Re: [blackbelly] a newbie breeder (J.C.)
Greetings to Cathy from Winnemucca, NV :-) Eeegads, WINNEMUCCA?!? lol, your really are out in the middle of nowhere, aren't ya? I am a fairly close (4 hrs) neighbor from rural SW Idaho, also a newbie with a small flock of AB's Spring of 2006. We have left our Rams intact as well with no taste or temperment issues. Just a suggestion to you... I don't think you'll need a ram pen for those you are going to butcher. I have found that if you have your one sire ram he'll keep the others in line, absolutly will not let them have their way with HIS ladies and they all seem to get along just dandy when they are below say 18 months and I assume you are going to butcher yours at or before this age. I don't fuss with pens... Mine just all run together, ewes, lambs, ram and butchering rams, along with a couple of weither goat pets and a couple of Llama's. We did have an issue with one very onry sire ram a few months ago, he played well with 4 legged others, just had a chip on his shoulder with 2-legged creatures-- he was 4/5 years old so ended up 50lbs boned and summer sausage. Also, we don't have sage but they seem to do fine on cheat grass as long as it is mixed with other weeds/grass. We didn't irrigate last year and they did well in the spring/summer (march thru Oct) with no suppliment feed other than me cleaning out the garden and occational bribes with COB sweetened grain. We butchered a ram at 14 months and got 45 lbs (with bone) for the freezer. I would think with your harsher climate they would do much better than the woolies when all is said and done. Also wanted to mention... in this area those few that do have barbados and raise for meat tend to cross breed. They do the woolies for size and barbados for hardiness/lambing attributes. They look *ugly* but I guess when in the freezer they all look the same ;-) -Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] American Blackbelly sheep BLACK?
Hi all, you're always so helpful to us newbie Shepard's... Started lambing here in Freezing SW Idaho. (We let our ram roam) Had a big nice healthy bouncing baby boy last week. Woke up this morn to twins :-) Both up and healthy and females. This is moms first and she is taking to both of them well. We were a little surprised to see the 2nd one as it is pure black and cute as can be. How often does this happen in AB's? Are they more or less sought after on the (meatless) market or does it matter? Or is it considered a defect so to speak- thinking of wool sheep? Does it occur often as I have never seen an AB black sheep. The dad is sausage now as he was the ornery one I whined about a few months ago to ya all. But I am thinking it must be coming from the ewe as she has more back on her back sides than the rest of our flock. I have her mother and she is *normal* in color. Have never known her mother to have black lambs. The ewe's father is the father of the black lamb as well and don't know of any black lambs he has sired outher than this one. TIA, Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] butcher ram
We just had a 13 month old AB Ram butchered last week. Tasted great and we got 48 lbs for the freezer (w/bones)-- he wasn't weighed before hand. Our *ornery* 4 year old Ram was butchered a few months ago. Chickened out on having him cut up as usual - was afraid of taste problems due to age, so made him all summer sausage, was 49 lbs boned out. Better than Hickory Farms ;-) 3. butcher ram (Johnson, Oneta) I have a question. We are butchering our first lamb in February. Is it ok to leave him a ram or will it mess with the meat like it does on other animals. He will be about 13 months old and we have him in with everyone since they are pregnant so he is not by himself. Oneta ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] Ram Sausage :-P
For those following the saga of our ornery A.B. Ram Lucky... He ain't so *Lucky* anymore. Just got him back from the butcher. He was 5 years old and such a pain as he enjoyed terrorizing everyone, we didn't want to sell him to be someone else's problem and my husband wanted his impressive rack. In the end we decided to do the Summer Sausage as we were worried about taste as he was older. We didn't get his live weight. His carcass weight was 74 lbs. We ended up with 49.5 lbs of boned meat. We were really surprised as the butcher was thinking more like 35 lbs. He came back in 12 1/4 sausage rolls-- 24 long-- Good Lord!! Good thing there are 5 of us and we like sausage. We are very happy with the taste--- not strong at all, just like Hickory Farms without the greasy coating in your mouth. The butcher said the meat looked good- he didn't need to add any Pork or Beef fat. It ended up costing $119 total. Hubby has the head in the south 40-- letting Mother Nature take her course. ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] lavendar fed lamb?!? (Barb Lee)
Thanks Barb- think I will email him :-) ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] lavendar fed lamb?!?
