Lambs have arrived :)

[Occam]

Got home today, had dinner with the family, and was about to settle into a relaxing evening. Fed the dogs and went to put the sheep in the barn as I do every night and there were only two waiting at the gate instead of the three ewes we have. Hmmmm...

Put the two that were waiting up and took a walk to find the third. Back in a sheltered area of the paddock I found Winter with her two youngsters with tails happily wagging and heads tucked under to get something for their bellies. Gave them a private suite in the barn for tonight

[The15thMember]

YES!  They are so beautiful!

[Terri Yaki]

Nice! When I had sheep, they lambed around Christmas time, what's this all about?

[Occam]

Nice! When I had sheep, they lambed around Christmas time, what's this all about?

I just started with sheep a year and a half ago. Bought this ewe, another, and a ram then. The ewes weren't bred when we bought them that November but they were open and were vred within a few days. They each had a lamb Easter weekend last year. I noticed mating behavior in early/mid October last year which stopped by November. I was expecting them starting next week, but not knowing the mating date very precisely I figured anytime from this weekend to end of the month.

[The15thMember]

My sister, who loves all things ruminants, would like to know what breed they are, and, if they are wool sheep, do you shear yourself?

[Occam]

These are Shetland Sheep. They're a smallish,  dual purpose breed for wool or meat. They have a dual layer coat that does need to be shorn every year.

I have done it myself thus far. First time was rather difficult not having a good set up, but just before slaughter of my two rams I sheared them and it went easier. It helped that I built a stand to do it on that restrained them, and they didn't really give a hard time.

As for meat it's very good in my opinion, tender and without the dreaded "mutton" flavor that many people think of when talking about sheep. This from both an almost 2 year old ram and a 10 month old ram lamb. Very good flavor. The lamb was 67lbs live weight, the ram was about 110lbs.

[Occam]

A few pictures of Winter and the land as well as a picture of Autumn (black faced ewe with reddish brown coat, with her daughter Cocoa)

[The15thMember]

Oh cool, that's actually a breed she is thinking about getting if we get some more land!  They are very similar in size to our kinder goats.  What kind of shearing tool do you use?   

[Occam]

I bought a couple different clippers on Amazon. I bought a set of Beetro shears, they work pretty well. Also bought a double bow shear. Also works well but I mostly use it for tidying up at the end

[Occam]

Well, this morning dawned beautifully and to new lambs in the barn. Autumn had given birth to twin ewe lambs. Both still wet when I found her, but both up and about feeding well getting their colostrum. Names haven't yet been debated or decided upon.

[Terri Yaki]

Ours were born around Christmas and we kept them in the barn until it got warm. It was entertaining to watch them buck around, enjoying their new found freedom in the pasture.

[animal]

my wife never lets me name things .. they look like a Gyro and Kebab to me   

[Ben Framed]

my wife never lets me name things .. they look like a Gyro and Kebab to me   

[The15thMember]

Well, this morning dawned beautifully and to new lambs in the barn. Autumn had given birth to twin ewe lambs. Both still wet when I found her, but both up and about feeding well getting their colostrum. Names haven't yet been debated or decided upon.

Oh my word!  That one with the facial marking is particularly beautiful!

my wife never lets me name things .. they look like a Gyro and Kebab to me   

On our farm meat animals are people too.  Just because their lives are short doesn't mean they aren't treated with the same love and care as the animals we keep or sell.  So meat animals on our farm get just as good of names as the sell animals.  We do save the best names for the keeper animals though.     

[Terri Yaki]

On our farm meat animals are people too.  Just because their lives are short doesn't mean they aren't treated with the same love and care as the animals we keep or sell.  So meat animals on our farm get just as good of names as the sell animals.  We do save the best names for the keeper animals though.     

That's the way I was with my pigs and lambs when I had them. It always hurt on the day I took them away though. There was, and still is, no way I could process them myself.

[The15thMember]

It always hurt on the day I took them away though. There was, and still is, no way I could process them myself.

Sometimes it is sad, and especially the first time we processed a goat it was really hard.  But that's okay, and it got easier as we got more confident in the butchering process.  And personally, to me it feels so good to eat meat that I know was raised and slaughtered with care and dignity.   

[Terri Yaki]

Sometimes it is sad, and especially the first time we processed a goat it was really hard.  But that's okay, and it got easier as we got more confident in the butchering process.  And personally, to me it feels so good to eat meat that I know was raised and slaughtered with care and dignity.   

