Spaulding and Frannie, making a lamb.
Author: farmerkeen
Trouble
At twilight the pigeons head to the haymow to roost. If the kittens are outside they watch intently. I guess Trouble thinks she can get a better view from on top of the fence post.
Great for more than one reason
I can’t swear to it, but I think Spaulding has lost a bit of weight in the 4 days he’s been here. The girls are really giving him a workout. Even at feeding times he can’t settle down to eat. He will take a mouthful of food and, while chewing it, make a tour of the barn, sniffing butts.
Obviously, the most important thing about him being here is breeding. But MY favorite thing about him is his complete lack of interest in me. Unlike our last ram, Riley “the evil, maniacal, idiotic, pain-in-the-ass, deranged, out-to-get-me attempted assassin”, Spaulding does not make daily attempts to injure, maim, or kill me. I have to say, I am really enjoying having a fully mature ram in the barn who completely ignores me.
Now that’s what I’m talking about!
See that lip curl? Spaulding is making his Elvis move on Chevelle.
GO, SPAULDING!
Look at that grin on Spaulding’s face!
Spaulding is not wasting any time. The girls aren’t either. Doing chores this morning I saw him mounting Boop several times and Marty once. He was also chasing after Fawn, Pita, Brandy, and Freckles. They wouldn’t stand for him yet, but probably have by the time I am writing this. Come May we are gonna have some babies! I can smell the testosterone in the barn. Didn’t smell that when it was just Dustin (Dudley) in the barn. The girls are happy. I am happy. Spaulding is very happy. I am recommending to Sissy that she dose him with Nutri-Drench. He is going to wear himself out!
Icy Trees
The temperature dropped so quickly Friday night and has stayed so low, the ice on the tree branches has not melted. It is so beautiful when the sun shines on the branches.
Better Late Than Never
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!
And Winter is Baaack
Last night when I got done with chores the temperature was in the upper 60s (F). It was almost too warm, and terribly humid. This morning when I headed out to the barn it was 10 degrees (F). During the night the temperatures plummeted, rain turned to freezing rain, to sleet, to snow with lots of wind. It was a nice thaw while it lasted.
The Critters are loving this weather
All the animals are loving this break from the cold snap. The sheep are happy to see the ground again, with a chance to find some forage. The chickens ventured outside today for the first time in weeks. Tiggy went outside the barn voluntarily and then hung around to be sociable instead of snuggling up in his warm bed. The kittens were in and out the open barn door all afternoon. And this human critter was able to do chores without snowpants, coat, and heavy insulated boots. I felt so liberated.
Farmer Keen 