This is our ram, Dustin…

He is not the ram we intended to get. Sissy had lined up a pedigree ram from half a state away. But plans for transport fell through and it just didn’t happen. We were already late in beginning breeding season after a quick, desperate search we settled on this guy. Yeah, he is cute, but he is stunted. We wormed him and tried to feed him up, but he hasn’t grown. What’s worse is he has not been doing his job. We should be seeing lambs by now and the girls aren’t even bred. In the months since we got him I haven’t observed any rutting behavior or mounting on his part. Dustin, or Dudley as I have been calling him, has been a complete dud.

It is late in the season, but the girls are still cycling. So today the girls got to meet Spaulding.

He is on loan from friends. When Mary and Robert dropped him off this morning the girls were outside. While he was still in the barn, before he even saw a single ewe, he started stomping his foot and sniffing the air. We let him out to pasture and within minutes he was sniffing butts and showing his masculine interest. The girls were definitely interested in him. Spaulding is a fully mature 3 year old male. He is a smaller breed than we prefer to use, but at this point, any functional sheep penis will do. We need lambs to sell or we are out of business.

With the introduction of Spauldin I believe the girls will all start cycling within the next week or two. We won’t have lambs until May, but it beats having no lambs at all and having to sell the herd. It will be interesting to see what these lambs look like. We may not keep any of them. Our girls are a mixed lot, strong on Tunis, combined with other larger breeds. Sissy doesn’t really want this smaller breed in the blood line, but I say wait and see what we get.

In the mean time Dudley, the Dud, Do-Nothing has been a real disappointment. When a ewe doesn’t breed it sucks, but we are only down one or two lambs. When a ram doesn’t breed it hurts the entire herd and the future of the farm. Extra special thanks to Mary for the loan of a sperm machine!