Fewer But Better

As I watched my sheep leave in trucks and trailers over the summer I was heartbroken.
It was all about reduced numbers to make less work though. Well, the state vet came last week to do his annual scrapie inspection and my flock went from 82 in 2010 to under 40 in 2011. It took us no time to inspect each animal and record tags. As I looked at the remaining ewes,it was apparent that fewer numbers had been a good thing. They are heavier with plenty of grass to eat. And it's still growing in these warm December temperatures. My hay supply has hardly been touched unlike last year when I began to worry about hay supplies in December. The smaller flock has made the BFL sheep more friendly too. Now the Shetlands...that's another story, but that's what makes having the two breeds so much fun. I got an amazing new BFL ram in October from Heather Landin and I am excited about starting to rebuild my genetics with him (Heddon Valley genetics) and my Scotty AI ram. He was born here and as yet is not impressive but I'm hoping he'll become the swan from the ugly duckling. I am excited about new lambs in 2012 and a lot less work while they are being born. Lambing is always exciting but exhausting. I'm looking forward to having fewer lambs to get to know and fewer bales to throw. AND I can't wait to see those lambs.They will be awesome.