Ram Woes

On Saturday, Cypress moved back into the ram section of the barn.  As expected, a lot of fighting ensued.  It seemed more of the playful sort of fighting.

"Why not me?" Clove

Meanwhile, Oregano moved in with his ewes.  He chased all the ewes indiscriminately for a while.

Not the way to impress the ladies.

Pawlonia tries to avoid Oregano by staying near me.

All the other ewes were nosy....And maybe feeling relieved?

Spectators: Mimosa, Elvira, and Cashew

A little later in the day, Oregano was looking very blue.  His crayon is a little soft, and in the early part of the day, the warm temperatures must have exacerbated the problems.  I guess I'll be dyeing the rest of his fleece blue.

Oregano: Spicy Smurf?

First thing on Sunday morning, my older son walked downstairs and calmly told me that Cypress was outside the barn and all the barn doors were closed.  Sure enough, I looked out the kitchen window and saw him walking back and forth, baaing.  We knew we locked him up with everyone else the previous night, so we're not sure what happened.  My guess is that the rams were fighting, knocked the latch on the door loose, and Cypress ended up going through a slight opening in the door.

"I had nothing to do with it." Yeti

A Frightful Halloween (& A Regularly Scheduled Blog Post)

 When I went out to the barn this morning, found Sassy and Marble (ewes) in with the wethers and rams.  Then I noticed that Yeti, Peat, Spruce (wethers), and Oregano (ram) were missing.  I easily found them--with the not-being-bred-right-now ewes, including Henrietta (didn't I just say I wanted to keep her away from the rams!?!?!) and the ewe lambs (a.k.a. Oregano's sisters).  The gate between the two sections was closed, and none of the dividers were knocked down.  What happened is a bit of a mystery.

Marble, Yeti, and Peat were easy enough to move.  More than a little freaked out and ready to go back "home," they all walked through the gate with minimal help from me.  I caught Sassy, but Clove (ram) didn't want to let her go and he ripped my shirt with his horn.  One of my helpers grabbed him so he couldn't do any more damage.

Taking a ram away from ewes during breeding season?  Not fun. I wouldn't have attempted it this morning with a larger or more ill-tempered ram.  I went into the ewe section to catch Oregano.  Oregano came near me before both of my helpers were ready.  I grabbed him and held on.  It's been much worse (Mimosa, although one of the smallest sheep gets those honors), and no one is hurt.  But we didn't want to go through it again, so Spruce (wether) is staying in with the ewes today. 

Being that it's breeding season, there will be some unplanned pregnancies. At least anyone who is expecting be due in March, along with quite a few of the others, and not in July.

Back to the regularly scheduled blog post...

The newest lambs, Parsley and Tarragon, are learning about peanuts.  Parsley is a big fan, and Tarragon, although interested, is not sure if he wants to be pushed around by the bigger ewes.

Tarragon

Parsley & Hazel waiting in the snack line.

Cinnamon is a big fan of peanuts.  She's a big fan of any kind of food.  She squeezes into the creep feeder with Parsley and Tarragon every morning but can't seem to squeeze back out.  I've also seen her trying to nurse from her mother Elsie as recently as this week!

Cinnamon's pudgy belly hanging below her sheep coat.

Compare to Vanilla, her twin sister, who is wearing the same size.

Cinnamon doesn't quite fit in with the rest of her family. Elsie's offspring are alert...Then there's Cinnamon, who's more interested in eating. 

Sassy, Elsie, Vanilla, & Cinnamon

Barack O'Llama is enjoying his last week of being seven.  He'll be eight next week! 

Breeding Season Update

The "bachelor" rams --Oregano, Coriander, and Clove-- are bonding. They're hanging out with the wethers and watching the other rams leave.  If they knew where their buddies were disappearing to, they'd be jealous.

Oregano, Coriander, & Clove

 Cypress is just on the other side of the barn.  His job is the breed about half of the ewes.  Oregano doesn't know it yet, but Cypress's half sisters will be his responsibility. I feel a little bad for him; they will be a feisty bunch! 

Mimosa is getting a new coat, pronto!

Cypress with all of his ladies.

Cypress

Quite a few of the ewes are having a "vacation" year, including Henrietta.  Hopefully, she'll stay away from the rams!

Henrietta

Yeti is used to the comings and goings during breeding season.

Yeti ignores all the drama.

The Neverending Busy Season

Busy season hasn't stopped here. 

Having lambs in July hasn't made things easy.  Hazel's lambs, Parsley and Tarragon, did great at first.  As summer (and the drought) progressed, they started to struggle.  They are doing well now, but it has taken a lot of work.  They've been grazing the backyard from time to time and getting extra food and special treatment. 

I can't find a recent picture of the lambs, so here's Tiffany.