Okay, don't laugh at me but... Anyone ever tried feeding lambs lavendar? I read somewhere that in France lamb are sent to graze in fields of lavender before they are butchered and they have an aromatic flavor. I tried to find info on the web but couldn't. Is this doo-hicky or what? I have lavendar plants and tossed some cuttings out to them-- they sniffed it but weren't interested enough to taste it before the goats took over it. I wonder how long/how much it would take of finishing off combining with grass or grain to *taste*. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] blackbelly Digest, Vol 2, Issue 158
Rhonda, Sausage links are a good idea, hadn't thought about that. Years ago we had deer done like that and we really liked it. Just hate to spend more $$$ on that darned ram in case he turns out bad. I've been canning tomatos like crazy in prepreation for lamb stew this winter ;-) Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] butchering our Ram
The $65-75 fee includes the kill cost plus the cutting wrapping. Really don't want to do our own slaughtering-- I don't have issues bringing them home in packages but have a hard time with the killing and the mess. We don't even do our own chickens/turkeys. My husband would probably seriously consider it if he didn't work so many darned hours at his job-- he is just too busy around here putting up fences, barns, landscaping and the like. We just built our house on this 5 1/2 acres about a year ago and he did much of the finishing himself-- so very much to do when you are starting from scratch. Talked to the butcher again, looks like we are going to have to wait a few weeks to get rid of that ram as fair just ended here and so they are swamped with everyone who is doing market animals--- but I can't complain too much as that includes us- my oldest daughters did swine, one in FFA and the other in 4H- sold 2 and we have 1 ourselves... whom we'll be picking up in those little white packages in another week ;-) Will let everyone know the details on our ram when we get him done, think we decided to do hamburger and stew meat only. Have a bit of more sheep drama here... We bought the new ram and two ewes from a member here who is relocating. Just picked them up Sunday. hey thought the ewes might be pregnant. We figure one is too young, they said she was 5 months but now I am thinking she is a few months older, the other ewe is her mother and that ewe was her first. Checked them out real good Sunday when we brought them home and they were fine-- last night was looking at them again and the older ewe has fulled bagged and uttered, wasn't on Sunday. I was afraid she may have lambed by the looks of her bag but checked the field and couldn't find anything. My ewe that lambed last month didn't bag up until the day before she lambed and then it wasn't as big. So am expecting another birth here VERY soon. The reason we were watching her so closely last night was because our meanie ram had singled her out and wouldn't leave her alone. Kept following her and sniffing her butt then growling(?) and being somewhat aggressive, at least in attitude. So we were trying to figure out what was going on. We ended up seperating and penning her up with our shunned 3 month old prior bottle fed bummer ram as a buddy... didn't want to do another lady cuz that ram could/would bust down the fences if he really wanted to. That ram has been fine with the other births/lambs but he was acting so strange with this one so we decided not to take any chances. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] butchering our Ram
Stephanie-- ahh, hormone changes, didn't dawn on me but makes perfect sense. No baby as of Friday evening but we are watching closely. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] crossing AB with Dorper?
Julian, I am in SW Idaho near the Oregon Border. What is the common consensus here on finishing the Blackbellies off? Anything special as far as feed? Timing? (as in 30 or 90 days a head of time) We have one ram that will be a year in January so we were thinking Novemberish he'll go to the butcher. Also, opinions on if banding/castrating makes a difference in taste. Our ram that will be ready to go isn't, as that is what the opinion of the people we got the flock from. They said they didn't need to be. My husband was a bit concerned the meat may be *off* like when deer are in rut. Too late for him but our first lamb here was a ewe so we haven't made the decision yet on what we will do in the future. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] crossing AB with Dorper?
