We have a small (5 acre) farm, and keep sheep, chickens and grow plenty of vegetables for ourselves and a group of enthusiastic families. We can mostly manage tasks on our own, and we don’t own heavy machinery. We have beautiful, luscious pasture – enough to keep our sheep flock happy spring and summer, as well as our donkeys. With a system of divided pastures opening from different small ‘barns’ I can catch, herd, move, and generally manage the flock on my own, although it’s nice to enlist the ‘farmer’s husband’s’ help when it comes to the bigger tasks of hoof trimming, and handling individual sheep.
We breed Cotswold and Shetland sheep, with a couple of planned crosses who have turned out beautifully, I’m happy to say! We breed for wool quality, temperament, appropriate size and conformation, and ease of lambing and mothering. To foster wool quality we pay a lot of attention to hay, (no seed heads which get stuck in the wool), and how it is fed (hay feeder design), diet of course (little to no grain but high quality hay and pasture), vitamins and minerals, and of course an excellent sheep shearer. We do not, however, coat any of our sheep.
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- Sheep feeder. The hay can only be pulled out from the bottom and doesn’t fall onto their heads and bodies.
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- Cotswold fleece just sheared off and on the skirting table
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- One of the small sheep barns
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- Shearing Time!
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- Mischief with her wool
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- Mischief without her wool – “I looked way more imposing with my wool…”
