Feed Your Soul

Another bitter cold morning. Well, this is Maine after all. My hope for this winter was more cold and less snow ...was that a bad choice? My arms are certainly toned and muscular from carrying the water buckets out to the fussy little goats. The sheep get their share too of course, but quite often I will find full, frozen buckets as they prefer to eat snow for some unknown reason. Maybe they just enjoy watching me build up my biceps and know that come spring I will be grateful to them as I pull my summer clothes out of the closet.
Gromit a.k.a Mutant Sheep Boy ( named by my husband ) enjoys the sun with his snug coat and good layer of fat. Gromit is Judy's boy from a few years ago. He is Suffolk/Romney and Babyd0ll Southdown. I think he is kind of cute. My husband says if we fall on hard times he'll feed us all for a solid month he's so fat. ....I do not agree.

Watching the prego-ewes get fatter and fatter makes me very excited! I am beginning to develop an eye for the ones who "drop" and seem to be noticing that more this year than watching for udders. I remember my own pregnancies and when my kids went from bracing themselves off my ribs to dancing on my pelvis. I wonder what these creatures feel as they are not supporting the lower half with bone structure. The grunting I hear when they walk up to the barn must be a sign that it gets pretty uncomfortable. But like all females in this world ...we just keep on going and doing.

My lambing system seems to be working well this year. We sectioned off the back of the barn into four stalls. each with dividers so that as each ewe lambs she is dewormed and moved to the next stall. The first stall is mucked out and re-bedded and ready for the next ewe. With all dividers down, we have a large "play area" for the moms and babes until they can go outside. Of course the one flaw is that I have too many bred ewes ( by adding two to my flock this fall) but we can erect pens as we need them with panels. When lambing is over, we can take down all of the dividers and remove the doors opening up the barn . I am really enjoying this system. It is easier to keep up with and cleaner.

Jelly and Bean have gained almost 3 whole pounds each! I let them out in the barn afternoons as poor Mama Belle is going stir crazy. They are quite the busy boys investigating all corners of the barn and chasing chickens. It is good for the soul to watch these babies enjoying life to the fullest.

You can watch a few videos of them on our Facebook page just search Romney Ridge Farm in the search box ...or click here . :)