You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Sheep’ category.
Breeding ewe for sale – commercial Katahdin hair sheep, 2 years old.
She was born a twin on our farm on 1/24/15. We have both the dam and sire on site. Asking $200. She had a ram lamb in January 11th that I’ll sell with her, $300 for both, or the lamb alone at $150; will castrate lamb upon request. Please contact Nicole Dodson via facebook, or text 248-336-2532, or phone 810-245-2711. Thanks for your interest.
It’s time to say goodbye to our ram and bring in some new blood, he has done an excellent job keeping our girls bred, is in great health, and ready to move onto his next home. Born in 2011. Contact me for a possible trade or price at love4acr@yahoo.com, text 248-336-2532, or call 810-245-2711.
She was born a twin on 3/27/15.
She’s looking at the camera in this picture, her dam in on the far right. Her twin has some white on her and her grandmother is all white, so she’s likely to throw some white color in her babies as well. We have both the dam and sire on site. Asking $200, please contact Nicole Dodson via facebook, or text 248-336-2532, or phone 810-245-2711. Thanks for your interest.
This all white girl staring at the camera in the middle of our flock is our matriarch, and she is sweet as pie. We have 10 sheep this year, and they’ve all come from her (not including our ram, of course) either directly, or through her daughters. I estimate her to be 8 or 9 years old, She’s been a great mother, always throwing twins, is usually the first to conceive, and has been incredibly tolerant of our kids when her lambs arrive. I hope she lives forever, because that’s how long I plan to keep her.
This little guy was still wet when I found him this morning. Mom has been in our sheep tractor with two of our other sheep clearing another section of our property out back for about a week now. We have moved mom and baby back to the barn to join the other 4 babies and their mothers.
This ewe is almost 2 years old now, born here on our farm. Her first baby was born just before her 1st birthday, a singleton. This breed often throws twins, and is sort of expected to do that to keep their place in the flock. The ewes that do not keep up that pace are generally culled or sold as pets. So when she just had that single lamb, I was thinking (economically) she should probably go, but at that time I only had one other ewe here so thought it might be wise to hold onto this one until the flock grows a little more. I’m glad I did, she gave birth to two healthy girls yesterday. And yes, that’s snow on the ground. The wind chill was 13 here when I woke up yesterday. Brrrr. We were gone from about 9 am until 10 pm last night, so I didn’t have a chance to bring the 3 of them in, make sure they’re nursing well, and check the genders. This routine is really just for fun on my part, the Katahdin breed is so hardy, they really don’t require any fuss after giving birth out in the pasture. Looks like this mama might have just earned her spot back. And this brings our count up to 9 – 1 ram, 4 ewes, and 4 ewe lambs. I’m hoping for 4 more lambs this spring if the other 2 ewes throw twins. We’re growing around here!
I have a male lamb, castrated, available for slaughter. He’s about 10 months old now, I’m guessing his live weight to be about 60 lbs, he’s been completely grass/hay fed. This is a hair breed, so the meat tends to be of a milder taste than the wool breeds. He’ll be slaughtered at a local USDA processing facility in North Branch where you can customize your cuts. The processing fee there will be between $50 and $60 depending on the actual hanging weight, the hanging weight is typically 50% of the live weight. My fee per pound is $5, hanging weight. If you’d like more information about this breed or pricing, please visit my older blog post under the “sheep” tab from 2012, https://pasturedblessings.wordpress.com/2012/12/27/lambs-available/
We came home this afternoon about 3 o’clock, and by 4:30 this afternoon we noticed a couple extra (tiny) heads out in the pasture that weren’t there earlier – two new ewe lambs, and finally… a white one! We haven’t had any white lambs born here in a few years, apparently our ram’s brown color tends to dominate. Both lambs are doing great after being born out on the hay pile in the pasture. We brought them in the barn to give them a couple days to get steady on their feet and let mom do some bonding without having to run off the rest of the sheep and the calf that share our pasture. Plus it gave all the kids a chance to see them up close, this ewe has always been so great about letting us get up close and personal with her babies. If all goes well, we should be getting another three sets of twins from our 3 other ewes before spring.
Our boys threw last year’s unused garden pumpkins over the fence in the fall, and had a grand old time smashing them up into messy bits with a hammer. I knew the pumpkins wouldn’t go to waste since the pig gobbled up most of the pieces. The pumpkin seeds make an excellent natural wormer too – bonus! But I guess not all of the seeds got consumed, or maybe some survived the digestive cycle, because we got pumpkin sprouts this spring! That was a fun surprise. By this time in the summer, they’re thriving, big and perky, lots of blooms. I didn’t hold out much hope for them actually growing any pumpkins, figuring they’d either get eaten or trampled by the animals. But each of them carefully pick and graze around all the leaves, never bothering the pumpkin plants. They even walk around them instead of over and through them. Apparently livestock don’t like pumpkin leaves. Good to know. Our pasture might make the ideal pumpkin patch with all the natural fertilizer (ahem, manure) out there.
Here is our little calf, enjoying the bounty of apples that never fell off the tree in the fall. 
Our animals all fared pretty well during the ice storm. However, the damage left by the storm was quite a sight to see, we’re still looking at it a month later, in fact. Our yard and pasture are littered with tree branches that couldn’t hold up to the weight of the ice. The ice made a beautiful backdrop for pictures though!
Pastured Blessings 
