Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Goals

As I sit and watch the pregnant ewes...with the little lambs kicking from time to time and making their moms totally uncomfortable, short of breath and walking funny, I wonder things. A lot of things.

Did I make the right breeding choice for 'so and so'?

What if she has twin rams?

What if something happens and I'm not here?

Should I breed her again or move her out?

And when the lambs come I think many things:

why couldn't there be more girls? or a different color? I hope this one turns out!

And then I worry about the moms. Did they get enough nutrients? Are they growing fast enough? Too fast? Will I have enough pasture for everyone if its a drought?

Do I keep the girls that didn't work for me and use them in a crossbreeding program or do I sell them to others who might be just looking for that particular animal?

So many decisions, that I know we all must make. Some of us this is a hobby, to others its a way of life. Some keep the sheep for pets, some for fiber, some for income, some for meat. We all have different decisions and solutions for every scenario. I just need to make the ones I feel best suit me.

Wow where did this post come from?!!! Rambling thoughts from a cluttered mind......

3 comments:

Rayna said...

You took all the words out of my brain....Same thoughts that been goin through my head :)

Terri D. said...

Hey Garrett -- thanks for the ramblings... I have had the same thoughts also...probably fairly typical for most of us!

Juliann said...

Hi Garrett, hey everybody thinks this way. The way I see it, if a particular pairing doesn't work out, we can send the mistakes to market and try again next year. There will be disappointments, but that makes the successes so much more valuable.
I know some people really value predictability in their shetlands, but I think the experimentation and playing around with the genetics is half the fun!

A long time coming!

 It has been a long time. Too long in fact. We lost access to our farm website and ebonwald website when WEBS.COM was closed by VistaPrint. ...