I've had a very successful lambing season.

Hi everyone!
I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in a long time. I just haven't had the time to sit down and blog for 20 minutes! I've been soooo busy! Let me tell you all the things that have been happening around here since the last time posted anything.

I am done with lambing! Today I had my last lamb of the season. I am all done. This year I had 17 ewes that were going to lamb. All of them were pregnant exsept one. I have 15 ewe lambs and 9 ram lambs. all together I have 32 ewes. That's a lot! They are eatting a lot of hay and drinking a lot of water!

As much as I wish I could keep all of my sheep, I'm afraid I can't. We just can't keep all of them forever! I'm going to have to cull some. Mom and dad said that I need to keep my flock down to around 25 ewes. So I am going to have to call 7 ewes and the 9 ram lambs this year. I am going to try to sell some of them. I already know a few people who would like to buy some. And the remaining sheep that I can't sell we will eat. I never get sad when we have to eat them though. We give our animals the best life possible and when we have to eat them we do it in a nice way that doesn't hurt them.

To those out there who are new to my blog and who don't know about Jacob sheep, I will say more about them.

Jacob sheep can have 2, 4 or even 6 horns! They are black and white spoted and are very easy to take care of. Because of all the horns that they have on there head they some times will run out of room and they will get split eye lids. (This only happens with the ones that have 4 horns or 6.) They're horns can curve all around and some times grown into the head. Some times their horns can break off. I have a sheep who just broke off a horn yesturday. Often when their horns break off they will sometimes grow back. But if they do grow back it may be in a crooked way. Jacob sheep are a great sheep for people just starting out. They are a very hardy breed that can lamb on there own with little or no help. They do not need a lot of shots like other breeds. In the few years that I have had them I have never had to give them one shot. They also have a lot of wool. This wool is more valued by hand spiners. Because their wool is black and white it is rare to hand spinners. If you ever want to buy some of these Jacob sheep, I have a lot to sell and will gladly sell them. Next year I will have so many of them I won't know what to do! The freezer can only hold so much!

Let me list the traits that are desireable and the traits that are not desireable in my Jacob sheep.

Desireable: Horns that are not fuzed. Fuzed horns are horns that are stuck together and may grow into the head. I have some Jacob sheep that have fuzed horns. If a sheep has fuzed horns that trait will pass on to its off spring. Jacob sheep need to have black eye and nose patches on the face. Some of my sheep only have the eye patchs and others have both the eye and nose patchs. It is not commen for them to only have the nose patch. Some times they will only have one eye patch. ( I will post pictures of this) Jacob sheep also need to have nice colering. They look like they are white with black spots but really they are black with white spots. If a sheep as 60% black and 40% white, this is good coloring. (No two sheep are alike. Even the twins look different.)

Not Desireable: Fuzed horns that curve into the face. Split eye lids caused by horns that are not strait on the head. Many of my sheep have strait horns that have symmetry with each other. Missing eye and nose patchs on a Jacob sheep are not what a true Jacob sheep looks like. this trait also will follow to there off spring. I am going to call the ones that are missing these patches. Jacob sheep are not suppose to be one color. They are suppose to be black and white spotted. A Jacob sheep being one color is rare. I have a Jacob sheep that is 100% white. I am going to have to get ride of her. I was going to get rid of her but then she lambed! Her lambs looked like real Jacob sheep should look like! But still I am going to have to get rid of them. The white gene is in there blood. I think the reason the that she is white is because we must of inbreeded. When you breed a sheep to its half brother or a second cousin, things like this may happen.

I am sorry If I keep going on and on and on. I just really love my Jacob sheep. Anyway. This year I have had a really good year for lambing.I have had all my ewes lamb but one. I have had more ewes then rams and more twin births then singles. None of the lambs have died this year and they are all healthy! A really good thing about my jacob sheep is that they are able to lamb on their own with no problems. This year I didn't have to help my sheep with their lambing. I think Jacob sheep are a great breed of sheep for people who don't know anything about sheep. I had a lambing year that other sheep people dream about! If you ever want to get some of these really cool sheep, talk to me first.

All the rest of the animals here are doing well. Nothing as really been happening with them. My moms cow did calf. But other then that they are fine and doing well. I am going to end this post with lots of pictures of all my Jacob sheep. I hope you liked this post! I can't wait until next year!

This is my little brother Josiah holding a lamb. I hope you liked this post! I will try to update my blog more often. My birthday is next week. I am going up to my grandpa's house for a week so I might not by able to blog until I get back. I get to Join Facebook and Twitter when I come back. You can follow me if you like. Until then. I will see you later! Wish us luck!

Timber Creek Kid.