I have had a hard time with the Nubian baby goats. They were wormed with Valbazen, which did not work and then with a triple dose of Ivermectin drench, which only worked marginally. The two wormers are of a different class, one being the 'white' wormers and the other being the 'mectin' class. Neither were effective. So I sent away for Molly's herbal wormer program. The program consists of two parts, a once in two month wormer with wormwood and a maintenance wormer for in-between, once a week. No, this is not an inexpensive alternative to chemical womers, which are very expensive too, but look at the photo. While the chemical wormers barely had any effect on the worms and the anemia resulting from a high worm load caused death, the herbal wormer caused an immediate expulsion of worms visible in the stool. The wormer does not work like a chemical wormer, killing the worms, but rather it causes the host to be inhospitable and the worms expel themselves. Then it is up to the chickens to find the worms in the stool and pick through and eat them up so the cycle does not perpetuate itself. Ideally, after worming the animals should be moved to clean ground, and a new pen entirely, but in my world, there are only so many pens and so many shelters and that is not a reality. The best I can offer is a good barn cleaning, which did happen, and since the temperatures are so mild right now, the barn is closed until needed. The goats do have a three sided shelter filled with clean bedding, so they are not left without a home. 

Along with the herbal wormer, I included a lot of granulated garlic. This also helps to encourage the worms to get out of town. To make the powder palatable and edible, I mixed it with the granulated garlic and sugar beet pulp covered with molasses. The sweet pulp encourage the goats and sheep to eat up all the wormer and I even sprinkled a few oats in the mix, just to encourage the more reluctant ones. Ideallly, each individual animal should be fed a proper dosage and that works well with only a few animals, but there are 50 sheep and 20 goats, so it is not easily done. 

I am extremely pleased with the result of the herbal wormer. The treatment needs to happen for three days and then then the second formula happens once a week for the other 7 weeks. Diligence will be the key factor in eradicating the worms. Molly's herbal wormer is a patented formula, so the ingredients are not available. I think any number of worming herbs ground to a powder and mixed together will produce a similar result. For now, I ordered a ten month supply with the intent of getting rid of the worms in the sheep and goats. The other animals can use this program too, but getting dogs to eat it might not be so easy. I did give some to the chickens, however; they were not interested in it. It is there if they would like it though. I might add it to the oyster shell, which they consume in copious quantities to encourage them to eat it. 

Worm resistance is a growing problem for ruminants and their keepers. Years ago, there were no chemical wormers and the misuse of them, routinely worming twice a year wether the animals required it or not, and under dosing causes the worms to become resistant and then the chemicals no longer work. This is what happened with the Nubians. My own animals have been on a different herbal program which was working for this farm. The Nubians were stressed and the adult does were already anemic when they arrived, so I suspect the problem was brought to the farm. For every problem there is a solution. I strongly encourage farmers to investigate herbs for the eradication of worms. Resistance is not a problem then and the animals are not subjected to chemicals which stay in the meat and milk. 

It is a universal problem. Natural is the only way to make it disappear, but constant diligence is the key. I see it work firsthand and encourage all to give it a try. 

Wool is the most remarkable finer. It is warm when it is wet and is light weight. I sleep on a wool mattress pad and cover with a wool duvet. At first I ordered the summer/winter duvet, which is really two summer duvets that can be tied together to make one heavier one, but it was much too warm. So, just the summer weight is adequate and the thermostat is turned down to 16 degrees Celcius at night. 
I love to wear woollen socks and have several pairs, including commercially made mohair socks. The mohair socks are very soft and are absolutely the best for winter in rubber work boots. My feet seldom ever get cold because the boots are rated for minus 60C, but with the mohair socks, the moisture is wicked away and my feet stay warm enough. I even wear wool socks in the summer for the same reasons, not to stay warm, but to keep cool. 
Sweaters of real wool were not something I much liked, but that was due to inferior wool that was scratchy. Then I purchased a cashmere sweater and that made me think that maybe, just maybe wool could be nice to wear next to my skin too. Organic Merino wool is soft and although not as light as cashmere, which actually comes from goats, it was warm and soft enough to be comfortable. 

