A little history: We had a small place in California but no pasture, so was dependant on hay and grain being purchased, and that was a big expense for the horses, sheep, and occasional calf and/or pigs.
We sold it all, bought a fifth-wheel RV, and went full-time on the road, enjoying northern states in the summer and southern states in the winter. So late 2019 we were in Texas.
After finding an incredible piece of land merely by chance, I felt my ‘grass-roots’ nature start to stir again, dreaming of a nice garden and maybe another horse.
Early 2020, I lost my love, husband, and life-partner and found myself digging into projects to keep my mind active so as not to slip into a slump and missing him so much.
I just bought an assortment of straight-run dual-purpose chicks and was brooding them when this happened. They eventually followed me to a pre-paid Mother Earth News Fair and at 4 days old stayed in the motel room while I attended the fair!
(Can you picture that?) – another thing to take my mind off the obvious.
After that, the chicks and I went to our piece of land in arid Arizona as has been our routine. I needed to get some things from there anyway.
The chicks grew and of course, roosters were more than half of them so I sold the ones I didn’t want to keep or butcher, gave some hen chicks to my friends who were also there with me boondocking in our RV’s. I went back with 8 chickens – 6 hens and 2 roos and sold the one that didn’t make the cut.
After it got too hot in Arizona to not be plugged into electricity for the AC, I headed back to the ranch in Texas where I could, and what I sight I saw!
The immense amount of grass that happened that spring overwhelmed me and the second-hand (or 3rd?) riding mower could not keep up.
I decided to see if anyone had hair sheep for sale, particularly Dorpers.
Why hair sheep? No shearing! I’ve had Suffolks and dreaded trying to get someone to do that.
Why Dorpers? They are great in this hot Texas environment and are easy keepers. Sought after meat and breeding stock. They cross well with other breeds to improve the lamb crops.
I combed Craigslist and Facebook marketplace. I posted an ISO (in search of) 1 or 2 sheep to be used as lawnmowers.
I got a reply from a White Dorper breeder and said he had a ewe and her current twins available. The ewe (Star) had been shown by his kids but she had udder problems so he wanted to find a home for her.
SOLD! I wouldn’t need any more than that. (Famous last words, right?).
They did well that summer and the breeder and I talked about registration and if I was interested in breeding back? I was hesitant. Do I want more sheep? More to be responsible for I thought.
I’ll think about it I told him.
I went to an auction house and saw the prices the commercial sheep were getting and thought why not?
Along about November he asked again and said he had a young registered show ram he could lend me. So the ram came to visit Star and her teenage daughter Moon. Their expected due date is in about four weeks+. (3-26-2021 as I write this).
So excited! If Star has more than twins I expect to have to bottle feed a lamb or two, should be fun!
I had him wether the male twin when I bought the sheep and was about to butcher him when the breeder lets me know that 2 ewe lambs were available that were full sisters to Star, my adult ewe. We agreed to trade the wether for partial payment for the ewe lambs.
Can you see where this is going?
I now have 4 ewes and possibly 3-4 lambs coming in late April to early May.
Where to from here?
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Love to have you.
-Kim, head wrangler.