Shachah (the new LGD) has managed to get under the fence three times now. He's drawn to the gut piles the deer hunters leave in the woods. I worry that he could get himself shot. He was breaking out from our backyard after dark, but yesterday he got out from the pasture in the daylight - not good when hunters are also out in the daylight. We have a strand of barbed wire around the bottom of our perimeter fence, so I have to get out there today and figure out where he dug his way out. Probably the gate area. I knew Great Pyrenees are well known for their tendency to wander, at least he's sticking close to our house and the woods, but deer season is the worst time for him to explore!
Granite (2+ year old BFL ram) is going crazy with only two ewes in his breeding group. He can jump his fence at will, but so far has only done so once while I was bringing their hay. I need to move him farther away from the ewes who are not being bred this year or I could wind up with a lot of mule lambs next spring. When Granite was loose before he checked out Harwell's breeding group which got the LGD pretty upset. So I'm hopeful that the LGD, who is now in the unbred ewe pen, will help keep them from being molested.
Our five market lambs are to be done on Monday (postponed from last Wednesday). I hate this part of raising market lambs. If only I could afford to keep them all. I will be glad when it's over, until then I toss and turn.
On the brighter side of processing lamb, I got two hides back from Bucks County Furs this week. I sent them in around the end of September and I wasn't expecting them back until Christmas. They turned out to be among the best we've ever gotten back. One was from a yearling Shetland ram and the other was from a yearling Shetland Mule wether.
The Shetland above, and the BFL/Shetland below... both are dense and very soft. They will be for sale on my sales blog.
Beautiful pelts, Becky!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely pelts! And hunting is almost over, right? :-O
ReplyDeleteBeautiful sheepskins. I was going to try Sterns, soon, but now read on some list that someone's hides came back felted--
ReplyDeleteAt least I KNOW Bucks does a great job.
Best wishes with your big dog and the hunters. Consolation: he's WHITE, not deer-colored.
Gorgeous sheepskins! One of these years I'm going to have to do that.
ReplyDeleteHope your lgd stays safe.
Thanks ladies, we've got five more sheepskins salted in the garage now.
ReplyDeleteI was going to try Sterns for processing this year, but they told me they had a 5-6 month back log, so I went with Bucks again. I do like how soft the ones from Stern's turn out, when they get caught up I'll give them a try.
And deer season is officially over, yay!