Tuesday, May 27, 2008

T is for tagged

Although in the past I've referred to sheep ear tags as jewelry, I find nothing at all attractive about them. I hate to mar the looks of my perfect little lambs with flaps of white plastic, but if they are to ever leave Boulderneigh for flocks of their own, punch holes in their ears I must. So last night I recruited Rick's help, and we tortured all six sweet lambs with tags and CD/T shots. Within seconds, most were back to eating or asking for attention, so obviously the deed was harder on this shepherd than it was on her lambs! It is nice to have such a small flock that I can wait awhile to tag them; when they are a bit older, their ears don't sag under the weight of the tag. If Blizz and Bluster weren't going to Black Sheep Gathering, I might have waited even longer! Anyway, here are all the Boulderneigh lambs with their new accessories:Blizz (you can see his scurs peeping out from his poll wool, if you look carefully)Bluster (compare his horns to those of his twin brother, above!)BrowningBlanche (a feminine beauty, even with a mouth full of hay and a tag in her ear!)beautiful Blanche again, with her brother Browning trying to horn inBrydenBevintwins bedding down together.Here Bevin joins Browning and Blanche, showing the difference in color between Valentine's extremely dark moorit twins (Bevin and Bryden are the same color), and Browning's slightly lighter fleece.

As you can see, all the lambs have wool on their polls except for Bluster. They all look good at the opposite end, too; Braveheart did an excellent job of stamping his get with his perfect little fluke tail. (Hey, it's my blog and I can brag if I want to!) All are priced to sell, although if I could find a good home for Dinah, I would keep her daughter Blanche. And don't forget Bella, if you are looking for a nice, young grey ewe!

That's it for now at . . .

4 comments:

Kara said...

Hi Michelle,

I was so relieved after we successfully tagged all of ours. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Nice looking lambs! Thanks for the advice by the way, it was very helpful.

Molly Bee said...

Thanks for the comment on my blog! You may certainly have my six weeks and all of the crap that goes with it if I can play with your cute lambies for six weeks! Absolutely adorable!

Tammy said...

The tagging doesn't really seem to leave any long lasting impact on the sheep. However I'm like you and I don't like the 'looks' of tags. Especially when the lambs are so little. The only adults that are tagged here are my foundation ewes that I bought. Nobody gets tagged until they are sold and ready to leave the farm. So far I've always been able to tell them apart--although I will admit, I had some nervous moments this past fall when I had 4 almost identical brown girls! I had to consult my 'baby notes' to sort them out. I know if I had many more than what I do now, it would be impossible to keep them straight without some kind of i.d. on them. As with many things in raising sheep, I guess tags are just another one of those 'necessary evils' that keep our sheepies safe and healthy.
Tammy

Shula said...

Oh thanks for the information on the sheep suits and visiting. And yes I have a PMU baby who is going to be 6 on Sunday. I'll probably devote my blog to him that day and take some pictures.