Breeding Season!

I can't resist taking pictures of the rams as soon as the ewes are introduced to the breeding pens. They strike the most ridiculous poses!

Clancy and I finished up the fencing on the second ram pen yesterday around noon. We were working just a few feet from Unicorn and Bombarde's winter pen (the one Uni will use during breeding.) Bombarde was standing on his hind legs nearly the whole time it took us to wire some net type fencing into the metal round pen. He KNEW what day it was. He KNEW he'd be meeting his girls soon and he could hardly wait.

Unicorn had his head buried in his hay flake. I ventured a guess that he was just too big and dumb to notice the annual subtle shift in behavior which signals the breeding season is imminent. Clancy figured it was more a case of Uni considers himself King Ram. "No doubt his harem will be delivered to him shortly."

I laughed at that. Then I realized how likely that was true...Unicorn is a pain to handle because he is so big and hard to catch. Plus he likes to show off for girls and he seems to need more space and indestructible holding pens. We always leave him in the winter pen and bring his ewes to him.

Bombarde, on the other hand, is very easy to catch and leads like a charm. He is clever and good at escaping when the fencing is not up to snuff. But he is a gentleman with his ewes and he does not tend to run them like Unicorn. So I always take him to a different area to meet his girls. He actually has the smaller round pen with 3 ewes rather than 2. And I see signs that he has already bred Rai Min. Bomby is relaxed in smaller spaces-probably because he is not the dominant ram. His personal space is usually decided by someone else.

Back in the non-breeding ewe pen, the '08 lambs are officially weaned now. Oh, the fuss! One might think they were 7 weeks old instead of 7 months old. Where's my MOMMY????!!! Old Rachel is babysitting. She seems to enjoy the extra space at the feeder.

So does bitty Silvy. I'm so proud of her. She has really learned to advocate for herself. Even though she gets pushed out quite a bit, she has learned to push right back to get what she needs. The other ewe lambs cut her some slack now.