Dividing The Flock

Last week, we separated the ram lambs from the ewe flock. Here is a photo of the three boys. As you can see from the rear view of the lamb on the left, they are intact, which is why we separated them.

Last winter I bought a bander with the intention of castrating our ram lambs so we wouldn't have to do this. However, I decided against castrating after we had the lambs. I'm not sure what we'll do next year. They most certainly grow faster when their bodies are producing testosterone. In the past, we've noticed no off-flavors in the meat. I'm not certain that would be the case if we waited until later in the rut. These guys are going to be butchered the second week of October. So, the advantage of castrating is the rams can be kept longer and don't have to separated. But the healthiest meat is going to come from animals harvested off of green, living grass so waiting until winter isn't the best option.

On this note, I also want to mention that we don't wean our lambs. Our sheep are of a primitive breed that hasn't had all sense bred out over many generations of unsustainable, industrial agriculture practices. Hence, our ewes are perfectly capable of weaning their lambs at the optimum time without any interference from us. The ram lamb on the left in the photo and his twin sister were our last lambs born. That was on May 15th. These two lambs are the last ones still nursing.