[Jacob-list] Catching Rams Part 1

[ranchrat]

For reasons beyond my understanding, my reply to Linda never made the
Jacob list.so I will resend it in three parts.maybe it was too big a
file?

Tara

Part 1 of 3

Heel low:

		-----Original Message-----
		From: Linda [mailto:patchworkfibers at windstream.net] 
		Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 3:43 PM
		To: ranchrat
		Cc: jacob-list at jacobsheep.com
		Subject: Re: [Jacob-list] Catching Rams

		Tara,
		
		I'd love to see a picture of your rams pulling the
wagon. Could you share with us? 

To Linda, I am attaching three pics of Nicto and Noble at the Bighorn
Rodeo parade.  The parade theme that year was "Forestry," so we
decorated the wagon with fake evergreen branches.  In later years I ran
with signs on each side stating simply "SHEEP" in large red letters as
everyone kept calling them goats.sheep can have horns, right??  One year
we even put one of the Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats inside the wagon, so
people could have a frame of reference."dis is a goat, dis is a
sheep".one of my pet peeves I suppose.LOL  Anyone wanting to see the
pics.they are about 200 KBs, e-mail and I'll see if I can get dumped off
the dial up sending them onwards.

		I have to disagree just a bit here. 

Yes, we will agree to disagree here..but not too far off the mark.  When
asked to describe the Jacob, my line of description is that they are an
"ornamental park sheep."  Neither dairy, draft, fiber nor meat, but all
four including "ornamental" with a potential to be pet companions with
their brains being 8 percent larger than your average sheeper deeper.

		While I see my sheep every day (many times a day), I
don't really feel that it's necessary for me to chuck my rams under the
chin on a daily basis to look after them properly :-)

My boys probably would prefer I scratch chinnies everyday, but time does
not stand still forever.  I am sure I could be expected to wave palm
branches and peel grapes for them too, but that ain't happenin' unless I
get the same treatment back.  VBG  You appear to be as comfortable on
your level of care for your Jacobs as I am.  Good show.

		The amazing thing about Jacobs is their adaptability. It
sounds like they thrive with your literal "hands on" approach, but they
also thrive untended on a remote island, on large ranches with the
occasional check, on tiny little one acre farms, on medium sized
acreage, and about everything in between. 

Being a "primitive" sheep has allowed them to thrive in conditions where
most domesticated sheep would have been found feet up.  We chose this
breed because we knew we would have the resources and ability to bestow
lots of attention on our sheep and chose Jacobs for their uncommonness
and primitiveness.  I researched sheep breeds for five years prior to
this decision and came to the conclusion that if we lavished the Jacobs
with the best we could, they would do very well indeed.

There is no prerequisite to acquiring livestock.  Considered by law
"your personal property," unless there is outright abuse, there is no
"Big Brother" guarding the definition of good animal husbandry.heck it
is deplorable how some human children are raised, but I digress.  

Some livestock owners are hands on, some are hands off. This goes hand
in hand with the concept of some that "pasture lamb," not bothering to
lift a finger to assist during birthing of their flocks.  They brag
their stock is hardy, selected by "nature" for resilience.reminiscent of
the over used phrase, "what don't kill you, makes you strong."  The only
time this one guy who wrote a book on this topic (I had the misfortune
of hearing him speak at a Sheep Symposium one year) saw his sheep was to
sheer and then in the fall to load up the lambs bound for the meat
markets.  That ain't "shepherding" that's neglect but hey, maybe that
makes the best "business" sense.no excessive resources expended, nothing
overly risked.dunno past I couldn't sleep at night feeding the coyotes
like that.  I believe most that own Jacobs do not employ this extreme
"management" or lack thereof in management practices, but there could be
a few that run their flock more feral than domestic.  That is their
choice and agreed, the Jacob, historically, was that "park sheep" you
rounded up for sheering once a year and didn't bother much with.

When we select breeding candidates, I refer to my records of ID and
results.  If I had to assist during lambing, why, was the reason
something that will weaken the strain?  Historically in the pedigree, is
there potential in the lines for my objectives.be it a goat, duck, dog,
sheep or chicken, just because I have a soft heart does not mean I am
soft in the head and weak in my choices of the best stock bred to
produce the best stock possible.  Healthy genetic diversity, livestock I
don't have to mess with frequently are going to be the best candidates
for replication.  If I spend all my time scratching chinny chin chins,
so be it.  Suits my happiness scale.
 
		END of Part 1 of 3
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/jacob-list/attachments/20090914/6e5e6919/attachment.htm>