Meet the Rams: Mr. Bumblebee & Lucas

In the summer, before the rams are introduced to their girls, we plan what ewes will go with which ram. Many years we just put ewes into color groups with one ram. This year the plan was different. However, fate played its part and changed our plans.

Prepping  Lucas at Black Sheep Gathering

 Meet Lucas he is a yearling ram, this being his first year breeding any ewes. Lucas is our farm's breeding and was purchased this spring by a friend who we do a lot of ram sharing and trading with. He was assigned to breed the majority of my flock in addition to our friends natural colored Romney flock. This however left Lucas' mom and half sister in a bad spot. We really didn't want to put them on Lucas because is was too close. They also were too nice to put on our white ram Chance and loose a year on our two best natural colored ewes.

So, meet Mr. Bumblebee. He is our friends ram and we used him last year on three ewes as an experiment. We had hoped his lambs might be bigger, he ended up producing mostly boys and the lambs weren't any bigger. The story behind his name is that the one ewe lamb he did sire we sold to a 4-H family in California, they named the lamb Bumblebee aka BB. Though the lambs he produced weren't a big improvement, he was in no way related to the two ewes that were too closely related to Lucas.

Checking out the girls

This was the original set up of our breeding year. That is, until fate took a twist. Two Wednesdays ago we got a text from our friend saying Lucas was hurt and asking if we could bring Mr. Bumblebee over. So we loaded up Mr. Bumblebee and his ewes and headed over. It ended up that Lucas had hurt his hock and could hardly walk, let alone breed a flock of ewes. Before his accident Lucas had only managed to successfully breed three ewes, only one was ours. So, now Mr. Bumblebee has taken over the majority of the breeding. Meanwhile, Lucas is slowly healing.

Zora playing peek-a-boo.

I made friends with one of our friend's ewes, Fudge.

Meet the Rams: Chance

Breeding season is well under way. All the ewes have been with their respective groups for about three weeks now. This year we have a lot of new rams with our girls and so I thought they should be introduced.

This is Chance our white Romney ram; he will be turning three this coming February. He is also the newest addition to the farm, having only been here for less than three months. Last June we had quite the experience bringing him home from Washington.

It was about a 2 hour and 30 min drive from our little farm here in the Willamette Valley to reach Chance at his farm. We were full of anticipation because we only had seen one picture of him and another of his fleece. Upon arrival we met Chance, toured the farm and then prepared to load. We backed our truck up to a small hill and with a little encouragement, walked him into the truck.

The first picture we saw of Chance.

As we drove down the country road leading to the freeway Chance seemed a little perplexed but not too alarmed. Once on the freeway it was a completely different story! Obviously Chance had never ridden in an open truck before. All the wind, semi trucks, and overpasses scared him. He wanted out! Barely 15 minutes on the freeway he began to climb the stock rack. At the farm we learned he was one powerful ram, all brawn and muscle. I instantly was put on watch duty when Mom saw him put him feet on the rack the first time. As I watched I saw him place his front feet on the second to top rung to the stock rack. I flipped around covered my eyes and cried, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Pull over!" I swore that he was just about to disappear over the top of that rack and become road kill.

We pulled over and put the caution lights on. I quickly got into the back with him and put him on a halter. Almost instantly he began to relax even though there were still cars and semi trucks hurdling past. Mom began making calls, first to the owners of the farm but they didn't pick up. Then to two friends who own sheep. Through their suggestions we tied his head down as low as we could using the tie down rings in the bed of the truck. Then I put a sweatshirt over his head and ears. Finally, I shoved alfalfa under his nose, to hopefully keep him content. We then proceeded, though much slower than the speed limit. Several times we stopped to adjust his sweatshirt and hay. He did become a little restless at times but we finally made it home. It was a very scary experience for both us and Chance.

Now Chance is contently out with his girls. He is with 8 ewes and has bred all of them at least once so far. We can tell because the harness he wears holds a crayon on his chest. When he mounts a ewe he will leave a mark on her rump. This allows us to have an estimate of when she will be due. We change the crayon ever 16 days or so. A ewe will come in heat about every 16 days. So if for some reason the first breeding was not successful and she is re-bred we will know.

The sheep enjoy eating the leaves off this tree that fell recently.

So far everyone in his group has been bred once and there has only been one re-mark. His lambs will be due the end of January and the start of February.

Check back soon for another ram profile.

Winter Stores

The feeling of autumn surrounds us here on the farm. The yellow school bus passes by at 7:30 every morning and the mornings and evenings are cooler than before. Even the leaves are starting to change to shades of yellow and orange. While it may still be summer for another two weeks you can still feeling hints of the approaching season. Which means we must think ahead to the winter months to come.

The ewe lambs waiting to be fed.

Three Saturdays ago I made a trip to our local hay dealer. We get our hay from a place about a two minute drive from our house. It is only open on Saturday from 8 am to noon. So trying to beat any long lines I arrived just shortly after they opened, made my purchase and inquired about some local grass hay. After unloading the alfalfa at home it was decided that I should return and buy a ton of the grass. Upon my second return with the grass we decided that the grass was such a great deal that we would like more. We made a call and ended up reserving the remaining five tons. However, we had to wait to pick up the hay until after state fair.

Enjoying some of our new grass hay.

So yesterday was the day we finally went to pick up our coveted hay. We left bright and early, got the first ton and returned to unload. Shortly after we started unloading the first ton our friend and her son arrived with their truck to help. With four people working the unloading and stacking went a lot faster. Having two trucks bringing loads of hay in made the processes move in a quick steady stream. As soon as one truck was empty it left to pick up its next load and returned just about the time the other truck was empty. We managed to bring in five tons of hay in less than four hours. We are very thankful for our friends who came to help.

The last ton.

It is such a relief to have this hay in the barn. We estimate this will last us until January right before we start lambing. We are just one step closer to being ready for winter.