In the pasture: still breeding …

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I am always surprised when anyone asks me about my sheep. I think about them so much and I bore inform my HusBen about them to the point that I sincerely doubt anyone wants to hear about them.  So at the prompt of a reader… I shall give an update…

I have beautiful ole Ludo the ram out with my Benita and the discount sheep, Agate.  I have worked very hard to get Benita built back up after her milking stint in the summer.  She is a dairy powerhouse and getting her fat has been a challenge.  So once a day I walk outside and make a special clicking sound that she knows…because she is by far the most intelligent sheep that has ever walked the earth… and we meet secretly by the back of the barn where I give her extra feed.  Agate is the other sheep…and I guess she follows the old adage, “You get what you pay for”.  To do the whole thing over again I would have insisted we get two from Karras Farms and not this discount sheep that we happened upon later.  Then again, because of their vast differences I have learned a lot about what I like and how I can improve.  So in the end I guess it is really a bonus.  The good news is Ludo will make wonderful babies with her.  Wont it be great? Oh geez I hope it will be great!

The next phase of breeding season is about to begin starting November first.  I have been informed by the best in the dairy business that I need to breed dairy sheep the first year…and who am I to argue?  So Rose will be “shacking up” with Flint.  At first I was going to put her to Ludo… but as Flint is a little guy and I am not planning on keeping him ,I feel like it will be better for Rose’s first lamb to be smaller boned.  Which, if you have been keeping track, adds up to three ewes to lamb in the Spring.  Agate and Benita will be prone to having more than one lamb each this spring… so we may see twins from them.  All in all there will be lambs and quite a few!

When Ludo isn’t trying to woo the ladies he is busy fighting the latch on the barn door.  He turns his whole head blue from crashing it into the metal.  It has become a twinge intimidating to move him and the flock from pasture to pasture.  I feel like moving more sheep would be easier…as the rams would have more to keep themselves occupied with.  Garden our LGD is priceless to me when moving the sheep.  Albeit she isn’t a herding dog she understands the idea of helping me and how to block an opening with her slow moving self.  Staying as close as I can to Ludo keeps him in check.  Keeping my hand on his head to scratch his ears is the best for him as it keeps him in tune to being mine and not being the boss..because  if I give him five paces then he takes that opportunity to be in charge.  If I try and encourage him with the broom or wheel barrel you can see him answer back with, “Challenge accepted.”