A Freezing "Ram-counter"

Our kids hate the cold.  Ian asked me the other day if I think they will ever get used to it or if we just have the whiniest kids on the planet.  I sincerely hope it is option #1 but I have my doubts.

This weekend we took our cold-fearing children to visit Ms. Cindy's Hill Grove Farm to see about a ram.  Cindy is a cousin of one of the PhD students in my cohort.  Way back when we were first starting out on our farm, I went to visit Cindy for an afternoon where she kindly gave me Hobby Farming 101.  So, when I began to think about breeding Alice and Violet to get lambs in the spring, my first instinct was to give her a call.

Upon hearing my plans, Cindy, once again, offered to help.  She has a three year old ram named Loki that she raised from her flock of Shetlands.  Loki currently lives with a white ram named Thor.  However, Thor is going to be moving to a new home leaving Loki behind.  Rams get lonely living alone and Loki is no good as breeding stock for Cindy's flock since he is related to the ewes.  Cindy suggested that Loki might be a good option for breeding my flock.  So, we went to meet him.

Cindy and I were able to talk sheep breeding despite frequent toddler-sized interruptions reminding me that it is REALLY cold outside.  Thank goodness Ian was there.  He took the boys across the farm yard to visit Cindy's guardian llama, Bailey.  Loki seems like a good candidate for breeding, not that I was surprised.  Cindy's farm is very well maintained and her animals all look incredibly healthy.

I am still fretting about all the scary ruminant diseases I read about last week.  So, I put in a call to our farm vet, Dr. Clarke, to ask about whether I should be testing Loki for CAE or Johne's disease before buying him or if all my internet searching has made me a bit crazy.  It is like then you look up your cold symptoms on WebMD and end up convincing yourself you are dying from Ebola.  Hopefully Dr. Clarke and I are able to touch base early next week.

All this to say that we might be expanding our farm family by one ram, for a few months, until my ewes are bred.  Then it will be off to Mr. Beef in Pakenham for Loki sausages.  Raising animals for meat will be a new chapter in farming for us.  My parents do not think I have it in me but I would like to try.  Besides, there is always Kijiji as a back up plan.