A Growing Flock

 My children are always asking me what is your favorite animal? And it’s funny how easily I fall in love with a new animal when we add it to our little backyard farm. So right now high on my list is sheep. 

And our flock is growing. Obviously you’ve all met Ivy,  but here she is again because she’s too cute to write about without sharing a photograph. And now she has her sweater off.  She loves going outside to play... check out this little clip of her excitement that the door is open. Happy Bouncy Ivy Video

And last weekend we went to a farm in Milton Township, Maine and picked out two new sheep at EB’s farm.  Here is their Facebook page.

One Southdown ram lamb who will be the father of next year‘s lambs and one Hampshire market lamb. That little guy was a bottle fed lamb and is super friendly.

Meet Boston the Hampshire wether.  A wether is a male sheep that has been castrated.  They are considered better meat this way and therefore preferred for a market lamb. They are easier to manage at home and for showing at the fair.

Meet Lambert the Southdown ram.  We have his “papers” for being a purebred Southdown and of no relation to our females.  This will allow us to sell their purebred Southdown offspring... In case any of you readers have been motivated to start your own homestead.

He is one of the most handsome rams!  He will be ready to breed this fall.

Both of these little guys have already been weaned from their mother’s milk.  They have their own space in the barn to protect their health and our ewes and lamb.  They will be sharing the outside paddock until this Spring and we’ll separate them before Lambert gets big enough to be ready to breed. We will reintroduce them in September.

The other adjustment we’ve made is moving the Dolly Mama and Ivy out of the lambing pen.  We replaced the dividing fence with a Creap.  Think of this as a lamb’s playpen.  It’s a safe warm space for her to get away from the ewes, and they can’t follow her, but she can come and go as she pleases.

When the Spring flowers bloom, I will have some fun taking Ivy’s pictures.  She will be filling in more and looking beautiful.  Come again soon... the sap has been dripping from our maple trees so we’ll have a maple syrup post coming up soon.