Now I have many sheep and after shearing, I learned what causes the wool to be scratchy. Young animals have a cuticle that is smooth, while older animals' cuticles are raised giving a sharper feel to the fiber. The worst culprit for scratchiness is vegetative matter, that is the hay, straw, burrs or other organic stuff lodged in the fibers. Washing, drying, carding, picking and combing prior to spinning removes most of the foreign matter, but when there is too much to begin with, not all will be released, giving the wool a terrible feel. Keeping the hay off the sheep is not an easy task and one that I struggle with to date, so my fleece is full of vegetative matter. Some shepherds who raise sheep strictly for wool, coat their sheep, which requires a change of coats up to six times a season so the wool does not matt. Others feed pellets or cubed hay to avoid the matter, but that is rather expensive. Keeping the sheep out of the area when loading feeders is a good thing, because they tend to stand under the spot where new hay is being loaded. Also, feeding sheep of the same size together is necessary so the taller ones do not pull hay down onto the backs of the smaller sheep. There are so many different types and qualities of wool, too, from coarse carpet type wool, perfect for felting or very fine crimped wool for hand spinning. 

I pretty much have the idea of raising the sheep down an now need to concentrate on the breeds that are easy to manage, naturally pest resistant, thrive on a grass based operation and have beautiful wool. That is where the Babydoll Southdowns and Jacobs have won my vote. The next step is to build feeders that will assist in keeping the wool clean for next shearing and then learning to process the fleece into yarn so that I can make woollen things right here at the Fat Ewe Farm. Now that is hands on - hands on the sheep!

Sheep have a bad rap for being dumb and impersonal, but if that is how they are treated, then what more can they be?  I have dumb and impersonal sheep. The Dorset ewe was from a large commercial flock and all the handling was done in metal systems. The only contact the sheep had with humans was traumatic when they were jabbed with needles, or tipped upside down and had their hooves trimmed, or when their heads were twisted backwards to get them to lie down to be sheared. No wonder she runs when she sees me. I might be able to tame her over time, but I do not have the desire. It would take so much effort because she is totally untrusting and wild. She has taught her ram lamb to be the same way, because that is all she knew. When he is separated at the end of this month, for weaning, I will begin to try to work with him. If he is to be a breeding ram, he will need to be much calmer and even halter trained. His other fate is to be meat for the table. 

But sheep are not dumb or impersonal. I sold two sheep, a wether and a ewe lamb, to a family near by. These sheep were specifically chosen for their gentle trusting natures. The male wether, Morgan, was rejected at birth by his mother, who liked his sister and not him, so he was bottle fed. Morgan completely trusted humans then and loved me as he would have his mother. I spent time with him, stroked his back, rubbed his ears and spoke kindly. Louise followed Morgan's direction, though her nature was sweet and she was cautious, but not scared. In a short time, she was curious about the humans, since Morgan was absolutely comfortable, and soon she, too, became one of the family. 

They allowed the sheep in the house for very brief periods, and when they go out for a walk, the sheep come with them. In these recent photos, the family is enjoying the campfire and the sheep are just there as part of the family. The family has young children and a baby and all are thrilled to have sheep as pets. Wouldn't you love to have two wooly little companions too?

It is a big day tomorrow. The sheep, Angora goats, llamas and alpacas will all be sheared. This time I am trying the Hutterite colony. They are experienced with shearing and have won awards for their wool (not sure where, just that is what they told me), so I am willing to give them a go. I did have to call them because they did not show up the first time booked. Nat, the man in charge, said he lost my number. Anyhow, tomorrow is the big day. 

I spent a few hours preparing the barn, sweeping the floor, putting down two sheets of plywood, making a holding pen and a release pen with livestock panels and installing power via two long extension cords. I likely will have to come up with a second extension line, because I believe there are two shearers and two helpers. I won't have time to skirt the wool, only to fold and pack it and then tomorrow I can lay it out and take my time cleaning and skirting, which is removing the manure tags and very dirty wool. It is supposed to be just above zero, so it will be cold again. They do not think they will take a whole hour to shear 50 sheep, 3 llamas and 2 alpacas, plus the 6 Angora goats. The cost is $7 per animal, plus so much a kilometer to drive here, calculated at around $130 dollars. All in all, it is estimated to cost $450 or so dollars. I did not ask if they trimmed hooves, but I will when he calls tomorrow to say they are on their way. It is going to be a big day!

Dora, Olga and Lena (named after my mother and her sisters) were my very first sheep, three little Karakul lambs, who came out from Ontario along with 2 Canadienne cows and 6 Canadian horses. Of the three sheep, Olga was by far the most personable and friendliest. She always came for a hug and a scratch and she would often stay with the dogs, just being close to them. She was an exceptional mother too, with twins last year. 

The sheep were fine this morning, but when I went out later to water them, Olga was dead. She had stuck her head through the livestock panel and then through the fence wire. Leaning on the livestock panel forced her weight on the fence wire and she choked and died. I found her shortly after she expired, still warm and pliable, her eyes opened and her body distended and bloated. I am not sure she bloated because she hung herself, or she was bloated from acidosis or eating too much alfalfa she found as the snow thawed. Perhaps that was what she was trying to access through the fence wire. 

