Rambunctious

I went out to the sheep pasture while my potatoes were baking for lunch, because I wanted to see if I could spot any testicles on the young rams. I'll spare you the suspense and tell you that I don't see anything, so I'm hopeful that the Burdizzo method of castration worked! These are two of the little guys who were castrated. I'm really excited to have another gray wether. I love gray wool, and it sells very well. We originally said we were going to butcher the three wethers, but their colors are turning out so beautiful, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to follow through with that plan.

Here's a picture of the third wether in front of the ram that is currently living with the ewes -- and checking out a ewe when I snapped this picture. He was just born this spring. Isn't it amazing how fast they grow! He's only about five months older than the little guy!

The adult rams that are not with the ewes are letting it be known that they are not happy about the living arrangements. They have messed up the livestock panels between their pen and the other pen, so I went into their pen and tried to fix it. I finally gave up on one section and decided to let Mike do it when he gets home from delivering turkeys. The whole time I was working on the livestock panels, the four rams just stood there and watched me quietly, but as soon as I got up and headed for the gate, Teddy started running towards me with his head down. Yes, sweet Teddy -- the ram whose life I saved after he was attacked by coyotes this summer.

This was the first time I've ever found myself on the same side of the fence with a ram in a bad mood, and I hope it's the last! My left thumb and my right wrist do not feel good. I put my hands down in front of my knees to ... to protect myself, I guess. It's amazing how your brain just does not work very well in some situations. Finally, I got behind a tree, which confused Teddy. He then walked up to the tree and looked around it at me. He put his head down and started to run towards me again, so I moved again to put the tree between us. I looked at how far it was to the gate and knew I'd never get there without being rammed several more times, so I went over the fence. Thank goodness it's only woven wire over there. I'm not sure if I'd have made the same decision with electric.

This is Margaret's little brown ewe lamb out of Ophelia, and it didn't seem fair to take pictures of the boys without also taking her picture. Isn't she just adorable!