They were quite wild when we got them and did not come close. We knew we had to get them sheared, so we started coaxing them in with grain. It started working, but not without some stubborn sheep leading us around the pasture in circle!
This is the more friendly lamb. She'll be the first one to come up and see what you're going to offer. But she'll run away pretty fast when you put a hand on her head. She got a little too close for a picture here!
We got over 70 pounds of wool off of the 9 sheep. It's still sitting in our shed as we try to figure out what to do with it. Apparently, we just missed the big wool-buying time around here. That figures.
Don't those sheep look so beautiful out there in the pasture? (Now the grass is so long that it's a little hard to spot them.)
Sadly, we lost a ewe last week to an infection. It's a very contagious disease that creates swelling and abscesses in the lymph nodes (sheep and goats are most affected by it). The flock must have already been infected when we bought them. (That is one of those bad surprises.) We've had a vet out and he's OK'd the rest of the sheep, but we're still waiting to see if there are any outbreaks. It's successfully treated with antibiotics, but a vaccination has not been created yet. I'm just glad it's not a death sentence for the whole family of sheep! (That would be a very expensive lesson for us!)
Sadly, we lost a ewe last week to an infection. It's a very contagious disease that creates swelling and abscesses in the lymph nodes (sheep and goats are most affected by it). The flock must have already been infected when we bought them. (That is one of those bad surprises.) We've had a vet out and he's OK'd the rest of the sheep, but we're still waiting to see if there are any outbreaks. It's successfully treated with antibiotics, but a vaccination has not been created yet. I'm just glad it's not a death sentence for the whole family of sheep! (That would be a very expensive lesson for us!)
One of the lambs is a ram. We're trying to decided if we should sell him as a ram, or castrate him and keep him. We have him separated from the rest since his hormones seem to be affecting his behavior. We don't want any inbreeding (more than might be there already, that is)! He's got about another week of quarantine left before we feel better that he is not infected.
So that adds to our adventures of part-time ranchers; four calves and a small flock of sheep, in addition to our 15 hens and cats and dog and fish and birds.
So that adds to our adventures of part-time ranchers; four calves and a small flock of sheep, in addition to our 15 hens and cats and dog and fish and birds.
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