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A Flock on the Prairie

When we moved to the Idaho prairie almost two years ago, we had only dreamed of being able to own chickens to get eggs.  Well, it's been almost a year now that we've had our own chickens.  You can check out our first girls HERE, HERE, and HERE.  Well, now we've turned into sheep farmers!
 I can hardly believe that we've gotten ourselves into this new adventure, but I have to admit that these girls are pretty cute!  We have a friend that found these sheep (I know, they look like a goat) for free.  The thing is that they may all be pregnant. 

For now, we have three, two whitish and one darker.  They are an American Black Belly crossed with a St. Croix.  They are pretty hardy and able to lamb on their own.  The former owners had to get rid of them because the pigs they were in with had pushed them out of the barn.  We happen to have a small (horse) barn, so we borrowed some panels to pen them off in an area.  We have a pretty large yard that needs some sort of grazing animal because it is nearly impossible to walk through with the tall grass and ditches from rain wash outs (oh, yeah, and the junk that used to be in it.) 
We spent the weekend fencing off the yard, and researching what we should be doing with sheep.  We figure the worst case scenario is that we have some sheep meat. 

I can't get close up pictures, because they haven't been handled too much and are very skittish.  I am sure that I will be posting  a lot about our adventures with our new sheep.  For now, to get 5 kids to name only three sheep without arguing!
If you have sheep, do you have any great advice for newbies?  I'd love to know what people do with lamb meat.  Neither Mr. Right or I have liked the lamb we've had, but we are going to try. I would love to hear what you think about our new flock!  We might be adding a few more to our flock in the next day or two.
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Comments

  1. Vickie @ makingoursustainablelife.comOctober 22, 2013 at 8:35 AM

    So cool that you got them for free! From the pictures they look a bit skittish, but I'm sure they will settle in soon. I wonder if you will eat them, shear them, or just use them as lawn mowers?

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    Replies
    1. Prairie ScrapsOctober 22, 2013 at 10:36 PM

      We plan to eat them eventually (the lambs will go to fair for 4-H) but in the meantime they are lawnmowers in parts of the yard that we can't get a mower into. They have hair, so it sheds and doesn't need to be sheared.

      Delete
  2. LisaOctober 22, 2013 at 10:42 AM

    Awww I would love to have a pet chicken! The sheep are so cute too. Im sure with time they will be loveable and pose for some pictures. LOL. Love you blog. come visit me sometime. http://www.lifeawayfromtheofficechair.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. KathyOctober 30, 2013 at 12:32 PM

    Aren't they precious - I love them - looking forward to future posts on how they're doing and if there'll be babies! I am delighted that you shared with Home and Garden Thursday,
    Kathy

    ReplyDelete

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