Forget the Chalk...

Fall is definitely here. I know because I am reminded by the beauty of all the leaves changing color, the crisp colors of a cool morning where you see your footprints in the grass as you cut through the frost and ample apple cider and sugar pumpkin donuts; that and I'm freezing every morning. But along with fall comes the anticipated first breedings at Windy Knob Farms. This year I am using five rams on seven ewes which is pretty ambitious for a first year breeder. Two of the pairs are being held on another farm, so essentially I am managing three sets.

One of the great things about sheep is their delivery of lambs is like clockwork. My understanding is once bred, you can count 145 days and have lambs within an hour or two. Thus, the hard part is knowing when the deed was done. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me remind you there is no courting here, no buying dinner first, no romance. It's breeding for the sake of procreation, and that's it. So if this sounds a little scientific, and leaves you feeling like romance is dead. It is.



Back to the task at hand. How do you know when the ram bred the ewe? There are all kinds of crayon holders and marking harnesses, but the farm way for me (farm is the new "ghetto", aka make due with what you have. So if you hear me say that is so "farm" that means practical, frugal, or cheap if you will) was to grind up some kids sidewalk chalk on clearance from Meijer, with some globs of crisco shortening and viola you have an underbody rub to spread on the ram. Green on ram leads to green on ewe tail, check daily and call me in 145 days.


Now here is where it gets pg-13 but I can not possibly avoid this part of the story. Imagine this, three rams in one stall, across the way are five ladies wafting their pheromones across and driving the boys crazy. You open the stall door and wrestle out this 250 pounder into the middle aisle, then pull out the 200 pound ladies you want matched up with him. From here, you have to open the barn door, and use the fencing aisles to get them down into the part of the pasture you want them to stay for the next 34 days (two ovulation cycles of an ovine). However... upon bringing the ewes into the center aisle, I couldn't even make my way to open the barn door before they were doing the nasty in the middle of my barn. And you laugh, but I was a bit traumatized. For a minute I had the gumption to try and push these two, while in the act, out into the pasture. And yeah, it wasn't happening; 450 pounds of humpty hump is a lot to move. What did I do? Nothing. What could I do, but wait 'till they were through. Chalk nothing; my retinas are still burning. My therapist said the nightmares and images will go away with time, but I don't know.


On a lighter note, above is the fleece off of 7 month old Dougherty. He is the future of Windy Knob farms. His sire is a Corriedale of great size and confirmation, his dame is a beautiful natural colored Corriedale with an amazingly long and tight crimped fleece. That equates to quite the ram passing on white and colored genetics to his offspring, and producing high quality fleeces. If you look closely you can see the crimp which is the tight waves or crinkles in the fleece. Speaking of fleeces, we sold our first fleece to a lady from Grand Rapids who was visiting the fiber festival in Leland. It should be the first of many, she was very pleased with the product. We have several available in both whites, brown and black. Please visit our web page and contact us at http://www.windyknobfarms.com/ if you are interested.



So now I wait. Wait for the cooler temperatures. Wait for the leaves to fall. Wait till I can check off the last thing on my "before snow falls" list.

Soon enough the snow will fall, and the sheep will be ready for their reunion in the barn, and we will all hunker down for the long winter and wait.