Just a funny. DH has been listening to storm reports all day and I sometimes need something light.
I love this!!!! Blooie would have liked that too....I bet she'll get a kick out of it if she goes back to read the thread.
Just a quick hello, looking at some houses this week so pray God leads me to the home im meant to have. My first house wasthe first I saw of 15, went back twice to see it and knew it was meant to be. Found one the other day that kinda feels the same but price a bit high and will need some ssprucing up. Talk later when I can sit a spell.
Can't wait to see what you choose! What kind of a house and property are you looking for?
Botetourt County (pronounced Bot tet tot, no clue why) Not too far from Roanoke. I agree, the woods do smell amazing! I have a habit of closing my eyes and soaking in the sun and smells while walking. Sometimes turns out disastrous, but allows me to appreciate the little things that go unnoticed when my eyes and brain and fixated on something else. Perhaps it is the especially hard winter we had, perhaps it is now that we are out of the city walls and working outside instead of in front of the TV, but this spring has made us all feel so much more alive than in the past.
I wanted to mention, Bee, that my neighbor is from WV and brought over some ramps for us to try. He said they have a strong taste and some people like them, others can't stand them. I will jump right up and say that I love them! He talked about festivals and such this time of year. Have you ever tried them?
Thanks for the welcome, Triple Willow! I take a lot of pictures, but I am trying to be better about putting the camera down and enjoying moments first hand instead of through a lens and after the fact!
Oh, yeah...I've tried them.
They taste good but they will literally seep out of your pores for days after eating them...with disastrous results. One time when I was young and lived in Tucker County, they had huge snows all the time and never closed school...but closed it for a week in ramp season because the smell was so bad folks couldn't stand it. Spring tonic, they are, with enough sulfur to kill any intestinal worms one may have, or so they say. Folks knew how to manage such things back in the day with the things God provided in the woods and fields.
They have ramp dinners, ramp festivals, the local pizza places have ramp pizzas...well...you get the picture.
My youngest flock of chickens I got about the middle of last June and they laid really well all winter. Hatching out some chicks about now may make for some more good winter layers. And I bet a bird laying late this fall would bring good money.
Bee, will you give me a short tutorial on hair sheep? No doubt should I get some they will get fermented feed. When you had yours did you do any vaccinating, deworming, etc?
Don't overstock, because they will need to live on the grass and brush you have...they are like goats in that they love browse but are like sheep that they also love graze and will manicure a lawn like an English estate. They need plenty of pasture and do best if they can be rotated out of one and into another. They don't do as well on grain feeds and if you provide them good forage and good minerals, cull for health and parasite resistance, you can have a trouble free, fun and beautiful livestock. Katahdins are my all time fave...the Barbados are beautiful but don't put on the meat like the Katahdins and are as wild as deer~same with St. Croix, whereas the Kats are moochy and sweet, easy to work with, milky, good mothers, twinners, and stay fat on just grass and hay...and not even really good hay.
If you have a pile of stones or cement blocks or such you can put in the middle of their pasture they will climb on them and wear down their own hooves though you might still have to trim once or twice a year. Some folks put some kind of stone or block where they go to drink to provide this wearing. If you manage them properly and breed when you should, you shouldn't need to flush them for breeding, birthing or nursing. They don't do well on all rich diets like grains or rich grasses...they need the browse and stemmier hay to keep healthy rumens and can stay fat on regular pasture and second rate hay.
You won't want to worm them regularly or at all, if you can avoid it. They are bred for parasite resistance and treating them like regular sheep just ruins all of that. Cull for that trait, use natural means if any at all if you feel they need dewormed~pasture rotation, good mix of graze and browse, garlic juice and mother ACV bolus every 2-3 mo. You can just use the FAMCHA chart to check for this, as well as body condition. Buy from someone who uses wise management for hair sheep....the worst thing anyone can do is buy a hair sheep and then try to manage it like a regular woolly breed...it just sets them up for failure.
Keeping a ram for breeding is difficult because you need separate penning...that he cannot get out of. These things can do a standing jump and clear a fence 4 ft over their heads...and act like it was nothing. I had a ram jump out of my truck over cattle gates and land like he was floating to the ground...and he was a big ol' boy. What most folks with just a few ewes do is to buy a young ram lamb when it's time to breed and then sell him at market while he's still considered a lamb(up to 1 yr in most places) and they don't often lose much money doing that. You need a source and a good farmer to work with on such an endeavor...I borrowed a ram once and then also bought a ram lamb from the same guy later.
Read, read, read, choose carefully...not just for pretties...and make sure you have a good pen built first for when you need to work with them or on them or for lambing if you want to pull them from the fields for that. You'll need your own predator or a donkey...most have switched to donkeys around here because the GPs run off, need fed different food than the sheep and are more expensive. Donkeys are low maintenance, live a long time, eat the same food as the sheep.
Where you live you'll have to watch for nasal fly bots and most will tell you that only Ivermectin will take care of those but I had success with the garlic, ACV, raw honey bolus and some Vicks up the snout....no symptoms the very next day and none thereafter. For really hot weather or droughty weather, I'd do that bolus every month.
I used kelp meal and coarse salt for the minerals and it went a long way, was perfect, and they didn't overeat it because it didn't "flavor enhancers" in it
...those kind of mineral mixes these sheep will stand and eat until it's gone because they are tasty, whereas the kelp meal was sampled when they needed it only.
Have all your pens, fences and shelters~if any..they will need some shade of some kind~all in place before bringing home your sheep and you won't be scrambling to make do when you find you suddenly need a holding pen for dosing or for lambing or for anything else. They flock well..unlike goats...so they are great for staying in fences as long as you have good pasture on their side.
I don't know types of goats, guess I'm still learning yet I was brought up in the country raising goats, cows, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, doves, and occasional sheep. it was mainly for self sustenance. I love goat meat, this must also taste good. No offence perchie.girl if this is a pet 
