Sunday, February 10, 2013

Sorting Sheep!


Wild Rose Farm 2012 Ewe Lambs
I know a blizzard really hammered the folks in the Northeast, but we got by with some relatively mild weather here .... it hit around 40 degrees today ... perfect weather for sorting out our lambs.
We made some final decisions today on which lambs we're going to keep for the flock.  We've been selling some freezer lambs lately too.  They were really nice lambs, but many of them are singles, so they've grown quickly and were ready for market.   We ended up choosing 5 registered Rambouillet & 4 Dorset x Rambouillet ewe lambs.  We look at the lambing history of the dam as well as her micron test & wool staple length when we pick out lambs.  Of course, we'd love to keep more, but every farm has a limit on how many animals you can keep (!).   We also kept a ram lamb out of one of our older ewes.  She has been a consistent twinner.
Wild Rose Farm - Back To The Loafing Shed!
 
After we finished with the lambs, we sent the ewes back over to the loafing shed where they are wintering on round bales.  Yours truly is bringing up the rear to make sure that Lisa & the lambs all trail along ..... no one straggles behind!