meet Ziggy, the late-arriving ram-lamb. This arrival date means his mother was bred here on my ranch, rather than by one of her relatives on the ranch we got his mother from.
http://picasaweb.google.com/mwsmotorsports/Ziggy_Ram_Lamb54091006PM# 10 lbs. Same size as my largest ewe lamb from February. He is son of Marley and Beatrice. Marley is my yearling bottle-baby ram I got for free from a goat breeder. He started this whole thing, once I researched what he was. She is a first-time mother and my wildest and most difficult ewe to maintain, but I like her markings best. We do plan to try to bottle-feed Ziggy for tameness but probably will wait for two weeks at least, so we can get a break and he can get more benefit than his cousins, who only got 8 or 9 days with their moms. The tradeoff is: the more time he spends with mom, the more he gets taught to run from humans. He'll probably get banded and kept as a pet, since we have two good rams from different bloodlines. Update: my February bottle-fed lamb girls are weaned, and are now 26-31 lbs and two out of the three are very friendly, and bellow for me to come to the fence, even when not hungry. They like to be picked up so much, that one bopped my nose trying to jump up into my arms when I leaned down. The last one has a shy mother, and is also very shy but does not mind being held, once I grab her. She, along with the others, will always come into the barn when I call and allow me to lock up the gate, without bolting--which is perfect for hoof and vaccination maintenance. This is something I can never do with any of my adult ewes, who leap 6 feet into the air, and have knocked me down for blocking their exit, before. If I get time, with all the other things I need to deal with, I'll either buy or build a chute this summer. I am not ready to simply sell the original ewes (yet), and have a tame flock. I made a point, during the last two weeks of feeding, to always hold each lamb instead of shotgun-feeding with three bottles in hand, with them standing on the ground. Besides, when they compete for food, feeding on the ground, they would always race each other to drink, and no matter how small the hole in the pritchard nipple, would sometimes choke on their milk. They would be less liable to do east fast and choke, when held one on one. They got so heavy, I would have to support them with my arms, but hold onto the railings, but it was worth it. I consider the time and effort put into it, for my needs, since I am not raising sheep for a living or for butchering, to have been worth it. -Michael, Perino Ranch Blackbellies _______________________________________________ This message is from the Blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
