Ram, bam, thank-you ...now lamb
SNOW kept falling, “snow on snow”, or so the hymn goes, and this week it certainly has felt like bleak midwinter.
All the yows have now been rounded up, sorted into their lots and are ready to be introduced to the males, the tups.
The Swaledale is a native breed, perfectly suited to life on the open windswept moors and thus has a fleece that is virtually impenetrable by wind and rain.
Their tails are very woolly, thick and long and require a little trimming to make sure there are no “access” issues during the breeding season.
For a little while things might be a little draughty around the nethers for the ladies but in order that they get in lamb it is entirely necessary. By now the male hormones should be surging and tups should be raring to go, but I did note that some showed a certain amount of reluctance to leave the cosy confines of the stable.
They have been spoiled with ad lib hay and the best mixed feed ration that money could buy. Not only will it keep them fertile and frisky but it will make them easy to ruddle.
Ruddle, I hear you say? It’s an oily paint mixture and every day for at least the next six weeks we will daub it on each tup’s chest. He, in turn, will then leave his mark on each yow when he has mated with her.
The way to any man’s heart is through his stomach and I guess the same can be said of sheep as those tups were definitely not looking for love in the snowy fields.
Hopefully there’ll be a thaw, things will warm up ...and, ahem, even hot up among the flock.