The Fat Ewe Farm and Bed and Breakfast
The Fat Ewe Farm and Moose Hills Inn
Organic Permaculture Farmin' for
the Lazy Ewes
  • The Fat Ewe Farm
  • About Us
  • Blog
  • The Fat Ewe Farm Store
  • Livestock Breeds (click here to see all the breeds)
    • Angora goats
    • Icelandic Sheep
    • Jacob sheep
    • Old English Southdown Babydoll Sheep >
      • Babydoll Sheep on the Fat Ewe Farm
  • Contact Us
    • Photo Gallery (click here for some awesome photos or watch the slideshow) >
      • Video Slide Show
    • Phone Number
    • Map
  • Sale Barn
  • Recipes From the Fat Ewe
    • Old Stuff
  • How Much Meat Do You Get?
  • Ukrainian Easter Eggs
  • Moose Hills Inn

Decisions, Decisions

4/26/2014

0 Comments

 
PictureThe newly shorn sheep.The black and white ones are the Jacobs.
The Fat Ewe Farm started out to be a fibre farm, hoping to have a little of many rare breeds with special wool and fleece. Over the past three years, many breeds have been tried and some have been kept, while others were immediately sold. The Shetland sheep are small and slow growing, but are also quite wild. I wanted a friendlier sheep. I tried East Friesien milk sheep, but they have been interfered with too much by man, always striving for more milk, with less regard for other traits, such as easy of lambing, foraging ability, parasite resistance. So they were all sold. The Barbados and Painted Desert sheep were interesting, but the Barbados is also small and wild and the Painted Desert did not have nice fleece, actually had hair and shed it. They too had to go. 

Currently there are Cotswolds, Blue Faced Leicesters, Icelandics, Karakuls, Jacobs, E'st a Laine Merino, Suffolk, Dorset and crosses of these breeds. The Cotswold ram is a very nice ram with an easy going personality, but it seems impossible to put any weight on him. Only one ewe of the three ewes kept her weight and has lovely fleece as strictly being grass fed . The ram and the other ewes and their lambs were heavily grain fed and did not develop the genes to revert to being grass fed, so they will go too. The Icelandics must be coated if their fleece is to be free of vegetative matter and I do not want to go through the expense and trouble to catch them five or six times to change the size of coats. The lambs are also slow growing and are hard to sell, especially the ram lambs. Everyone wants meaty chunky lambs. So I bought a Dorset and yes, her  lamb is meaty and chunky for sure, but she was never handled and has kept her lamb away from human contact. They will have to go too. A Karakul ram was never found and one of the Karakul ewes strangled herself this winter. I love the sheep, but with one barren, she will have to be culled too. And the list will go on until there are only the Southdown Babydolls, Blue Face Leicesters and the Jacobs left. I do love the fleece of the Merino and Merino crosses and the one Cotswold ewe so will have to make a decision on those. Do I need to have so many sheepies? 

The last 12 bales of hay cost me one hundred dollars a bale delivered. Another aspect of the Babydolls and Jacobs is that they are small and eat so much less. With hay through the roof and hard to find, that is a huge factor in the decision making. And so, it is decided. Now will it happen? It is not easy to cull, sell or get rid of my sheep. Hmmm. 

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Airstream Land Yacht 1964
    Alpacas
    Alpine Goats
    Ameraucana Chickens
    American Buff Geese
    Ancona Ducks
    Angora Goats
    Angora Goats
    Angora Rabbits.
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Babydoll Southdown Sheep
    Bed And Breakfast
    Berkshire Pigs
    Blue Faced Leicester Sheep
    Blue Swedish Ducks
    Boer Goats
    Border Collie
    Border Collie
    Bronze Turkey Standard
    Bronze Turkey (Standard)
    Canadian Horses
    Canadian Horses
    Cats
    Chickens
    Cotswold Sheep
    Crafts And Hobbies
    Cream Legbar Chickens
    Dorset Sheep
    Ducks
    Embden Geese
    E'st A Laine Merino Sheep
    Farm Life
    Farm Life
    Farm Store
    Finnsheep
    Flemish Giant Rabbit
    Flowers
    French Lop Rabbit
    Galloway Cattles
    Gardening
    Gotland Sheep
    Guinea Fowl
    Herbs
    Holstein Steer
    Icelandic Sheep
    Jacob Sheep
    Japanese Bantam Chickens
    Jersey Cow
    Kahaki Campbell Ducks
    Karakul Sheep
    Kiko Goats
    Kilo Highland Cows
    Light Sussex Chicken
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Livestock Guardian Dogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Maremma Sheepdogs
    Meishan Pigs
    Miniature Nigerian Dwarf Goats
    Moose Hills Inn
    Muscovy Ducks
    Norwegian Red Dairy Cow
    Nubian Goats
    Nygora Goat
    Ossabaw Hogs
    Partidge Chantecler Chickens
    Pekin Ducks
    Permaculture
    Pied Guinea Fowl
    Polish/Ameraucana Bantam Cross Chickens
    Polled Dorset Sheep
    Potbelly Pigs
    Pygmy Goats
    Recipes
    Rigit Galloway Cows.
    Romanov Sheep
    Romney Sheep
    Rouen Ducks
    Saddleback Pomeranican Geese
    Saxony Ducks
    Sebastopol Geese
    Sheep And Goats
    Shetland Sheep
    Silver Spangled Hamburg Chicken
    Soap And Hand Made Cosmetics
    Standard Jack Donkey
    Sustainability
    Swiss Blackneck Goats
    The Llamas
    The Llamas
    Toulouse Geese
    Tunis Sheep
    White Chantecler Chickens
    White Danish Geese
    Wool

    Author

    Fluffy writes daily about the experiences on the farm and with the bed and breakfast patrons. 

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    view old blog site

    RSS Feed

Contact Us
Home

The Fat Ewe Farm 

All text and photos are the sole property of The Fat Ewe Farm  and may not be used without written permission.