Sheep!
These are hair sheep, which are different than wool sheep. Wool sheep are typically raised for wool, breeding, milk and/or meat. Hair sheep do not have wool that you harvest, they are raised for breeding, milk and meat. Their hair is not harvested, but falls off naturally each spring. We decided we have enough fiber on this farm with alpacas that we really did not need to add wool to our alpaca fiber. But we wanted to diversify animals. Sheep work well in that they are similar to alpacas by using many of the same materials and husbandry.
We have five bred ewes and one ram. The ram is the one on the far left in this picture:
They have such cute faces! I especially like the one with black around her eyes and ears.
The ewes are supposed to all be bred and are due any day now. So we are officially on lamb watch.
It was funny when they arrived on Saturday, once we finally got the sheep into their paddock, the sheep all lined up on the fence closest to the alpacas and stared at them. The alpacas, on the other hand, ran to the furthest fence line away from the sheep and stared at them! Even by this morning the alpacas did not want go anywhere near the fence line closest to the sheep. Alpacas are smart but vulnerable animals and they are always thinking about safety. I don't blame them for being cautious. In time they will learn these sheep are harmless to them.
3 comments:
What breed of sheep? will you be,milking and making cheese?
They are Katahdin sheep.
We are planning to focus on dairy ~ milk, cheese and soap. My husband is working on 3 different cheeses he wants to make and all that. We could make soap and then cover it with felt alpaca fiber. So many options!!
Cara
How exciting! I agree, the one with black eyes and ears is very cute - it will be interesting if her lamb has the same colouring. Can't wait for the photos, I bet your kids are excited! :) Lisa
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