day old lambs... 1st of the spring

Magnum Man · Feb 12, 2026

fishorama · Feb 12, 2026

Aww, very cute! Are you really having springlike weather now? It's barely mid-February & I see snow! Since it looks like 2 breeds, I'll assume that's usual for sheep? As you can tell I'm very ignorant. Do you have to help them keep warm or do they just snuggle up in their woolly outfits?

Magnum Man · Feb 12, 2026

those are hair sheep, and unlike wool lambs that are born naked, hair sheep lambs come out fully clothed... we have a good chance of record warm days for the rest of this week, talking a couple days at 50 degrees

fishorama · Feb 12, 2026

Oh. I had no idea! Do you need to shear them (adults & lambs)? I would be interested to learn more.

Magnum Man · Feb 12, 2026

they actually shed like a husky or other northern dog... their "parka" falls off late June or into July, they still get a wooly coat, but, I suspect the wool fibers are too short to make yarn from, like they do from wool sheep, they are primarily raised for food, and they are lambs until they turn 1 year old, we typically butcher them at 8-10 months, and the meat is light tasting... it's called mutton, once they are over a year old, and I've honestly never had mutton, but it's supposed to be stronger tasting, and fattier...

I 'm hoping to put a harness on a couple of these, as they are wild, like deer, that have been fed, I don't have anyone like 4H kids to work them... but I volunteer at a live nativity at Christmas time, and I'm going to try to get a few tame enough to take to that next year...

they are easy to raise, I almost never have to do anything to help with birthing, and the ones getting butchered are grass / hay fed only... the mom's and dad get a little grain, and a mineral block... and they eat a lot of grass, I'm continually building pasture for more grass... they don't challenge the fences, or climb trees like goats do, even though hair sheep really resemble goats... there are 2 strains of hair sheep, one has horns, and one doesn't... I have a good ram, no horns, but he'll still rams me over the fence, as soon as I turn my back on him... the hair breeds have much less maintenance and parasites, than the wool breeds... we keep 7-10 ewes ( breeding females ) and one ram ( male ) and females can have 1-3 lambs, with 2 lambs the normal ...

Magnum Man · Feb 12, 2026

BTW... in the pictures above, those lambs are only about 8 hours old, doing chores today, they were both bouncing around like their legs were pogo sticks...