Now these are some very cool sheep!
As many of you may already know, we had an offer that we couldn't refuse. Some new friends offered up a couple sheep from their flock to bless us with. They knew that we were looking for useful animals to have on our homestead, and they had a surplus. But... it was a limited time offer.
We had to act quickly, because they were going to be taking them to an auction soon if no one picked them up. So once we got back home from visiting them last weekend, I had to get building a fence so we could pick some up.
Since we were not exactly sure what they had in mind for giving us of these flock, we had no idea what we would actually get. How many would there be? Would there be at least one male and one female? Because they were a gift, we didn't feel like asking too much ahead of time.
Sure enough, when we got there, they chose to gift us one intact male and one female. They might even breed this fall and lamb in the spring! Just to bless them back, we chose to purchase another ewe from them, so we ended up with a 3 for the price of 1 deal; one ram and two ewes!
You may be wondering what kind of sheep they are. You will notice that these are hairy little ones. The wife of the couple who gave them to us spins yarn, so she keeps some sheep with good hair and also an alpaca on their homestead.
The ones that we have are a mixed breed, as they are crossed between Shetland and Finn. Both of these breeds belong to the Northern European Short-tailed sheep family, since the Finn sheep are from Finland and the Shetland from the Shetland Islands.
Both breeds are "dual-purpose" breeds which are used for both wool and meat. We were mostly looking for edible lawnmowers, but the wool is a great bonus. Our girls are excited about potentially learning how to spin, and the lady we got them from even invited them to join her in the spring to learn more about it once the wool is sheared off the sheep at her homestead.
Once of the coolest things about these sheep is that they are a docile medium breed that breeds aggressively. Because of the Finn sheep heritage in their blood, they can actually give birth to litters of lambs, rather than just a lamb or twins. Some can even give birth to more than four lambs at a time.
When you combine that potential with the fact that they mature quickly and can breed at six months of age, you may notice a trend. Even more interesting is that some will breed twice per year. Yeah, they are basically over-sized, woolly rabbits!
The ewes that we got may even get bred this fall, if they are not pregnant already. If that is the case, this flock may begin to grow in the spring.
When we brought them home to their new pasture, they took off running! Just check out these blurs!
For added fun I took a sequence of photos to make a gif.
I'll work on getting some better photos during the day of these guys and maybe even making a video for you to enjoy. Life sure can be an adventure. Just a few years ago I would have never thought that one day we would actually have sheep like this!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-sheep
Until next time…
Don’t waste your time online, invest it with steemit.com
PA -PA Pepper
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, Yes sir
A Homestead full.
hhhhh it's looks so cute, here in algeria , my country we have a lot of people who take care of sheep and i see evrything similar in your post ;) really you did an amazing work to collect all this moment in one post , than i want just ask a question do you use her milk and how is her cheese here they say that it is amazing ;)
finally thank you @papa-pepper
and peace
We have not milked sheep. Do you?
here they do ;)
one of my favorite cheese is French Roquefort and that is made from cheese. I believe the ricotta and romano in Italy is made from sheep's milk. It imparts an amazing flavour. If you want to make high end cheese to sell for a lot at farmers markets and in high end grocery and restaurant you should totally milk the sheep! Good luck. I have chickens and now some quail.
LOL! _ I'll upvote that!
papa ,,, yesterday morning, my brother's goat gave birth to a very cute baby. look at my youtube channel. she gave birth to two babies at once. i like you papa. by, @boyasyie
nice post brother....i am always with you...
Yes brother I also with you.
Congratulations on your expanded family! Your adorable daughters look very excited to have new pets on the homestead :D
Very nice post i enjoyed reading it
Kids seem overjoyed... Kids just love Sheep. We have a couple of them at home and the kids are seen always 'playing' with them, their fur, and feeding them with handful of green grass. Countryside life is Best life as far as i know. Lovely Kids and Brown Sheep. Try having a Kid of Sheep, they are totally adorable.
nice post brother....i am always with you...
Good try...but your spam failed terribly
Agree with you @mirhimayun 100%
Good
So, my guess was wrong. No Nigerian Dwarf goats, but sheep.
Are you going to get Nigerian Dwarf goats too?
That is our hope.
