sheep

[Bear Foot Farm]

Bear I love your babies the black is so dark do they eventually fade out? C

There is some fading, but it often depends on how much wool they have. This ewe has a fair amount of wool, but underneath she is still black.

If I were to shear her, there's a good possibility she wouldnt grow a lot of it back. The black and white ones tend to have less wool from the beginning, so there is less color change, although sunlight does tend to bleach them a little

Ill try to get some better pics. I still have the black and white ewe lamb from the middle picture in the earlier post, and she is about a year old now​

 

[CaGoatLady]

I've got a Barbados, Mary, who I've had since she was born, so I bottle-fed her and she slept in my bedroom until she and my two Boer goat twins were big enough to go out with the big goats.
Since Mary was raised in the house, with 7 dogs, 4 of them being Border Collies, she now thinks she is a Border Collie and doesn't feel that the goats are worthy of her presence. Mary loves to have her hair brushed and have her face kissed; she also loves to follow our barn cat around. I've even got a video of Mary chasing the Border Collie puppy for his frisbee.
Mary is super smart and recognizes a large vocabulary of english.

 

[Beekissed]

Bearfoot, at the risk of repeating myself.....those are the sturdiest, best-looking lambs I've ever seen! And I'm in the middle of Suffolk country around here! That 3 mo. old is almost as big as the full-grown sheep around here! I don't know what you are feeding but it must be powerful stuff.

I drove 3 counties over to see some Dorper/Kat crosses and was not impressed with the conformation of his ewes, the size of his weanling lambs or the cleanliness of his establishment.

Wish you lived closer, I'd be beatin' down your barn door!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

I don't know what you are feeding but it must be powerful stuff.

I drove 3 counties over to see some Dorper/Kat crosses and was not impressed with the conformation of his ewes, the size of his weanling lambs or the cleanliness of his establishment.

Thank you Ma'am!

Most of the growth is mother's milk and pasture. I feed the young lambs a mix of medicated ( Decox) "goat" pellets and whole corn,
( 1 bag of pellets and 2 of corn) but once the pastures green up well, I stop that.

Genetics play a large part also. This ewe has a history of producing large, fast growing lambs:

I've even had one that reached almost 80 lbs before 90 days, but he was exceptional. The others in the picture are the same age, and more typical:

His name is "Bandit" and he now resides near Atlanta, GA making beautiful babies
This is one of his progeny:

http://www.salvandistud.com/sheep.shtml​

 

[fluffycreatures]

Hi Bear Foot Farm,

Just thought I'd remind you to check -- you probably have -- but just in case , because you didn't mention it -- If you are feeding your lambs goat feed make sure it doesn't have any copper in it! In the US they often put copper in the goat feed but sheep can't have it.

I feed both my sheep and goats the same thing -- 1/2 cup each of goat sweet mix and 1/2 cup each of 16% protein sheep pellets. The number of times a day depends on how cold it gets here.

But the sheep people got after me to check and make sure no copper in the goat feed if feeding it to sheep. You can read the label but usually it doesn't say everything so you may have to contact mfg or supplier to find out on that brand of feed.

Dianne

 

[cgjsmith]

We use the All stock from tractor supply, no copper on the lable. it works for just about everything. You also have to watch the mineral blocks because they can carry copper as well. Crystal

 

[seramagirl]

I was at the auction this last saturday, any way there were little sheep there thay had long hair and tiny mostly black i did not get them was out bid ,Iwas not there had someone bid for me anyway been looking for them would like to buy but do not know what they were can any one help they were not goats

 

[awesomefowl]

I absolutely love babydolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't have any though.

 

[Sumatra503]

I have two Finncross ewes. They are small, I can carry them if need be. Finnsheep are fairly small sheep, in the 100-120lb. range generally. They are also known for their multiple births. They lamb in litters of about 6 lambs. They are also a naturally short tailed breed that does not require docking. I love my little finncrosses.

My white girl, maybe a polypay cross, is Marybell and my Black ewe, a gotland cross, is Ninja. Marybell is much calmer and easier to handle than ninja is.

the two sheep you saw at the auction were probably Shetlands. Shetland sheep are naturally small and friendly sheep. They are also very friendly and calm.

Babydolls and miniatures are generally very expensive averaging 500.00 a lamb and that would be cheap.

I feed my girls free choice ordchard grass hay along with 1/2 a cup each of alfalfa pellets per day for some extra protien.

 

[patandchickens]

"long hair and tiny mostly black" could be Shetlands. www.shetland-sheep.org is the north american breed assoc website.

Pat