Sheepy Surprises

Last year our Navajo Churros both lambed in March. I was thinking they were going to keep the same cycle as last year but it turns out they bred a month earlier than last year. Last night I was greeted at feeding time by an addition of a tiny baa. One of the NC had lambed yesterday during the wettest, coldest, windiest day we've had in months because that's just what sheep do. It looked like one big healthy lamb. We're very glad with the Navajo Churro sheepies as they have a tendency to lamb on their own without needing assistance and have big healthy animals. I'll go back out there tonight to see how it is doing but Jed said that it was fine this morning. We'll keep an eye out for the Darth sheepy to see when she will lamb. It makes me wonder if all the animals will birth around the same time. We'll keep you all posted with new animal updates.

Intro for our ram - Casanunda

We've been thinking about breeding our sheep for a while since we like the thought of mutton and the wool is awesome (even though Ivan hasn't given me enough time to actually start processing it). Well, I found a 4 month old Shetland ram on craigslist for a very reasonable price so I went to go pick him up. The thing is... he's Shetland which is one of the smallest breeds. Mind you they are endangered and they are a heritage breed so we thought it was a win for us to help the species on a bit. Well, when I brought him home my first thought was... I'm going to need a step ladder for him. Really, he is that short. About 1/2 the height of the other sheep, granted that he is not full grown yet but if he does not put on few inches the other sheep will have to start laying down to breed. On the plus side he has a calm demeanor nice wool and cool black curly horns. Due to his short stature and his adoring affection he showers on the sheep we decided to call him Casanunda, after the dwarf character from Pratchett. If you are a disc world fan you will understand. So with any luck (and perhaps a step ladder) we will have some baby lambs running around the farm in the near future.

New Churros! - not cinnamon

So Rosie math kind of struck again, but Jed was there so I blame him. Jim ended up bringing three sheep over for us to choose from, so it was really his fault. In the end I ended up with two Navajo-Churro sheep running around the back yard and we're going to need to sheer them soon. Anyone up for helping us sheer?

Navajo-Churro Baby!!

Jed and I have been looking for Navajo-churro sheep for a while. They were the original sheep brought over to the Americas by the Spanish. And finally I found some on craigslist. I just got a call this morning and we're going to see about getting a sheep for our little farm! We'll see if we can rent a ram so that the Tunis sheep can also take and then we'll have baby sheep on the way for our farm. Yahoo!!!

Macaroon, Macaroon, Maca-macaaarooon

You know how Jed says that I have mad scrounging skills? Well, not too long ago I picked up another 5 gallon glass carboy on craigslist and other beer making supplies and also.... I found some livestock. =)

I saw a post for rescue piggies and sheep. I responded thinking that these would be totally awesome for manure. I was contacted a few days later by the poster who said that she would pass on the information to the rescue shelter. A few weeks after that I got a call from the lady in charge of the piggies and sheepies and let me know that the sheep and a piggy was available. I had previously been told that they might have found a home for the sheepies as well so I didn't actually know what we would end up with. I spent a week making homes for all of them and then called back to let them know that I was ready. I was going to drive half-way to pick them up and then put them in the back of the van. (You can hear Jed cringing at this part.) Well, they ended up calling me back and said that they would just drive them down and as the animals had been with them for so long they were going to waive the adopion fee. Score!!

So last week we ended up having two hair sheep (still need to find out what types they are) a female pot belly pig and a castrated hampshire pig. They arrived a little irritated and nervous but the sheep started eating as soon as we got them in with the goats and the piggies calmed down with food and water. So now we have those additions to our farm/ranch. The sheep are called Lavern and Sherlie (one's light colored and the other is dark colored), the potbelly is named Macaroon and the hamp is called Oreo. =) The piggies love watermelon and are very friendly. We're still working on the sheep.