Beautiful sheep. We used to have goats on our small holding (similar to your homestead). They are a lot of fun!
@papa-pepper you are going to love having sheep, especially when lambing time comes. What a fun adventure for your family! :)
We can't wait!
Beautiful!
Do they give milk too? Then they can be triple purpose!
You didn't mention... But they look tiny. Are they dwarf?
So awesome! Congratz
They are a medium sized sheep. But these are young.
this is nice.. awesome post.. wish to see some more from you.. i upvoted..
There are so many interesting posts in steemit. Read well.
LOL really cool sheeps
Nice papa your amazing.. Lol
hehe I was so close with my Alpacas guess! xD They look beautiful, I am sure you will get some lovely yarns from their fleece! I think you may soon have alpacas on your farm though... I can see it in my mind lol
While they may not be Alpacas, they still look similar and have some great wool? Would you like a bit of it in the spring?
Oh, I would love some, thank you! :D
I'll try shearing them in the spring myself, and will post about it. Remind me then, and I'll send you some!
woohoo :D
Very cool the flock grows and grows. This breed mix seems to be a perfect fit for your homestead at this stage. The sheep look like they have some warm jackets on. Congratulations!
I think that they will be a good fit for us.
beautiful pictures
pet sheep is yes, I really like, because I really like the same animal, I also se herd goat goat ...
The lamb is very nice and hopefully the sheep can be bred, thanks for sharing @papa-pepper
good post @papa-pepper ,,,i liked
Now @papa-pepper already has a pair of really cool sheep. maybe they will grow very quickly and soon have a lot of children. Good luck to @papa-pepper
YAAAAY welcome to sheep farming! I had sone Shetlands for a while, but moved into slightly larger breeds. Theres still some Shetland influence in the flock, as well as Finn, and our main breeding ram is Romanov, another highly prolific, short-tailed breed.
Very cool! Thank you!
Hairy rabbits I love it I grew up working on various Farms, and sheep when you are small and they are huge and so strong, especially the ones who have just been brought in from the hills. I remember being dragged along trying to get them to go where we wanted them, best times off my life, you are more blessed than you know. I hope you get more animals and find out just how much fun Pigs are, they are so clever.
We are enjoying our pigs too!
@papa-peper, my time is also very much sheep. but specially in my village. the people there merkea prefer to keep sheep from the goats. the goats are bad sanagt. like jumping on other people's garden and eating their plants. goats often do not survive in our village.
good post. your posts remind me of my hometown. I am currently being monitored. thanks for sharing @papa-peper.
hope you are healthy always :)
Looks like you'll be having LOTS of wool .. you're lucky u got the kind that proliferate [and Your li'l girl will surely enjoy #learning about spinning ! ]
I "took note" when u said the type of sheep were FINN -- as my spouse is from Norway; so he pays particular attn. to anything which has to do w/ Norway/Finland/Sweden !
HAVE FUN on Your farm..
Love the post (nice long one w/ Detail ) - and also liked the pictures. The 3rd one (of their faces, close up) & the girls pictures, too
I'm working on a video about them too. Might post it Saturday night.
Nice -- my spouse has a #Family farm, and we live close enough that we get to visit.
I sure do appreciate it, when I get to dine & have fresh veggies out at the #farm .
Well, thanx for letting me know abt this video you'll post. ☻☻
good post and interesting @papa-pepper.
in my house a lot of sheep.
because we are one of the sheep breeders.
if you you are around the world then stop at my place that is in aceh (indonesia).
Thank you verry much.
Your life is very comfortable in steemit papa, all your posts are awarded from @blocktrades while we like not being considered here .. congratulations for you @papa-pepper
All of my posts are not rewarded by blocktrades. Some are. Many are rewarded by others.
Are you being sarcastic when you say, "we like not being considered here?"
No @papa-pepper I just corrected myself. What's wrong with all my posts. Why I'm not as lucky as you are papa. I just want to be lucky like you. without changing myself.
Good, I am glad that you are asking a serious question, sometimes communication can be difficult.
I would suggest that the main difference is our investment in the community.
You joined in July 2017, whereas I joined in July of 2016. I have a year's head start on you. During my time here I have made almost 30,000 posts and comments, given away thousands of dollars worth of STEEM & SBD, ran many contests, shared a lot of helpful information, voted on posts and made posts every day, and have basically become a "household" name on steemit.
