Friday, November 20, 2015

We Don't Need No Stinkin Manger





Well the manger design passed all it's tests except the final one. Frazier, are terminal Romney breeding ram.

Frazier is kinda becoming a problem now that he is solidly hitting middle aged status. He is cranky, demanding, food aggressive and not really afraid of people any longer. He has even started to kinda challenge me a bit too. He has never particularly liked human females but he and I have had an understanding over the last couple of years. It mostly involved a big stick but occasionally went as far as my having to put him down on his back like I was going to shear him.

Frazier has some good qualities though. When crossed with the half bluefaced ewes he was consistently kicking out about 2.2 lambs which is better than the Romney average of 1.7 and they were good hardy lambs too. I think we have only ever lost one lamb from Frazier offspring. When crossed with the natural colored Romney/Bluefaced ewes the wool quality was excellent and we have more than a few handspinners that LOVE the wool from his offspring. He was also pretty gentle towards me and my son until this year. Usually.

Frazier though hates change unless it either brings him food or ewes. Moving him into a stall in preparation for shearing was always an experience and typically resulted in something broken. He even knocked a stall door off that was almost too heavy for me to lift one year. As bad as this trait is it actually is what has saved him too though because if he ever does escape he is usually so upset about it he will go back in without much trouble. As long as it is a Male human herding him in anyway.




Well Frazier decided he hated the manger. If you look you can see the red paint stain on his head. He attacked it until he managed to break one of the supports and bring it down. I am sure this reaction had something to do with my timing though as much as it had to do with his temperament. Introducing something like that was probably not the wisest thing when the breeding ewes were in with him.

Once the ewes go in with Frazier it is advisable for me to simply pretend they are not even there. This is sometimes hard because Seven, my favorite sheep, is in there with him and she expects a head pat at the very least whenever I come around. Frazier of course does not like me touching his girls and it will initiate a blocking move at the very least.

So I moved the manger over into the other paddock with Cocomo are Bluefaced ram. Like most Bluefaced he is pretty easy going and doesn't mind the new addition at all. I may have to look at a metal manger for Frazier's paddock or depending on how this breeding season plays out this might be Frazier's last party.

I also remembered why I hate oil based paint. It's like it stays around spreading it's colored love for weeks after you think you are done with it.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!!


10 comments:

  1. He looks like a no-nonsense fellow. Nice looking ram, though. Bet he throws some good lambs.

    But, looking at the last pic, do I detect a little smirk on his face??? I do declare he is quite pleased with his victory over that red 'intruder'.

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    1. hobo - Oh he was pleased with himself. After he knocked it down the first time he looked at me like "Ha!! I showed you!!!" He looks impressive with his wool on. Another funny thing about this guy is that his aggressiveness is kinda tied to his wool. After he is sheared and bald he becomes much less grumpy and challenging for a while. He really isn't all that tall but he certainly is stocky.

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  2. Reminds me of a certain rooster I once knew. He made a nice dinner one night.

    About the ginseng... I have never bought it so I don't know how much it costs. It grows on our land but we rarely harvest since it is now hard to find growing in the wild. So we only take one or two roots every few years.

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    1. Lisa - I been watching our rooster. He still shows quite a bit of fear around me and will run away from me but sometimes when my back is turned he will advance with his wings flapping and he likes to try and mount the hens when I am close. We will see if he starts getting too uppity.

      My grandfather used to tell me a story about one Summer he was out of work during the depression and made a living gathering and selling ginseng. Apparently even back then it was valuable.

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  3. All of our goats were like that, they just routinely destroyed everything they came in contact with, so really he is much more well behaved than a goat and good for something.

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    1. Sf - I can say most all of the sheep are pretty good about not tearing stuff up.They do tend to examine everything and routinely get their heads stuck in things though. I was actually surprised by his behavior he has never shown that level of destructiveness before.

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  4. one of our cats has been extra crabby with the others then i figured how old he is and it might be a touch of cat arthritis or whatever pains them.
    frazier may be a bit achy somewhere , and of course, he is male.
    arrogant and touchy, almost goes without saying.

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    1. deborah - LOL maybe. I might say that he is Male and now forced to share his space with seven bitchy ewes too though. That might be enough to drive any guy crazy after more than a day or two :)

      They probably were out there saying they didn't like the color or something and or maybe telling him it needed moved more to the left :)

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  5. Perhaps he doesn't like the colour, havent you heard the expression "like red rag to a Ram?" haha hope you find something more to his liking. Good looking chap he is, be a shame to retire him if he's still up to the job though? fingers crossed for your breeding season, wishing you every success

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    1. whoah just noticed how old this post is, weird that it came up in my reading list huh?

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