Leisurely Ladies and Young Thugs

Last weekend, we moved our bunch of randy teenage ram lambs, their wether babysitter, Franklin, and nasty old mature ram, Gus, down to the “down barn and pasture”

The seven ewes, without any male hinderences, are now enjoying leisurely hay bales and even a bit of grain to ready them for breeding in November. They seem awfully comfy all of a sudden, a mellow coffee klatch group noshing on apples (they love them).

Gus is now "enjoying" his semi-solitary confinement beside but not with the young ones. He is a meat and potatoes kind of guy-- as long as he's fed he could care less about flocking. Flocking is for sissies anyway. (The solitary is because he is so big and tough and nasty that there’s the possibility he could kill one of the ram lambs-- or even Franklin--when the season starts in earnest next month. Also, he is a hay/grain hog and we’d like the smaller guys to get a little food as well. Also, he is seriously nasty during breeding season and we don’t want to have to fight him off whenever we set foot in the pasture.)

Without their mothers around, the ram lambs are settling down to business: determining who was the toughest, biggest, and strongest. Lots of head knocking has ensued. Little James (iffy all sommer with a cough) has buddied up with the humongous Charlie Bucket for protection. But Charlie is more lover than fighter; he’s barely bothered with all that. (What a terrific, placid, ram!) Bombadil, being the only polled ram, mostly kept out of the doings. It’s funny to see the four of them whooping it up like a bunch of hoods at a rumble. Like a scene from West Side story, sans Maria.

AND, with so many possible pairings, this will be an especially exciting breeding season! We are hoping for a big, beautiful and colorful bunch of lambs next year!