A Folding Flock
About ten years ago, Grant and I trundled down to Cheney in Dad's truck and Oren's trailer (or did we take Dad's big trailer?) to pick out a Katahdin sheep that was advertised in the paper. The man selling the sheep was actually a dairyman who had bought a small flock of sheep to keep on the side. The flock had grown larger than he wanted, so he was selling off a number of them. I knew this was the breed I wanted and couldn't believe my good fortune in finding some available close by. They were from the flock of the lady in NE Kansas who was the president of the state Katahdin association.
"What do you want?" the farmer asked me as we looked over the flock together. "Do you want a ewe with her lambs or do you want one that hasn't lambed yet?"
By then I had decided. "I'd like a ewe with twins, and I'd like at least one of the lambs to be a female." With Grant's help, he cornered the ones he found that matched my specifications, and we loaded them up and brought them home. I named the ewe Mara, and named her two ewe lambs Missy and Marble.
Mara was wild at first, but soon became so gentle that she would readily eat hay out of my hand. She often talked to me when I was outside, and she would follow me anywhere if I was carrying a pan of feed. In recent years, Hiromi has often fed the sheep and she had taken to talking to him as well.
After Marble and Missy grew up, I bought a registered ram which I named Major. Dad and the boys drove to northern Kansas to pick him up. When each of the ewes lambed every year, we had some nice lamb crops, which we always sold off in the fall.
Yesterday morning Hiromi found Mara dead of natural causes. When he told me, I said I was surprised she died before the ram, who is quite crippled and brittle-looking. Then I remembered that he is at least a year younger than she was. We had noticed that it was taking less feed the last week or so. Now we suspect that Mara wasn't eating well anymore.
"Are you sure it's a kindness to keep him around?" I asked Hiromi about Major, remembering that sheep often don't do.very well without company.
"I'm not going to send him to be butchered, not after all he's done for us," he answered.
"You don't sound like a farmer," I observed.
"He's a pet," Hiromi informed me. "I've always entered the sheep feed under 'pets'--not farm expense."
I guess that settles it. We now have exactly one large, old sheep on the place, and he's staying until he dies of natural causes.
We hope to have sheep again, perhaps after we move back to the Trail West place. Next summer looks like a likely time for that to happen. I definitely want hair sheep--like Katahdins are, but I think I'd consider one of the other hair sheep breeds--depending on what is most readily available.
Mara was a wonderful productive flock matriarch with good mothering instincts and a friendly, curious temperament. We'll miss her.
"What do you want?" the farmer asked me as we looked over the flock together. "Do you want a ewe with her lambs or do you want one that hasn't lambed yet?"
By then I had decided. "I'd like a ewe with twins, and I'd like at least one of the lambs to be a female." With Grant's help, he cornered the ones he found that matched my specifications, and we loaded them up and brought them home. I named the ewe Mara, and named her two ewe lambs Missy and Marble.
Mara was wild at first, but soon became so gentle that she would readily eat hay out of my hand. She often talked to me when I was outside, and she would follow me anywhere if I was carrying a pan of feed. In recent years, Hiromi has often fed the sheep and she had taken to talking to him as well.
After Marble and Missy grew up, I bought a registered ram which I named Major. Dad and the boys drove to northern Kansas to pick him up. When each of the ewes lambed every year, we had some nice lamb crops, which we always sold off in the fall.
Yesterday morning Hiromi found Mara dead of natural causes. When he told me, I said I was surprised she died before the ram, who is quite crippled and brittle-looking. Then I remembered that he is at least a year younger than she was. We had noticed that it was taking less feed the last week or so. Now we suspect that Mara wasn't eating well anymore.
"Are you sure it's a kindness to keep him around?" I asked Hiromi about Major, remembering that sheep often don't do.very well without company.
"I'm not going to send him to be butchered, not after all he's done for us," he answered.
"You don't sound like a farmer," I observed.
"He's a pet," Hiromi informed me. "I've always entered the sheep feed under 'pets'--not farm expense."
I guess that settles it. We now have exactly one large, old sheep on the place, and he's staying until he dies of natural causes.
We hope to have sheep again, perhaps after we move back to the Trail West place. Next summer looks like a likely time for that to happen. I definitely want hair sheep--like Katahdins are, but I think I'd consider one of the other hair sheep breeds--depending on what is most readily available.
Mara was a wonderful productive flock matriarch with good mothering instincts and a friendly, curious temperament. We'll miss her.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
5:01 PM
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