I suspect Bo's grandmother, Bramble Cordelia is a poll carrier because she produced a scurred ram lamb when bred to a horned ram. Bo's dam is the twin sister to that scurred ram. Bo's sire, Windswept Boggart, had a magnificent set of horns. 
Bo is a very sweet-natured Shetland ram so far and no problem to keep. He carries modified genetics, so I was hoping I might be able to use him somehow.
And here are the two goslings that made it through the hatch yesterday afternoon. They hatched within 30 minutes of each other. The third gosling was weak and didn't manage to get into the air space. Darn!I think I will keep these two homegrown goslings to go along with the Shetland goslings that hopefully will come from Holderread's next week.
Hatching is hard work and these two were tired!
Here's a shot showing our neighbor's pig pen right next to our pasture. It's amazing how fast those piglets are growing! That's our BFL ewe, Lanora and her ram lamb, Doulan in the shot.
It's been terribly dry here and the grass is just not growing very fast - much to my dismay. I've decided to sell six mature Shetland Mule ewes (ages 1-2 years). I can make it a package deal with the Ile de France ram if anyone is interested in getting a jump start on market lamb production with hardy ewes and great fleece.
This is a photo of Delia, a 2 yr old mule and her twins in front of the natural colored BFLs. They still look pregnant!We will also have up to three BFL rams available for sale. Granite is for sale and our two rams may be available after weaning -- pending evaluation.
Look at the cute little grape vine planter I got at the auction last week for only $2.50. I planted some blue bacopa in it. The pot appears to be hand-thrown pottery.
Becky,
ReplyDeleteFor what it's worth (and that is not much in the way of expertise) I think Bo could be carrying polled. Good luck what ever you decide to do with him.
Those goslings are so sweet.
I'm just glad I haven't had to deal with scurs/horns that big; my half-polls have been much more obvious.
ReplyDeleteBo's horns are well clear of his head. Is he a yearling with slow growing horns? I love baby geese!
ReplyDeleteSo sad to see the grass growing so slowly for you. I have been fortunate to have ideal weather here in Indiana for the month of May. More grass than my flock can keep up with. I am so thankful that this year is not an early drought year for me.
The mule sheep and Ile de France ram sounds like a good deal for someone. And reducing your flock size is always the best thing to do when there is a shortage of grass in the pastures.
Yes, the baby goslings are cuter than I remembered, so fuzzy!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Carol, I was thinking that Bo's horns were just slowing growing, normal horns until I saw Laura's post about Craigrothie (http://psalm23farm.blogspot.com/2009/05/eastwind-had-lamb.html) and Juliann's reply saying that his were aberrant horns. Laura said Craigrothie has sired polled lambs, so I started wondering if Bo might possibly have aberrant horns as well. That would be so cool, because then I could use him on my Harrison daughters and maybe still get some polled lambs.
Great gosling photos! They are so cute.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how dry it looks there, we can't seem to get rid of the rain.