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Post by oliverman on Feb 13, 2016 23:57:42 GMT -5
A watched pot never boils. The first ewes are due Monday, so any day there could be new arrivals. Here is a picture of one that is still a couple weeks away, but looks like she could explode at any moment.
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Post by oliverman on Feb 14, 2016 0:01:51 GMT -5
Here are a few others. The white one in the middle is a surprise lamb that was born in early December. In future, male lambs get castrated, or separated from the females BEFORE reaching 4 months of age.
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Post by oliverman on Feb 14, 2016 0:19:32 GMT -5
And here are a few of the ladies that were born in May and June enjoying a bit of early February sunshine. I will put up some pictures of new lambs once they arrive. There are 19 ewes to have lambs by the end of the month, so there will hopefully be somewhere between 35 and 40 lambs in all this month.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 14, 2016 0:25:21 GMT -5
Are the lambs a cash crop or will these new babies be for building the flock? Your animals always look so clean and well tended.
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Post by oliverman on Feb 14, 2016 0:47:06 GMT -5
The lambs are a cash crop, but we are keeping most of the females to build the flock. Our goal is to have over 100 ewes by the end of next year. Once we get up to an ideal number, we would switch to keeping the best 20% of the ewe lambs. A clean and well tended sheep is a productive sheep. It helps to have plenty of cornstalks available to bale for bedding, so it doesn't cost much to keep a dry bed for them. FWIW, they don't smell very clean if you have to wrestle them for veterinary procedures.
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Post by restless on Feb 14, 2016 6:28:59 GMT -5
Great photos! Nothing cuter than a lamb.
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Post by lisaann on Feb 14, 2016 7:51:56 GMT -5
Lambs coming here too.
It was front page news in our local paper the other day.
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Post by OregonRed on Feb 14, 2016 10:50:28 GMT -5
restless , were you here last year when he posted the babies? 1 was wearing diapers in the house!
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Post by desertwoman on Feb 15, 2016 10:56:49 GMT -5
Seems like just last month when OM was posting pics of those babies. Can't believe a year has gone by!
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Post by lilolpeapicker on Feb 15, 2016 12:12:05 GMT -5
Can't wait to see the cuties.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 15, 2016 12:43:58 GMT -5
Oliver, do you also shear the sheep and sell the fleece?
Besides the lambs, I believe you also have dairy cattle? How many in your herd?
I'm trying to just grasp the time and effort of caring for so many animals. Isn't it overwhelming sometimes?
I do love seeing the photos of the sheep though, and I remember photos from last year or the year before of the little new arrivals.
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Post by Mumsey on Feb 15, 2016 19:27:58 GMT -5
oliverman You have well trained sheep! Very photogenic!
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Post by oliverman on Feb 16, 2016 7:53:50 GMT -5
desertwoman, it doesn't seem like a year, because it hasn't been. Sheep have a 5 month gestation period, so lambs can be had more than once per year. If lambs are weaned at 2-3 months of age, ewes can be bred again at that time. This allows for lambs every 8 months. It does take a high quality, high energy feed year round to maintain this level of production. Lambing just once a year allows for using more roughages like corn stubble and rough pasture. SpringRain🕊️, these are hair sheep, so they shed their coats naturally. The fiber is of no value, but wool is hardly worth more than the cost of hiring a shearer. Unless there is a dramatic change in wool prices sheep that require shearing is of no economic advantage, but an extra chore is involved. Yes, we do also have cattle. They are the dual purpose type. We milk a few for personal use, but most are managed like beef cows. The dairy infrastructure is basically gone from this area of the state. Other than building a large confinement dairy, there is little chance of getting a truck to come this far to pick up milk to go to a processing plant. There are about 65 cows, plus about 20 heifers that were born last year and 25 or so calves under 6 months old. Sometimes it does seem like all I do is take care of the animals, especially in the winter when they need to be fed, and cleaned up after by us. Mom and my two sisters in high school do most of the basic everyday chores. I am the one responsible for the tractor work to keep things fed and haul manure out. It is much less labor intensive during the growing season, since they spread the manure and harvest their feed themselves. That leaves time to tend the crops and store up hay for the winter. Mumsey, I don't think it is so much a matter of training. More the fact that they recognize me as the guy with a feed bucket. They are always looking to see if I am bringing them more grain. They get all the hay they can eat, with a rationed amount of grain prior to lambing and until the lambs are weaned. In there opinion, I am shorting them on grain.
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Post by SpringRain🕊️ on Feb 16, 2016 21:22:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the explanation. It's really interesting to learn about real life farming.
I had never ever heard of hair sheep before - I always thought all sheep grew thick winter coats that were sheared at the beginning of summer.
This is really fascinating.
My father grew up on a farm but their crops were all grain. One of his close friends had livestock (cattle, I think) and planted crops as well - I don't remember what specifically.
I do recall that every time they wanted to visit friends or go on vacation, they had to find someone to take care of their animals. I always thought that must be challenging, as presumably another farmer with experience with livestock would need to be the substitute farmer temporarily, adding to his/her already existing chores.
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pagardner
Sprout
south east pa zone 6
Posts: 15
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Post by pagardner on Feb 17, 2016 11:23:43 GMT -5
oliverman, what breed of sheep do you have, my daughter has Katadin and Dorper. The Katadin Dorper crosses are so cute, they look like little Holstein calves. They were lambing in Jan. I think they are about finished for now.
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