the door where Mel and Maisy were eating and they were looking for a cracker. I'm not sure why but one of the lambs got right in front of Maisy and did the foot stamp thing. Maisy doesn't take sheep dominance attempts lightly and came out growling but no teeth, Teeth or no teeth, the lamb got the idea.