Pedigree Imperfections

I got a batch of registrations back from the new Katahdin sheep registrar yesterday. I had heard from others that theirs contained a lot of errors, so I went through mine with a fine toothed comb. And yeah, a lot of errors in mine too. Twelve errors in twenty pedigrees. I  have little sticky flags on all of them, to keep track.

 

Sunday Chores

Yesterday I trimmed sheep hooves. I love working outside and getting dirty- so dirty then when you shower afterwards, the water runs with mud even before you get out the soap. It was sunny and hot. I sunburned a bit, staying out longer than I had planned with no sunscreen on. We’ve had so little sun this summer that sunscreen isn’t yet back in my morning habit!

Halfway through, a neighbor stopped by and we chatted for a while. Maggie, who was already hot from working, disappeared into a drainage ditch to cool herself, waiting like an alligator until I needed her again. Just as soon as I walked back to the ewes still waiting in a pen for their maintenance, she came sloshing out and pushed them into the corner for me again. I couldn’t do without her!

 

How Does Your Lamb Crop Grow?

I haven’t said much about the lamb crop lately, so I thought I’d take some pictures showing how they are growing. It’s amazing how quickly they go from cute to almost grown up. The lambs are nearly four months old, some of them will be ready for butcher in sixty more days! Above is KMC0905 with her single ewelamb out of KMC0900.

 

Sixty Day Adjusted and Re-Adjusted Weights

HHS107 and triplets ranked 11, 12, 13th

As I mentioned, I just finished doing my sixty day weaning weights on all the lambs, and then performing the adjustment calculations. And not surprisingly, I was surprised by the results. 🙂

 

Kitchen Lamb is now a Grower Lamb

Kitchen Lamb is now fully integrated with the sheep flock and also weaned. It was all easier than I thought it might be. In the picture above, you can see him next to the other set of triplet-born ram lambs, and they are quite a bit bigger than he is! Granted they are 2.5 weeks older, but the size difference is compounded by his small birth weight and the poorer growth characteristics of milk replacer. He is by far the littlest guy in the herd.