A Ram and His Harness

We weren't seeing Gunpowder doing his job as much as we expected.  We were a bit worried.  He's a young guy, only six months old, and quite obviously has not fathered any lambs yet. (A ram lamb can get the job done at about five months of age, in case you are wondering.) To have some reassurance, we ordered a breeding harness. (I'm not going to explain how a breeding harness works.  Look at the picture and use your imagination.)

Czadas thinks Gunpowder looks quite handsome.

Gunpowder has been wearing his harness for three days, and three of the ewes have been marked.  We hope he's doing his job and not just pushing them away from food when he's marking them.  (He does like his food.)

I think he's smiling.

 He's definitely interested in the ewes, but sometimes he seems a bit nervous.  They're older ladies, after all, and most of them are bigger than he is.

Checking out Sandy, a much older lady.

The other benefit of a breeding harness...We should have accurate due dates. Or we'll know who was between Gunpowder and his hay on any given day.

Elvira has fashioned her own harness from hay.

I've had some questions about why Gunpowder isn't wearing a coat.  The short answer: we didn't want to put on and take off a coat on an animal with horns!  The side benefit is that we can easily tell where he is and what he's up to, even from inside the house. 

It's easy to play "Where's Gunpowder?"