Okay so it can't be all laughs...we have to do some serious stuff here too. Like culling animals out of the herd, or the flock I should say. The sheep are my thing and sometimes I have a hard time doing this.
Don't let anybody know this, but I have a heart. I know, I know...don't get all sappy on me now! I don't know if it's the woman in me, the mom or what, but some animals are hard to cull out even when your noggin is saying, "dork, she was a tiny lamb, her fleece sucks, she had respitory issues..." and the list goes on.
Such is the case for "Scarlet". That little pain has grown on me. That's her, the little ewe lamb on the left. I had to take her from her dummy of a mother, who chose not to feed her but take care of her twin ram lamb instead. He's about twice her size.
When I have to cull, I look at scrapie resistance, mothering ability, frame, fleece and personality. If you don't fit the bill your outta here. Feed is expensive and with sheep/lamb prices good, well you can be picky. With saying that, I just culled a week before Easter. Scarlet's mom and brother hit the road along with my old crabby ram and my other ram lambs.
I looked at Scarlet for a while...there was a list of reasons as long as my arm to cull her out and get her made into lamb chops. Then, my darn heart got in the way because she came up to me wanting to be pet. Babydolls have this adorable little face with shiny button eyes you can't resist.
SO...now I kept a lamb that I had to treat again this past week. BUT at least I have a buddy in the sheep pen.
This is "Petunia" She was my bottle brat from last year.
Happy Trails!
Suzanne
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