We care for a flock of baby doll sheep. One of the dirtiest, smelliest jobs on the farm is cleaning out the sheep barn, hence the joke, "last one to the house has to shovel the sheep barn!". When we were thinking about what types of animals to have on the farm, we had in mind the idea that "everyone on the farm has a job". Everyone and everything on the farm, including its humans, have a purpose, reason and job on the farm. We knew we wanted grazing animals, not only for their manure which could be used, once composted, as a natural fertilizer, but also for their help with mowing the grass on our grassy knoll.
For the first few years of the farm, we had piglets for this use- we moved their pens around as they cleared the property- not only would they graze on the greenery, but they would also start rooting around with their snouts into the ground, effectively bull dozing an entire area in a couple of weeks. Some of you will remember our first escapade with a baby piglet being lost in the woods, and me tackling it to the ground. We have many more stories about our piglets, but for now though, we are talking about our sheepies.
Once the land was cleared by the piglets, and we passed through a season to composte their droppings into beautiful dark rich soil, we planted wine grapes. Once we trelissed the vines, we realized that we needed a short stature grazer that would be able to graze beneath the grape vines or else we would be doing a lot of mowing! Their grazing would help in a number of ways- we would not have to mow, we really wanted to be less reliant on fossil fuels (nor pollute with them!) and we would have a grazer who would mow between the vines, but not eat the vines (or eventual wine grapes!) and their poop would fertilize the grapes!
We did a lot of research about sheep. Most sheep are somewhat tall in stature, and may focus on eating the tender shoots of the new grape vines instead of the grass between them. Baby doll sheep are short and small, and by the way, cute!!!!!! Check out this smile!
Once we knew what kind of sheep we wanted, we set out to find some! That proved to be more difficult, until a farm in the southern part of the state was looking to downsize and had three adult females and one young male baby doll sheep for sale. Our flock was started! The excitement that we felt when we were going to meet them was palbable. This was the first big step for our farm and we were excited to meet them!
Jason and I headed out to the farm in southern CT one Saturday in early spring. We were thrilled to be possibly bringing new friends home with us to the farm. The owner met us and led us out to a far pasture where the baby dolls were grazing. We started walking through the barn area and near by pasture. A friendly llama started walking with us. As we walked, the llama became very interested in Jason. She was walking very close to him, and nuzzling his neck with her nose every chance she got. She was enchanted by Jason. Jason and I were caught off guard- we had never been around a llama so closely before- the owner assured us that "this was just how she was" and spoke to the llama telling her to back off a bit. That llama would not budge from Jason's neck. The entire walk to the far pasture, Jason had a llama breathing down his neck. It was hysterically funny! As we walked closer to the baby doll sheep, they of course moved father away, so we had ample time to spend with the llama lover and her hot breath on Jason's neck!
Eventually, we met the baby dolls and fell in love with them and decided to take them home with us. Taking them home was a whole other story, perhaps one that will grace this blog soon! (there is also a pretty funny story of how we got our first piglet, Penelope home, but I will hold on to that one for a bit too- can't wait to share that one with you!).
Our flock has upsized and downsized over the years. We have been through three lambing seasons, and now for the health of the flock, we have moved our adult male baby dolls to another farm to give the females a break with pregnancy and lambing. Sadly though, we lost two baby doll lambs our first spring of lambing.
We had had a successful lambing that first spring, two of the females had a pair of twins, and one new mom had a singelton. One night, a few months after they were born, the sheep pushed their way out of the barn door and were wandering around the yard in a non fenced in area. A wild animal came silently and stole away two lambs, one of each of the twins. It was a sad morning when we realized what had happened. The mothers were bahhing for their babies and looking around for them. We searched the woods for the babies, but couldn't find any signs of them, no blood, guts, nothing. We determined that it was probably a bear that came and took the lambs for eating near their den. We know that bears live in the woods all around our farm. We realized that despite our fencing being pretty secure, the baby dolls needed an animal for protection. The obvious choices that came to mind were llamas and Great Pyrennes. Fortunately, we were able to find the best sheep protector and the cuddiliest Great Pyreenes to ever live on a farm. Hugh has delighted us with his bearlike snuggles and his ferocious bear bark. He has treed a number of bears and frightened coyotes away from the baby doll sheep, and he is such a love, especially with Ella.
The baby doll sheep have continued to do their job on the farm through all these seasons. They are a joy to have on the farm, and have even contributed to the Farm Store, by allowing us to shear them and have their wool made into yarn and roving which we use for my countless crocheting projects and our Felted Friend Christmas ornaments.
The baby doll sheep and new lambs feasting on grass in one of the vineyards.
Goat antics- this year, a new feeder has inspired the goats to jump into the hay feeder for a snack. We thought that was hysterical and snapped many pictures.
Hugh, ready for action guarding a new lamb. Our fenced in area includes electric fencing, and keeps the sheep inside the pen, and predators out. Hughy, as he is affectionately known is extra protection for the sheep and because he grew up wtih them since a pup, they are his friends, and they tolerate him!