A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE OLD RAM

[Latestarter]

Maybe your ewe was messing around with a Boer goat and that was the result?

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, new photo of the Red Head,it seems as though it is a "regressive gene" from an ancient breed from Persia.They are still around and come as a Speckle or a Harlequin,he is a Harlequin....T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

Interesting. One of my ewes had one like that last year, sire was a black head Dorper, ewe is a white Katahdin.

 

[Hens and Roos]

very cute!

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day BM, ewe lamb or Ram?How is it growing,is it as strong as the other lambs born that season? T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

It was a ram lamb, he was wethered for slaughter. I also had a ewe lamb marked like that, she is with the ram for breeding now. Her brown head has faded to a very light brown color, as did the wether.

Neither one's markings affected their growth. I am looking forward to Lucy's lambs to see what I get. She is in with a black head Dorper.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

That's interesting the "fading" of the color,don't forget a pic when she lambs.T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

Picture taken yesterday, we cut down some little cedar trees. The sheep were munching down on them! Lucy is to the far left, still sporting her winter wool. It is coming out in clumps. As a lamb, her head color was the same as your lamb. You can see the faded color, it is more like a faint brown. Her mom is 3rd from the left, the black and white spotted ewe.

 

[The Old Ram-Australia]

G'day, in the last little while things have got a lot"tougher' down here on the farm,of our 10 water points we have only 3 which have usable water in them.We are also hay feeding the sheep every day now and Alfalfa hay is getting really hard to source so this week we purchased 8x4x3 bales with a fair amount of clover in it,weighted 550 kgs and cost $320.00 I figure it will last about 6/8 days because the protein value is so much lower than the Alfalfa.It's just lucky for us we were able to sell all of the Suffolk's before it got this bad.

The ability of these Hair sheep to hold their condition is amazing along with our management they are looking "better" than average,due to the nature of the way we purchased the flock they are still producing lambs (looking out the office window) I can see another new one last night and they are "so active" within a few hours of birth.We had a chap from a local agency up yesterday and he was amazed at how the sheep are going given the value of the existing forage and the small amount of hand-feeding we are doing and ranked our sheep as some of the best in the district in his view.

Oh well, its time to get the hay trailer out and get them fed ,then I have to go and "warn" all our neighbors within 2 kms that we are about to start 1080 fox baiting in the next day or so .

Cheers for now ...T.O.R.

 

[Baymule]

I am glad that your sheep are keeping their condition, even in the face of drought and poor forage and hay. Kinda makes you proud of them doesn't it? Kinda makes you proud that you no longer have the Suffolks too, I bet.

What is 1018 fox baiting and why do you need to warn the neighbors?