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Sunday, June 19, 2011

How do you spend Father's Day on the mini farm......

You drive 3+ hours to Louisiana to bring home a 3 month old sheep in a pet carrier. ha ha


This is the beginning of our St. Croix sheep breeding program. He is a registered St. Croix sheep. His name is Ramsey and he is finally home. He is just another step in our overall plan to be as self sufficient as we can. We hope to breed for selling and whatever we can't sell, process for our freezer. We decided to go with St. Croix sheep for a number of reasons but mainly we were looking for a heritage breed. Heritage breed animals do not have a lot of their natural instincts for breeding and mothering bred out of them. The St. Croix is also on the threatened list. So we feel good about helping to conserve the breed. They are also extremely parasite resistant, which tends to be a big problem with sheep. We want to do things as naturally, as possible and would prefer not to use commercial wormers. They also thrive on pasture.We are really hoping these two become fast friends. That is until we get Ramsey a girlfriend or two or three. We did not realize at the time that St. Croix sheep are such a rare breed. There are no breeders in Ms. and the ones that we found in Louisiana had already sold out of all of their ewes. So it looks like it will be next Spring before we get our ewes. We are on the waiting list now for next Spring. However, after we get our ewes, we will be the only breeder of registered St. Croix sheep in Ms.

I couldn't leave you without a picture of Phoebe. We got her her own swimming pool and she spends a good bit of time wallowing in it. This is one spoiled pig!



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5 comments:

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

I love your animals, but please don't talk about eating them!LOL! Have you visited http://www.ladykatherineteaparlor.blogspot.com -she lives near me here in Central Mississippi and she raises sheep.

Greg and Donna said...

Phoebe just might need a bigger pool ~ it already looks well loved and well used! Ramsey is cute! What a fun adventure ya'll are on!

Alana Jo said...

Both are so cute. I adore the pic of Phoebe in the pool.

Leigh said...

Very interesting. I'm not familiar with St. Croix sheep, but I think they are a hair breed(?) I don't have sheep but as a handspinner, used to spin every breed I could get my hands on. Sounds like an excellent choice.

Sheryl and Denny said...

Hi there,
I stumbled on your blog by accident, and this past week we made a hour and half ride to pick up a st. croix ram as well here in Louisiana. I think our interest in this breed are the same. Im knew to the blogland and would love for you to visit my site cypresshillfarm.blogspot.com i havent posted any pics of our new addition. By the way our little ram is name Ramsey as well. I think we may have bought from the same breeder. Love your blog. Sheryl