Posted 8:20 AM by John Bell
This weekend we rounded up the purebred Hampshire Ewes for drenching and hoof trimming. One, Number 16, did not get with the program. She somehow got herself turned around in the chute and had to be dragged, bodily, out through the foot bath. Full grown Hamp ewes weigh in well upwards of two hundred pounds and, as a breed, are noted for good muscle development. It was not a satisfactory experience for either of us. Sheep all have their own personalities, but I had not remembered her as being difficult before. Yesterday, we found the reason when she presented us with a pretty little scrap of a lamb. She did not lamb with the rest of the flock this winter and was put in with the back-up buck. We thought she had been bred, but, surprisingly, had no clue she was that far along. Mother and son are doing well and staying temporarily in a pen in the barn. Me she remembers from the footbath incident, so Susan is doing the post-natal care. We have had fall lambs, winter lambs, a few spring lambs, but this is our first mid-summer arrival!