As with any animal death on the farm, the animal is opened to look for clues as to the death. Olga appeared to be in perfect health, but my heart broke when I realized she also lost her twins, about a month before they were due, two little girls. Olga was the sweetest sheep, and because of her, I fell in love with sheep and now have a lot of them. Olga will be sadly missed every day when I go to the pen to see the flock and do not see her coming to me. 

We think that sheep do not have emotions, but Olga's daughter stood and cried for her mother, calling to her. Olga's daughter is normally quiet and never heard. The other sheep also stood with the daughter and paid respects to Olga as I removed her body from the flock. My poor heart is broken. Good bye Olga and thank you for honouring me with your life. 

There was a bumper crop of lambs last year and most of them are still here. The problem with breeding for June lambing, when the weather is warm and the grass is green, is that the babies only have a few months to grow when the market is ready for them. So, they have been staying an extra season on the farm, which puts enough weight on them to be marketable. Only, last year, the majority were female lambs, so in order to increase profits, they were introduced to a small Babydoll ram in December, at five to six months of age. Some would have been ready to breed, while others may have taken another month or two, but the little ram and the Blue Faced Leicester ram are both still there with the ewe lambs. It is time to take them out now, because the last of the ewe lambs not bred would deliver in October and that is getting pretty cold. I did not think that whole project through too well, though, because the newborn lambs will need their mothers for a few months, then the market is not ready for lambs again and so on. A sheep can be considered a lamb until the age of two and most of these are small breeds to begin with. But, next winter, that will mean a lot of little sheep. Plan B is to try to sell the mothers with the lambs at their sides when the lambs are four months old or by then, the lambs can be weaned and sold separately. If need be, some may have to go the auction, but I am trying to find avenues for grass fed lamb, which is much healthier than grain fed lamb. People who suffer from gluten related illness often do so much better with grass fed meat, too.

Dora is a pure bred registered Karakul sheep. She has a very broad fat tail in which she stores nutrients and fluids, much like the camel does in its hump(s). With this evolutionary adaptation, the Karakuls are well suited to arid climates, such as the Middle East, where they are among the most common breed of sheep. Fat is also stored in the tail rather than the muscles, making the carcass leaner than most meat bred sheep with less mutton flavour. The wool of the Karakul sheep is coarse and very strong, ideal for felting for horse mats, floor mats and carpets and excellent for durable weavings.

Karakul lambs are born with a very tightly curled black wool coat which starts to unfurl within a day of birth. This is a beautiful soft lustrous wool, so tightly curled that it is water repellent and weather resistant, and very warm. Fur traders took note of the baby lambs fur and began to market the hides as Persian lambskins and in the 50's, the trade of the skins reached an all time high, that is until the general public discovered that the pelts were those of newborn lambs, or worse yet, lambs taken in utero. Karakul sheep that were imported to North America for the fur trade were slaughtered for pet food when the market fell away and the sheep are rare here now.

Dora has never been pregnant. She was one of the first three lambs The Fat Ewe Farm acquired and is healthy and strong and fine example of the breed. Her wool is very typical as well, with coarse guard hairs that can reach five to seven inches in length! But Dora cannot remain here simply as a pet. If she remains barren, she will be culled, because farming is not cheap and feeding and caring for a sheep costs dearly. When she is sheared this year, I will put the ram with her again, since Karakul sheep can breed out of season. Perhaps with a clear view to that area, when normally there is a huge amount of wool covering there, she will conceive. It is her last chance. Dora is well loved and is named after a favourite aunt, Auntie Dora, a sister of my mother. Come on Dora. Please bear a baby!

The rams have been with their breeding groups for 2 months now. The ewes cycle every 18 days, so they should have cycled at least twice, if not thrice, in the time the rams were with them. I see no evidence of the rams' interest in the ewes anymore, so it is natural to assume they are now bred.

The older ewes have two rams with them. It was not meant to be that way. I can only hope that Walter did his job and the ewes cycled before the fence got busted and Eric joined him. There is a little Southdown Babydoll ram with the ewe lambs. The Babydolls are old enough to breed this year, and a few of the earlier born larger ewes may have also been bred. The Blue Faced Leicesters joined the ewe lamb pen a little while ago, and the ram was interested in some of the larger ewes that the Babydoll ram would have had trouble mounting, since they were twice his size. As long as the Babydolls were bred Babydoll, the rest is just a bonus.

