Yes, SHEEP! Jacob Sheep to be more precise. Honest, there's no trick photography - these animals really do have four horns! No, they are NOT goats. These are my helpers to keep the weeds down in the field. Without their constant help we would soon be engulfed in weeds that grow to more than six feet high. They also provide a constant source of amusement and frustration.
This is Buster with his oldest son Buster Junior. At about 200 lbs, Buster is the dominant ram ("main dude") and exerts his authority on everyone and everything he can. When he's not eating or sleeping, he's destroying something (hence the name "Buster"). One day when our CNC machine in the old shop was being serviced, Buster decided that the technician's truck was a potential threat to his dominance. So, he took it upon himself to perform some unauthorized body work! November 1st is always a big day for Buster. That's the day when he gets to have the girls over to his place! Anticipation (and pheromones) drive him crazy so he takes his frustrations out on the sides of our building.
Buster Junior was born on April 2, 1998.
Shown here he's about six months old. He's already trying to out-do
his dad in virtually every way. In fact, they regularly butt heads (literally!).
He's going to make an excellent ram for someone's flock and is going up for
sale very soon.
These are the Ewe's ("the girls").
"Lady" is on the left, "Missy" is on the right, and "Girl" is in the background.
Believe it or not, that cute little lamb in the foreground is Buster Junior,
only about a week old! He was one of two lambs that Lady (the dominant
ewe) had this year. Missy is seen here carrying two lambs (one male
and one female, both born about a week later) and Girl had one lamb (male)
that came late, after about six hours of labor!
Here's another picture of Buster Junior
during his first week of life. You can't tell from this photo but I
think he's going to make his dad look like a wimp! The mystical sky
would likely be an omen except it was added in PhotoShop!
This is Tucker, Lady's second lamb (Buster Junior's twin brother) during his first week of life. He's had it pretty rough so far. On about the third day, Lady decided that she didn't want him any more. It happens sometimes and there's just not much that can be done about it. So, I raised him myself from a bottle. He's shown here in his lambing pen looking for someone to play with. Having been orphaned, he's an outcast from the group. He hasn't done well when it comes to competing for food and surviving constant abuse from the others. He was severely injured in July and became paralyzed. Slowly he was able to regain mobility (after about a month of "sheep physical therapy" from myself). Then, suddenly he had a relapse. He is recovering again but it's going much more slowly this time. He's been separated from the other sheep since his first injury and I don't think he'll ever be able to live with them again.
This is Tucker enjoying some freedom from the lambing pen.