Meanwhile, Snowball became ill.  At first it just seemed like some easily treatable parasites (a very routine issue in late summer!).  When he started to lose weight quickly, we called the vet.  She ran a lot of tests and treated him for a few things while we waited for test results.  Snowball passed away the following evening.  We knew it would be coming sometime--he was at least twenty, which is at the upper age range of llamas--but we didn't expect it so soon.

My favorite picture of Snowball.

 We've been coating the sheep continually (well, it seems that way!).  More on that later...

We decided to have some of the sheep shorn in the fall this year.  We chose the Icelandic crosses, the longer-fleeced Shetlands, and a few who trashed their fleeces during the summer.  They all should have good fleeces in the spring...unless they destroy them. (No pictures of the actual shearing.  My photographers were easily distracted.)

Beryl, with Cypress, destroyed her summer fleece.

A few of the smaller ewes--like Mimosa and Myrtle--were too small after shearing to fit into any of the sheep coats we have.  I decided to make rather than order more.  The first batch pretty much disintegrated because the fabric was not tough enough.  We put the first of the second batch on Myrtle this afternoon, and hopefully, the tougher fabric will make a difference in their longevity.  

Myrtle is speedy, despite the leg she broke as a lamb.

You know you're fabulous when your ear tag and coat match!

This weekend, we put Cypress in with his ewes.  (Oregano will go in with his in about a month.)  So far, so good. 
 

Cypress

Cypress with some ladies...but not his!

The only crayon mark so far is on Mimosa's face.  Hmm.

Henrietta and a couple of her friends will be getting sheared at the Fulton Fall Folk Festival this year.   I'll put more information on the Sleepy Acres Facebook page later in the week.

Shh, don't tell Henrietta about this weekend!

On an unrelated note...

There's been a lot going on the past two weeks, but my pictures have nothing to do with any of it.

Sequoia

Mimosa cut her eyelid off Wednesday night or very early Thursday morning of last week.  How?  I have no clue.  She didn't tear it on anything (it was not a jagged cut at all) and there was nothing sharp in her barn stall.  To make a long and dramatic story rather short and boring, the vet stitched her eyelid back.  She looks terrible, but she seems to be recovering pretty well.  She's started to open the affected eye again--I'm hoping that's good news.

Cypress is one of our two rams for this fall.

 We have decided on our rams for the fall have made a plan of sorts.   Several of the other boys are off to new homes.  Cilantro and Wasabi departed for theirs over the long weekend.  Pepper, who's been in his new home for a couple of months, is doing well. 
 

Chipotle, Bergamot, Clove, & Mace.

 Sheep coat season is approaching even faster.  I just realized I don't have a plan for that.  Hopefully, there are enough coats in the right sizes! 

Henrietta

 If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you'll remember Floppy, the hen who survived a hawk attack.  She died a natural death after a (very long) chicken life.  

Always the first to greet me: Czadas and Molly

All Ages

Looking through my pictures from today, I immediately noticed there were a lot of pictures of the older members of the Sleepy Acres gang.

There's Snowball.  (No one knows his precise age, but the vet estimated him to be around twenty.)  Here he is with the much younger Barack O'Llama.  (He'll be eight in November.)

Snowball and Barack O'Llama

Then there's Calico and Sandy, our oldest ewes.  Although much younger than Snowball, they are not spring chickens.

Calico reminds me that she does not like peanuts.

Sandy (peeking in) with Cilantro and Elvira.

Speaking of spring chickens....  Martha is one of our newest hens.  They should start laying any time now.  (Hmm, maybe that fact would encourage my egg gatherers.)

Martha, not as crazy as some of her "sisters."

Other youngsters: Parsley and Tarragon waiting for mom to finish scratching.  (They still look a lot alike in this picture, but up close their facial markings are beginning to look quite different.)

I admit...I can't tell who is who in this picture!

 And in the I-Can't-Believe-They're-All-Grown-Up Category: Peat and Myrtle.

Peat, one of the more mature guys in his pasture. Yikes!

 

Myrtle (unsuccessfully) trying to hide.

Woo Hoo

There are some very excited ewes today.  We opened the gate to the back field, which has a little more greenery than the rest of the pastures.  The drought has been very hard on our pastures!

Opal is hopeful when she sees us near the gate.

They hurried through before we changed our minds.  Henrietta is first, as always (she's one fast little sheep!).

Fast sheep: Henrietta, Molly, & Elvira

The big surprise is Sandy.  She's usually towards the end, but here is she is, out near the front.

The peloton (have I been watching too much cycling?)

In case you're wondering, Cayenne was last.  I'd add a picture, but there's only so many pictures of running sheep a person can see without getting bored.  I'll save you the boredom.

Most of the sheep were too interested in eating to look up.

Czadas gobbling up trefoil.

Tiffany is a more elegant grazer.

But Molly checked me for peanuts (nope)....

Molly always checks me for yummy snacks.

...and Cinnamon was a little suspicious of me.

Cinnamon is alert like mom Elsie.

Yeti and Spruce wanted to come along, too. 

"But that was our field!"