You cannot do in a few months what it has taken me over a year to do. All I can say is to press on and continue, because if you give up, you have no chance. If you continue, there is the possibility of things getting better. I hope that helps.
Yes I understand papa. I want to be like you, but not forgetting who I really am. some new steemians have gained many awards from blocktrades and some witnesses but I did not get them at all. Honestly from the bottom of my heart there is a feeling of disappointment, but I do not give up papa.
There are some steemian that I educate like @scoutting and he managed to do well.
I looked again at what was wrong with my post. I feel very honored daddy, because you've stopped by to see my account. thank you science and tips from you very help me
If you can catch someone's eye (like a whale) then more power too you, but if not, it may just take time. Your reputation is already a 53, so you are still climbing up!
thank you papa, your suggestion really helps me to be more spirited. The most important thing for me now is to make the original post not plagiarism because I do not like to plagiarize.
Honestly, my goal is to do this in steemit because I want to pay the cost of cancer surgery I suffered. but I do not want to beg like a bum or a tramp. I feel satisfied if I can produce with sweat and my own effort. sorry papa I have to tell you the truth. and I do not expect donations here. thank you for guiding me today papa.
Not to rain on your parade,...We had finn sheep on our farm. I can tell you without question that we will not ever do that again. By far, our least favorite animal. We also had some experiences with your run of mill sheep while in Chile, same experience. But, that was just our experience, hopefully yours will be better. Here's a pic of me bringing one home from an Australian breeder in Deer Park, Washington. I'm in a Suburban, must be a requirement to have a homestead - LOL
Thanks for the heads up. We will see how they work out for us. Steem on @gringalicious!
Well I had to jump in on this one too,....
What a blessing!
Love your edible lawnmowers! What cute sheep, and your girls are just as sweet. Wishingyou luck with them all. "A litter of lambs" sounds intriguing don't you think? Glad you shared this.Thank you
I think that a litter of lambs does sound good! We will see!
Way to go farmer Papa. A horse can't be that far along. lol
House first...
Make sure it has a basement.
I konw this guy in the picture ...We studied together...😂😂😂😂😂😂
Great post!
Nice pic animal. Helpful post. Thank you...
thank you so much for your post and ha nice pic
Sheep are generally a very amicable group of animals, although a complete pain to get together when it's dipping time. And I forget the technical term for the rubber band thing used on the rams in my long long ago farming days - but I think that was a deliberate move by my male brain!
Nice post
https://steemit.com/@anis365
follow me for follow back
Please upvote all my post.
for upvote back
Thank you.........
Nice post
https://steemit.com/@anis365
follow me for follow back
Please upvote all my post.
for upvote back
Thank you.........
regards. STEEM ON !.
- Critic-on
Those are very tiny sheep!
Woohoo I guessed right with Sheep, well me and my little sheep friend guessed that :)
Have ffun at shearing time if you do it yourself, if you have a sheep farmer near it may pay to transport them there, hand shearing with shears is a hard job for the first few times, and can cut too close to the skin so the sheep get sunburn.
Hmmm,animals are good ..most especially sheep,fowl and those indoor animal.i love animal .take good care of them @papa-pepper.
Not Baaa-aaa-aaad! ; )
Baaa means crazy in Thai so maybe they walk around and say, crazy people all the time ;)
haha! I'll think about that whenever I hear sheep now! : )
Thanks!
Very nice post it made me happy to read and see.
Looks like your daughters already adopted them and also they seemed to enjoy their new home.
Hi @papa-pepper is that your pet? very nice bro. and thank you very much for visiting my post.
Congratulations @papa-pepper!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Congratulations @papa-pepper!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
My guess was right! How exciting for your family to start raising sheep. I will be watching for followup when and if your girls do decide to learn to spin wool. My hope is to also have sheep for wool so if I can learn anything before then, that would be great!
Nice! I like your username too!
Hi @papa-pepper!
I'm happy to include this post in the next CTR Crossword Puzzle No.-6. This post will be linked in all related CTR Crossword posts . All participants for this puzzle will land on this post to find their answers to it
Thank you for creating awesome content which is just perfect for our crossword puzzle participants!