[Jacob-list] posts

[Heather Hettick]

That's exactly what I was doing last year about this time!  This year, I
sent all the excess boys to market a couple weeks ago and have only one
happy ram with his ten ladies and a llama.  I needed a stress-free breeding
season for a change because I'm pregnant myself and didn't need the hassle
and worry of separating and feeding the different groups and reintroducing
rams and figuring out exact breeding dates when one of my older ewes totally
rejected and abused the ram lamb I assigned her to.

I used three rams last year and had one major fight where the ram I kept for
this year lost a horn when he accidentally got loose with the senior two
horned ram.  Clancey seems to have recovered well, although he still looks
funny.  His horn keeps trying to regrow, but he lost bits of his skull in
the fight and the horn is growing from only a third of the area it should
and broke off several times during the summer, so I had to keep watching him
for fly strike.  He's an extremely mellow ram so it wasn't too difficult to
take care of him, but he's gotten harder to catch when he sees me come out
in the field with a can of spray or a needle. He's the only sheep I have
that I can consistently catch in the pasture.  His attitude and a nice set
of horns (before the accident) and a wonderful fleece, got him chosen as my
ram of the year.  It helped that he only sired one ewe lamb last year too.
(( J-Mar Clancey will very likely be for sale next year, any time after
breeding season actually, as I have arranged to purchase a 4H lilac ram lamb
to use for next year and onward if he works out.  I'd like to see Clancey go
to a breeding home if possible as he's really a nice ram, despite his funny
appearance, rather than the market, so any inquiries are welcome, although
I'll have more info on his performance after lambing season.  He's a triplet
too, by the way))

Our llama had his first little test of guarding this week too.  A stray
German Shepherd or Elkhound mix was hanging around our place on my husband's
day off and I told him to keep an eye on the dog's whereabouts and possibly
give animal control a call.  Kelly said he saw the dog get into the fence
and Taco, our two year old neutered llama charged it, chasing the dog out of
the fence where it got shocked by the electric and hasn't been back.  I
don't think animal control was able to find it either though.  Previously,
Taco has seemed afraid our our little basenji dogs when we've walked him by
their dog yard.  He has seemed protective of the sheep during thunderstorms
as he makes them go into the barn, and he's also herded them in a bunch and
gone to investigate such things as biker riders riding past our house,
although he's normally just curious and friendly towards people on foot.  I
was extremely relieved to see him act protectively about the dog, although I
think this dog was probably more curious than aggressive and was after the
cat food in the barn more than into chasing sheep, but at least Taco is off
to a good start at being a real guard llama and not just a pet.

Heather Hettick
Moonstruck Jacob Sheep
Creston, OH
hettick.1 at osu.edu

  -----Original Message-----
  From: jacob-list-admin at jacobsheep.com
[mailto:jacob-list-admin at jacobsheep.com]On Behalf Of dave & katrina
  Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 8:46 AM
  To: Betty Berlenbach; jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
  Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] posts


  Everyone must be busy dividing up their breeding groups or else breaking
up fights among breeding rams! ;)
  Katrina
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: Betty Berlenbach
    To: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
    Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2001 8:10 AM
    Subject: [Jacob-list] posts


    Is it true that there have been no posts for the past week or have I
somehow gotten dropped?  Betty
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