Anyone here try to cross American Blackbelly with Dorper? Am thinking of adding Dorper to my small AB flock. But they are bigger (which is why I am thinking of adding them)-- so, birthing probs are on my mind. Also, my pastures are cross fenced for rotation, etc. If I did decide to separate them and had rams on each side (with their own gals) am I going to have a problem with fence fighting? They would share the same fence line- one pasture is about 2 acres and the other only about 1/2 acre. Once the mature ewes are serviced can I put them all in one pasture again? I know some has to do with the personality of the rams in question--- but as a general idea? BTW, my little lamb *Ginger* born a few weeks ago is doing splendid now. I put her and Mama in with the others a few days ago. Can hardly catch her now. I think that indeed, she was born about a week early. Also interesting, I acquired a bummer AB lamb a few months ago- he was the third and too small with respiratory problems so mom rejected him at birth, was doing very poorly but we bottle fed and such. He is very big and plump right now-- but we felt bad for him as the other sheep were shunning him, we put our mama Llama and her 1 year old and a couple of weither Nubian goats in the pasture with them and our Mama llama has adopted him-- they hang out together and he lays by her side :-) So funny to see this relatively huge Llama and this little lamb together all the time. All this talk about dampness and foot rot... no worries here in Idaho. So VERY, VERY dry and hot right now. Got to 106ish over the weekend with no relief in site. As my grandpa used to say... dryer than a popcorn fart in the middle of July ;-) Cheers, Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] blackbelly Digest, Vol 2, Issue 131
Our meanie, Lucky is about 5 years old... too late for the freezer? I've heard up to 2 years for these guys but one year is best. I have his January son- but planned on having him in the freezer come Winter. My ewe that just lambed is his mother and I also have his twin sister I planned on using as breeding stock-- my understanding is I shouldn't use him to breed his sister? But to his mother would be fine? How far can I go? Mama and baby are doing dandy- I am using the nutri stuff as suggested and it seems to be perking her up-- still seems tired and lays around most of the time but I can already see she is filling out. Thanks so much for the help. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
Re: [blackbelly] blackbelly Digest, Vol 2, Issue 131
Please send us some of that rain ;-) We average something like 11 inches per year and it gets mighty hot right now. Wish the sheep would take a better liking to my cheat grass. Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
[blackbelly] Ram pen suggestions --- also lamb weight/probs?
Hi to all-- we acquired a small flock of American blackbellys about 6 weeks ago. My name is Elizabeth and we live in SW Idaho next to the Oregon border. Anyhow, All was dandy-- and they were getting pretty friendly 'til the ram decided it was great fun to torment me. The steel handled shovel I just happened to be carrying only infuriated him more-- so I used one of my goats as a shield as I slowly backed out. A few days ago we built him his own little bachelor pad. About 20 by 20 with 5 ft. chain link fencing. Yesterday, while my husband was out of state, of course ;-)... he decided he wanted out and got thru the fence. I fixed it and drove in 2 more posts to reinforce, ect. Half an hour later he went thru the chin link gate-- ripping the insides out. I gave up 'til hubby gets home. But we have no idea what to do-- (I might add when when we rounded the flock up to take home this guy jumped over and cleared a 6 ft. man)--- don't really want to do an electric fence. Don't want him to run with the herd as I need to get in that pasture to attend to the other animals and we have kids. Any suggestions? How do I keep this guy locked up??? Another question... during all this fuss one of my ewes lambed--- all went well with the birth but was surprised it was a single as she normally has 2 or 3. This little girl is really small-- just short of 5 lbs. She seemed really weak and worried me as she hadn't nursed for the first 3 hrs. I confined the ewe and tried to attach her but she wouldn't/couldn't grab on. I ended up milking the ewe and syringe feeding her-- then thru the night did this every 2-3 hrs-- trying each time to get her to latch on. Mom was excellent and humored me at my first milking attempts and no rejection to the lamb. Finally after 24 hrs, baby seems to have gotten the hang of it and is now finding and nursing all on her own. My question is- IS this normal? Did I intervene too soon? Being my first, I had no idea. I did have a friend come out and get her opinion as she does sheep--- but NOT hair sheep and she was shocked how small and listless the lamb was-- she didn't think she would make it. Thanks, Elizabeth ___ This message is from the blackbelly mailing list Visit the list's homepage at %http://www.blackbellysheep.info
