Category: Sheep
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part Four: Inseminating the Ewe
It’s ewe insemination day. This is the insemination pipette. It’s a modified pig insemination device. It is carefully threaded into the ewe. Ken had to hold all of the ewes in the chute. Without a squeeze, this was the only way to control them. It worked fairly well, all things considered. Insemination is simple. We… Continue reading
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part Three: More Ram Collections
With the USDA folks back, it was time to collect semen again. This time, it will be a slightly different freezing protocol. Here you can see the rams in the sweep, ready to go. They are not happy – they know what’s coming. One ram, Desert Weyr Kai, got to go in with the ewes.… Continue reading
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part Two: Syncing the Ewes
Our next step in the AI project is syncing the ewes’ heat cycles. We put CIDRs in all of the ewes today. The first group will be the AI girls. The second batch is a control group, and they’ll be bred via a live cover ram. He’ll be testing the sync procedure. Here you can… Continue reading
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Ewe Sorting and Lamb Vaccinations
We got one batch of ewes sorted out today. This group will go to the live cover ram as a control for the AI procedure. They’re now all sorted into breeding pens, and they’ve had their fall dewormer to kill nose bots. The potential AI girls are now in the other pen, closest to the… Continue reading
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Sheep AI Experiment, 2009, Part One
Today was the start of another sheep AI experiment. We started our 2009 trials with the USDA-NAGP people. We collected semen from 14 adult Black Welsh Mountain rams. Each ram had its picture taken in front of a size-marked tarp for future reference. While I managed to get pictures of the picture-taking process, I didn’t… Continue reading
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Feeding Sheep
The sheep are in the winter pens now. Here you can see the ewes eating hay and, later, a nearly-empty feeder. We’re going through more hay than normal, but we also have more sheep than normal. A good selection of ewes, ewe lambs, and ram lambs is for sale if you’d like to start your… Continue reading
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Farm Tours and Sheep Coats
No pictures today. This morning, before our farm tours started, we sorted some of the sheep and put coats on them. They’re now in the winter corrals on hay. They look a bit silly in their coats, but it keeps their wool clean. The tours are part of the Paonia Harvest Festival. Promptly at 11,… Continue reading
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Weaning Time
Today, we finally sorted all of the ram lambs from their mothers. We have several who are already sniffing the ewes. I just hope they weren’t fertile yet! We also weighed all of the lambs. Most are looking good. A few of them aren’t as big as I’d hoped, but they’re also still quite young.… Continue reading
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Selling Sheep and a Thirsty Ram
We’ve started our fall sheep sales. This batch of lovely yearlings is heading off to MO to join a new flock there. They’re also getting two adult rams. Meanwhile, another small flock of three ewe lambs and a ram lamb will go to another new flock, but they haven’t been sorted out yet. Meanwhile, this… Continue reading
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Culinary Students, Ram Sorting, and Chicken Processing
The culinary school students came back today for more farm work. Today, we evaluated all of the adult rams, trimmed toes, and gave dewormer as needed. We then took a field trip to Karla’s to pick up our chickens, which were butchered yesterday. The students got to see a bit of the butchering process. Next,… Continue reading