Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Baymule]

They are living in the lap of luxury! Got attached to the ram lamb........you'd choke on every bite. LOL LOL
If he looks that good, auction might give him a home where he could pass that good confirmation on.

I'm glad Missy is recovering so well. I sure doesn't take them very long to get spoiled and learn the routine.

 

[Ridgetop]

Is this Cooper's first set of lambs?

 

[Mike CHS]

Is this Cooper's first set of lambs?

This is and I am impressed with them.

 

[Ridgetop]

Wonderful that you are getting such great structure on the lambs. Too bad that you don't have a ram buyer for that little lamb with the great conformation. On the other hand, I knw where you are coming from and keeping ram lambs to maturity on the off chance that you will have a buyer for one is not in our game plan either. I console myself with the thought that if you could produce one that good, you will produce several that good before the season is over! Not to mention next year. Take a picture and post him on your website as an example of Cooper's get.

 

[Mike CHS]

We moved #109 ewe and the lamb she had yesterday into the nursery paddock. This is her first time and she had a ram lamb that is 10.3. She is skittish as normal for first timers but her lamb is surprisingly docile. I walked right up to him and he didn't react at all as I walked them where I wanted them to be.

We have decided that Little Bit's dam will get another shot at breeding next cycle since we still haven't established what is "normal" for summer breeding.. I think I already posted that Missy is letting down milk now and feeding Toby but it doesn't look like Babs is even trying to nurse so she gets all of the bottles.

I put the creep feeder out yesterday so the lamb growth will accelerate now although some of the two month olds look closer to three months old. One of the ram lambs is big enough that he ripped his ear tag out on the feeder.

 

[Baymule]

Miranda had twins September 10, none of the other ewes have lambed yet, although there are 2 that look ready to explode, 2 more that are looking like fat girls. She cycled and was bred immediately, I don't know what happened with the others. Did they not cycle? Was Ringo not interested or was he shooting blanks due to heat? It seemed that none of them were very interested. But the fatties I have now were obviously bred in August. I witnessed Ringo breeding Ewenique 7-22-21, she should have already lambed, is looking close, but not there yet. 7-30-21 I have him down as romancing Lucy, didn't witness breeding, I have her down for lambing 12-23-21 and she looks ready to explode.

A major buyer at the auction told us to have lambs ready to go in January. I set Ringo and the girls up for success, but they obviously did not read the memo.

I can tell you that December also seems to be a good month to take sheep to auction. A 3 month old ram lamb brought $180 last Saturday. That's $70 more than I got for lambs in May. The last batch we took in May had a solid black except for a white tip on his tail, ram lamb and he brought $150, color does matter. LOL

There were not as many sheep or goats at last Saturday's sale. So maybe if it is the same in your part of the country, you could get an earlier start and have weaned lambs ready in December.

The young ewes Ringo is with now amuse me. They run from him. It's like they are saying "EEEEEWWWWW that DIRTY OLD MAN is after me again! I've witnessed a few breedings, so he is catching some of them. LOL LOL

 

[Mike CHS]

We are supposed to have some heavy storms come through tonight so we have everything put away outside. The ewes and their lambs are all in the paddock that has the shop shelter area on the back. There are two areas there, both 12x32 under the roof with Missy and her two lambs inside the gate and the rest have the shelter area outside but under roof. I had been putting some feed out for the sheep outside the gate but after almost getting knocked over this afternoon, I moved all of the troughs inside the gate so that I can put the feed out and then let them in to eat. They have zero fear of me to the point that they will come in between my legs to get to the feed and since most of them weigh more than I do, I decided it was probably a wise move to get me out of harms way.

 

[Baymule]

Not getting trampled by sheep is a good idea. I will be giving that some serious thought in the near future.

My sheep barn poles are oil field drill stem pipe. I went in the barn to feed sheep one evening and got mobbed. One ewe reared up, stuck her head in the bucket, spilled feed and they all got in on the act. All the ewes were trying to get the bucket, which I clutched like my life depended on it. Why I didn't just let 'em have the stupid bucket, I don't know.

With the other arm and hand, I clutched the pipe barn pole for dear life. The sheep swept my feet out from under me. To keep from going down, hung on to that pole like my arm was glued to it. I was sitting on a ewe's back, still clutching the bucket like a dummy. I finally let them have the bucket and grabbed the pole with both hands to pull myself up. I was thinking, Pole dancing with sheep! Where's the video camera when you need it?

 

[farmerjan]

Try getting mobbed by 10 - 20 full grown head of cattle.... they can even get my son pushed around...6-6 240lbs... that is why I prefer to put feed in troughs then open gates for them. With the knees working better it won't be so bad but I am not going to get myself in where I can get shoved over and hurt.

 

[Baymule]

When I find my HOME, I will set things up with an alley for me to walk through and not get beat up.