My Sheep Journal~ I'm a grandma! Black Betty had twins!!!

[Brody's Broodello]

Hi Everyone,
I just found this posting and thought I'd jump in. A little background info for you. My family & I live on just under six acres in MD. We have been here 6 years. We currently raise Babydoll Southdown Sheep, Boer Goats, & Poultry for eggs as well as Exhibition. We show Silkies, Bantam Wyandottes, Standard Magpie Ducks,Sebastopol Geese, & Call Ducks. There is also one horse & seven ponies here. This past year my son started showing the goats & sheep. He is the first person to ever show a babydoll sheep at the MD state fair. Our little gang of sheep & goats help with clearing the grass & weeds. We didn't have to mow at all this year. We have about 2 acres that are wooded. After the moms & babies are weaned, the moms head out there for the rest of the summer to do clearing. By Sept you can walk anywhere out there, before that it is 6 ft high of weeds,brambles & poison ivy!We were able to save tons on gas for the mowers, and saved a little of the air, by not using them, and letting our weeds get eaten instead. Here are a few pics of our sheep in the recent snow.

Hope you enjoy them.
April

 

[freemotion]

CUTE!!!! And

 

[ksalvagno]

What adorable little sheep. I bet you enjoy them!

 

[Brody's Broodello]

Thanks, We had about 21 inches total. These were taken the first day of snow, we had about 8 to 10 inches at that time.

 

[Brody's Broodello]

They are so addicting. I just had the last of our sales she leave today. I had a great month for sales. Seems like everyone wanted babydolls for Christmas.

What adorable little sheep. I bet you enjoy them!

 

[Beekissed]

April, those are adorable sheeples! Almost makes me want to have a wooly breed...I love the Southdown faces. Makes me think of the movie Babe.

Don't you just love how carefully the sheep manicure the lawn? I could swear mine had been mown and trimmed neatly....I especially love the trimming part around my garden fencing.

I would have loved it if my son would have taken one of my Katahdin cross ewes to the fair, even for just exhibition. I think it's important for young farmers to be more aware of other breeds besides the Suffolks that are the dominant breed here.

Did your boy get alot of questions about the breed and did people express interest in buying some from you after the fair?

BTW, welcome to the forum! I can't wait to hear more about your sheeples. I think most folks here are pretty new to raising sheep and are eager to learn any good info you might be willing to share, so feel free to enlighten us!

 

[6 sheep & a llama]

Welcome to the forum April. Did your sheep venture out into the snow when it got deeper? We got about 19 inches fast and overnight. I walked out to the barn in snow shoes and shoved my way back to the gate. Later one of my sheep took for the deep snow from one end of the barn around to one side. I shoveled that path and one other and they have been staying on them. My daughter tried to get one to go sledding but they all declined. How do I include a photo?

 

[Brody's Broodello]

At the top of the page it says UPLOADS click on that and it will take you to the area for pics. After you have uploaded your pic. just click on the photo info tag and paste it to your posting.

Welcome to the forum April. Did your sheep venture out into the snow when it got deeper? We got about 19 inches fast and overnight. I walked out to the barn in snow shoes and shoved my way back to the gate. Later one of my sheep took for the deep snow from one end of the barn around to one side. I shoveled that path and one other and they have been staying on them. My daughter tried to get one to go sledding but they all declined. How do I include a photo?

 

[Brody's Broodello]

We had a great response from the public, lots of questions & interest. Though I just posted an add on Craigslist at the end of Nov for an intact ram lamb left over from this spring. He wa suppose to be sold, but the deal fell through, and it was to late to band him by then. So I really needed to move him out. So he was posted for 1/2 price. Well he sold within 2 hours, I have since sold all my extras, plus have gotten tons of calls for more. When they were really cute babies I posted & got nothin. Go figure! Anyway, here are some more pics of my son & his lamb Hannah Baatana from The Md state fair.

April, those are adorable sheeples! Almost makes me want to have a wooly breed...I love the Southdown faces. Makes me think of the movie Babe.

Don't you just love how carefully the sheep manicure the lawn? I could swear mine had been mown and trimmed neatly....I especially love the trimming part around my garden fencing.

I would have loved it if my son would have taken one of my Katahdin cross ewes to the fair, even for just exhibition. I think it's important for young farmers to be more aware of other breeds besides the Suffolks that are the dominant breed here.

Did your boy get alot of questions about the breed and did people express interest in buying some from you after the fair?

BTW, welcome to the forum! I can't wait to hear more about your sheeples. I think most folks here are pretty new to raising sheep and are eager to learn any good info you might be willing to share, so feel free to enlighten us!

With other ewe lambs the same age

Cecil County Fair were he won Champion & Reserve Wool Breed Sheep. Champion was the white a Finn/Romney/Babydoll Cross & Res was the babydoll Hannah Baatana

 

[Beekissed]

Excellent pics and beautiful sheep and boys! I simply love to see a sheep and kids all dressed up for the fair....all fluff and smiles.

They look so small and dear compared to the other breeds...I can imagine how much easier they were to handle. I bet the other kids were thinking the same thing.....where can I get my hands on a smaller sheep for next year?