There is no doubt that they have it better than they would through a commercial processing system. And I am not a tin foil hat guy but I am starting to feel like my foods off the grocery shelves might be worse for me than previously thought. When I was raising lambs, I pretty much domesticated them. I invested a good bit of time taming them down. Sheep are about the most skittish of farm animals and I felt like the constant flow of their version of adrenalin through their veins would make their meat more gamy. I have no science to back that up but I had no trouble selling what I didn't use for myself. And to this day, it was the most mild lamb I've eaten.

[animal]

On our farm meat animals are people too. 

That's actually a little disturbing on a couple of levels, and apparently we define love differently. Only human animals are people, and some of them I have doubts about. I'll just say that I agree quite a lot with Thomas Aquinas when it comes to animals and their treatment rather than get into the philosophy itself.
Mostly I was just joking, but some say that I'm bad at naming things. When I was a kid, I had a dog named Dog. I also had a cat named Booger because of her looks(and a black cat named Smut). Another cat was named OP. Everyone thought his name was Opie, but it was really because I had rescued the little beggar from traffic on an overpass bridge. So his full name was OverPass, and just used his initials. Another cat was named Chow because he acted like a chow hound when first gotten and he had a touch of Siamese as well as other breeds(so chow yoke seemed to fit his stir-fried lineage). Anyway, none of the names I suggested for the kids were acceptable to the wife, so she named them. The kids were later glad of that.

Maybe a genetic component too ... My dad's last bull was named Sir Loin but the cows didn't really have names, they were just serfs of the turf.   

[The15thMember]

Sheep are about the most skittish of farm animals and I felt like the constant flow of their version of adrenalin through their veins would make their meat more gamy. I have no science to back that up but I had no trouble selling what I didn't use for myself. And to this day, it was the most mild lamb I've eaten.

I don't know about the constant adrenaline, but that is definitely true for an animal you are about to butcher.  It's the main reason (other than just ethics) that you never want to chase an animal before it's killed, because the adrenaline will impart its flavor to the meat, and to a western palate at least, that's not a flavor you want. 

That's actually a little disturbing on a couple of levels, and apparently we define love differently. Only human animals are people, and some of them I have doubts about. I'll just say that I agree quite a lot with Thomas Aquinas when it comes to animals and their treatment rather than get into the philosophy itself.   

I tend to use the word "people" like John Muir did, to refer to anything alive.  Muir referred to animals, plants, and humans as "people", and species of animals and plants, along with different civilizations or tribes, as "peoples".  I have been known to refer to even beneficial bacteria as "guys".    It's a little romantic in phraseology, I'm willing to admit, but I always find Muir's writing inspiring, and it's something I picked up from him.  I love animals and nature and always have, and I like how the language reminds me that animals (and plants, fungi, etc.) are all individuals engaged in their own private important ecological business, sort of like humans in society (ideally, anyway).  But my point wasn't that animals and humans are identical and equal, only that our meat animals are treated identically and equally to our other animals and get no less attention or care, either physically or emotionally.  That being said, it's mostly the goats I'm referring to on our farm.  We don't name our meat rabbits, except our breeders.  Since we can't really tell them apart and their time to maturity is so short, it's not really possible to form a relationship with them as individuals. 

My dad's last bull was named Sir Loin but the cows didn't really have names, they were just serfs of the turf.   

 
Hahaha!  That's the best name for bull I've ever heard!       

[animal]

An alternate name for the bull was Sir Loins, since that was a more direct description of his importance, but old dad decided the singular form was the better pun ? and more polite due to the bull's utility being slightly obscured in the name (and because his wife objected to the "s" ... the wife has governing authority over all things that don't matter, after all. I've heard this is sexist, but I'm pretty sure it was a woman that said so ... So maybe women in general are right concerning things that don't matter. What matters is that it's kinda fun to irritate the female creatures with circular reasoning.). 
Muir ... sorry, not a fan. not much utility in his views. Don't freak though, mostly I said that as a pun... First rule of life is to always go for the pun ... or the fart joke ... or the pun that smells like a fart joke, etc ... but being that I saw that statement as a pun, well, you get it I'm sure   
 I tend to stubbornly use creature to refer to any living person or animate thing (including mythological and spiritual beings). I suppose that makes me prejudiced against plants and fungi, but haven't heard any complaints from them. Supposedly an archaic form, but nowadays if someone were to call me archaic, I'd take it as a compliment. 

Anyway, those are fine looking little lambs !