Sheep Chat Thread

[TwinWillowAcres]

Have you checked the breeders association?

 

[WallabyOfChaos]

I hope this is ok to post here. I am seriously thinking about adding Teeswater sheep to the farm. Is anyone selling any?

They sound pretty rare. Not sure where you are, but here is the American Teeswater Association's site:

http://www.americanteeswatersheep.com/index.html

They have an upgrading program, so it may be easier (or more economical, anyway) to find a few ewes of the breeds listed as acceptable foundation stock and then get a good Teeswater ram and "breed up."

 

[pawtraitart]

Our first lamb of the year! Of course our ewe held him in until the weather turned bad. I knew I'd find a lamb as soon as I looked out the window and saw snow.

 

[The Farm]

Our first lamb of the year! Of course our ewe held him in until the weather turned bad. I knew I'd find a lamb as soon as I looked out the window and saw snow.

I've been thinking the some thing about my goats. He sure is cute!!!

 

[chooks4life]

@pawtraitart

Very nice! Looks like a good one. At what age do you choose which if any to keep and which to cull, and what traits do you pick them by?

@CaraBY

They look interesting but could be pretty difficult to source. But I'm more into mongrels so what's not worth the bother for me could be rewarding for you. Best wishes.

Too bad the links about the fertile hybrids were deleted, it's a shame to leave the discussion in no-man's-land, lol!

 

[pawtraitart]

@pawtraitart

Very nice! Looks like a good one. At what age do you choose which if any to keep and which to cull, and what traits do you pick them by?

It depends. Babies out of certain ewes are typically keepers while others we usually put in the freezer in the Fall. We breed for conformation, size, and temperament.

 

[CaraBY]

That's interesting about the upgrading program.

 

[chooks4life]

It depends. Babies out of certain ewes are typically keepers while others we usually put in the freezer in the Fall. We breed for conformation, size, and temperament.

I know what you mean about those certain females' offspring, I've always found the same with my animals even of different species.

Now I know it's best to ask on what criteria the animal's graded by the breeder, because I've been finding out lately that many people say they breed "quality lambs", but they're not actually "quality" as per the usual usage of the term. I had previously assumed people who used that phrasing were knowledgeable about poor quality versus high quality, but when I actually asked one man on what criteria he graded a lamb as "quality" he had no answer whatsoever. He'd just declare every single lamb that was born into his flock "a quality lamb", lol. Kind of like all the people who grow and sell "organic" products that aren't organic at all. :/

 

[ChickenLover200]

Hi,
I didn't know if this thread was still going or not. We have 2 hair sheep ewes they are pretty much full grown now and we feed them Dumor Sheep feed (pellets). For the past few days they've eaten hay only and just a little bit of their feed. The rest of the feed they'll let lay.. They don't seem to be sick or anything. They should be pretty healthy. There are no poisonous plants or anything like that in their pasture. the one tried top follow me out the gate this morning... (They look at me as mom since they were taken from her as young lambs to be bottle fed, they follow me in the pasture but this is the first time one tried to follow me out the gate. could it be an attachment issue? When they go into heat they kinda act weird.. could that be the problem?
Thanks!
-Chickenlover200

 

[chooks4life]

Hard to give any sort of guess with so little info. Are they in a yard with pasture? Or do they just rely on hay and pellets?

It sounds to me like you've spotted some sign that subconsciously is setting off alarm bells in your head but you've not got the information to identify what you're seeing. In such a case I would recommend you get educated as soon as possible by reading a book or checking a site that has good descriptions of problems sheep can experience, and see if anything clicks.

Generally speaking, how are they looking? Pooping normally? Breathing normally? Not bloated? Resting, feeding, watering normally? When were they last wormed? Even the tiniest details can be symptomatic of something serious, or nothing, lol. Anyway, best wishes.