RSS

Tag Archives: bucks

More Romance on the Red Desert

15 Dec
Apolinario bringing in the ewes on Eagle's Nest

Apolinario bringing in the ewes on Eagle’s Nest

Today we put the bucks into the ewes on the Red Desert. Bucks in on December 15th means that we can look for the first lambs to arrive on about May 10th. The bucks have waited for many months to be reunited with their lady loves. The ewes seemed glad to see them too, although for them, a brief–very brief–dalliance means that they spend five months pregnant and five months raising lambs. Of course, it guarantees the ewes a good living, and a whole lot less boredom than the rams face the rest of the year. We were blessed to receive a badly needed snow the day before, ensuring winter water for the sheep. It was a Goldlilocks snow–not too little and not too much, and the 15th dawned bright and sunny.

A leap of faith

A leap of faith

Bucks on the run

Bucks on the run

 

Love at first sight

Love at first sight

Guard dogs on the job

Guard dogs on the job

Apolinario

Apolinario with his dog and horse

Pat, Apolinario, and the reason we buy dog food by the palate

Pat, Apolinario, and the reason we buy dog food by the pallet

 

 
1 Comment

Posted by on December 15, 2014 in Animals, Events, Family, Folks, Horses, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Bucks and ewes at Black Tie reservoir

13 Dec
The bucks are in a hurry to get out of the trailer

The bucks are in a hurry to get out of the trailer

It’s that time of year, finally. The bucks have been waiting, sometimes patiently (spring) and sometimes not so patiently (fall), but after ten long months, it is time for them to join the ewes, thus ensuring a spring lamb crop. We took a load of blackface bucks to the Black Tie reservoir area at Powder Wash, where they joined the ewes there. We had an experience we hadn’t had before–the guard dogs puppies, born last spring and now ambitious adolescents, did not like the strange bucks joining the flock. They’d never seen rams before, and they correctly ascertained that the rams did not have honorable intentions. The barking and chasing did damper their lust, until we called the dogs in and convinced them that the presence of the bucks was OK. It’s been a dry early winter, but a snowstorm did come in today.

Guard dogs alarmed at the arrival of the bucks.

Guard dogs alarmed at the arrival of the bucks.

United at last! Ewes and bucks ready for romance.

United at last! Ewes and bucks ready for romance.

Pat and Antonio with the anti-lust brigade.

Pat and Antonio with the anti-lust brigade.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on December 13, 2014 in Animals, Events, Family, Folks, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

Tags: , , , , , ,

Geri and the bucks

10 Oct

Each fall, we check the buck sheep for fertility and general health. Luckily, we have Geri Parsons of Optimal Livestock Services to provide her expertise. We intimately examine each and every mature ram that we have on hand to determine his worthiness to hang out with the ladies in December. Look at how green the alfalfa field is below Battle Mountain.

Tim and Jedidiah checking a ram

Tim and Jedidiah checking a ram

McCoy bringing the rams up the chute

McCoy bringing the rams up the chute

McCoy tugging on the pulley rope

McCoy tugging on the pulley rope

Tim, Jedidiah and Hallie check out the ram

Tim, Jedidiah and Halli check out the ram

Geri teaching Sadie how to check semen under the microscope

Geri teaching Sadie how to check semen under the microscope

Up the chute

Up the chute

Who ya gonna call?

Who ya gonna call?

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on October 10, 2014 in Events, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Romance in Winter

20 Dec
ram face-plants

How NOT to impress the girls!

We want to have lambs in the spring. It is a fact of life that in order to have lambs in May and June, the ewes must associate with the bucks in December and January. The bucks have a cushy life, which involves hanging around most of the year–eating, drinking and looking forward to mid-December. They do have the occasional worries about bears and fertility testing, but generally lead a pampered life. (Think of the ewes, who experience a brief liason, spend almost five months pregnant, then raise a lamb for another four or five months. They trail from summer country to winter country and back, some 150 miles, while the bucks are trailered in and out.)

Bucks ready to roll

Bucks ready to roll

Tiarnan and McCoy supervise unloading the bucks

Tiarnan and McCoy supervise unloading the bucks

Looking for love

Looking for love

Eureka!

Eureka!

 
2 Comments

Posted by on December 20, 2013 in Animals, Events, Family, Sheep

 

Tags: , , ,

Private Parts

20 Oct
sperm under the microscope

sperm under the microscope

This is the time of year when we decide who stays and who goes.  The rams are evaluated, intimately, by Geri Parsons and her crew (this year her one-woman crew) at Optimal Livestock Services for fertility, age, potential disease or injury, and condition. The ewes are evaluated by our crew for many of the same traits which indicate whether they will be productive for another year. We check their teeth, which affects their ability to eat the hard winter grasses on the desert. We check their udders, and their overall condition. The rams are basically judged to stay or go. The ewes are judged as keepers, good old ewes who are sold to someone who can give them an easier lifestyle, and “killers” who are culled due to age, condition, and injury to their udders.

checking the ram

Ashley Miller checks a Hampshire ram, with assistance from Christian

Lots of assistance

Lots of assistance

Pepe with a buck in Optimal's custom-made chute

Pepe with a buck in Optimal’s custom-made chute

Geri at the microscope

Geri at the microscope

Tested buck hang out in corral

Tested buck hang out in corral

Ewes in the corral

Ewes in the corral

Avencio and Timeteo checking the ewes

Avencio and Timeteo checking the ewes

Pepe, Avecio and Timeteo put a ewe in the chute

Pepe, Avencio and Timeteo put a ewe in the chute

ewes reflected in the muddy corral

ewes reflected in the muddy corral

Pat with McCoy and Tiarnan on corral pole

Pat with McCoy and Tiarnan on corral pole

Tiarnan, Pat and Meghan

Tiarnan, Pat and Meghan

 
2 Comments

Posted by on October 20, 2013 in Animals, Events, Family, Folks, Folks who help us out, Peruvian sheepherders, Sheep

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Newer posts →