The two bucks in with the goats will stay there now and actually the buckling from last year will join them until the does give birth. The goats do better with other goats, rather than sheep, but it is difficult to keep them apart entirely on their own, so they live with the boy sheep. For the next three months, they will get to live with the goats instead and enjoy the like company.

The rams will return to the ram pen. Walter was just wormed so he is ready to go back now. His babies from last year were wonderful, especially the E'st a Laine Merinos. Unfortunately, not all the offspring can be kept, so there will be a huge sale this year, with ewes and ewes lambs and lambs from this breeding all being sold. Now that I have experience with some of the different breeds of sheep and have discovered more about the actual market for them, the three breeds being kept will be the Jacobs, Blue Faced Leicesters and the Southdown Babydolls. As much as I love the others, I do not need fifty sheep!

So, the rams can go back to retirement and the ewes will continue on with their pregnancies. The grass hay has been set for the rams and the does and ewes and ewe lambs will get the premium dairy hay with alfalfa to support their additional nutritional needs. Farming is a delight when all is well, it really is.

The Fat Ewe Farm has exotic rare breeds of sheep, for the most part. These sheep were selected for their fleece and meat is a by product. Hence they are not the largest sheep, but they do have beautiful fleece. For the past 2 years, different methods of feeding the ewes have been tried with the aim to keep the hay out of the fleece. Feeding low to the ground would be the best option, but the sheep are so tame, that as soon as they see me they stand there waiting for the hay. To really keep their coats clean, they would need to be removed for feeding or fed in a long low trough that extends for quite a distance. Another option would be to remove the sheep to a different pen, place the hay and then bring them back in. That is a lot of trouble in the dead of winter at 50 below though. The best system is not yet found. Next year, some of the sheep will wear coats, but they need up to 6 different sizes during the wool growth so it remains light and lofty and does not compact and felt. That, also is a lot of work.

To produce excellent wool, the sheep need good food. This year's hay is superior and their coats are beautiful. The wool would be bring a premium price from hand spinners IF it was free of vegetative matter, which it is not. Still, it will make for some lovely projects. The sheep are bred and due in late May or early June, so do not need to be sheared until April. They will go out to pasture as soon as the grass allows it, lambs in tow. Hopefully one of the livestock guardian dogs will accompany them this year. Mike seems the best prospect for that.

The photos of the wool coats in the sunshine are nowhere doing the fiber justice. It is thick and lush and soft this year, very pretty. Take a peek...

Primitive sheep, that is sheep breeds which have not been improved by man, are my favourites. They are not so easy to handle, not in the least docile, think and are very personable. Sheep are often thought of as dumb. I think alpacas take the cake on that one. Some sheep breeds I have kept have not been the brightest, like the East Friesians. They also needed the most intervention from the shepherd, being more susceptible to parasites than the primitives, such as the Jacobs, and needed help lambing, which the primitives definitely do not. The lambs for the old unimproved sheep breeds are smaller than commercial ones, because that is the way nature intended them to be. An average size Jacob twin would be maybe four or five pounds, while the average commercial lamb is double that, even in twins. Understandably, commercial sheep are all about the mighty dollar. Large lambs mean they can be slaughtered at a good weight or bred sooner than smaller lambs.

Although primitive sheep are easier in some ways, they do not sell as well as meat sheep, unless it is to a buyer who also appreciates their hardiness. Many of the old breeds have excellent wool, like the Icelandics. Their wool has short and long fibers which can be separated and spun independently or spun together for lopi wool, a warm, weather resistant wool.


When it comes to doing things with the primitives, though, they are not so easily managed. They can be wild and crazy and excellent jumpers. I have set a 5 foot gate up only to have a Barbados ewe clear it and take off when I cornered her for examination. I no longer have any Barbados. The Shetland sheep were very small, with wonderful fleece, but little market. The lambs grow quickly even though they are tiny at birth, but they cannot ever catch up to the commercial sheep. Sold by the pound on the hoof, they only would bring half of what a commercial lamb would. Also they are best bred after a year to give the lambs time to grow, so the extra time means less frequent lambing. Still, there are some who work within these boundaries and love the sheep. I no longer have an Shetlands.

Ideally the best sheep would be a primitive breed that is large, produces large lambs that can be bred in year 1 and also has great fleece. Cotswolds almost fit that description, but like Angora goats, have been bred for fiber overly much, and are no longer the hardy animals they once were. The hunt is still on for that type of sheep. In the meantime, this little lamb, an Icelandic, Shetland, Karakul cross, is thinking out of the box. He is cute as a button, though tiny compared to the others without Shetland genes. And he is having some fun!