Gideon has been agitated at best of late.  It’s getting to be that “time of the year” and he has to wait…  We are in the process of flushing the ewes and getting ready for their big date, coming in about a week or ten days or so.  I want lambs in the springtime, not in the dead cold of winter…

So, when we walk by Gideon’s shack, he is usually not so happy to see us.  If we don’t have hay or grain for him, he is ticked and shows us this displeasure by a good hard crack on a fence or post.  He got me through the fence a few weeks ago and thankfully hit me in the thick of my thigh instead of my knee so all I got was a beautiful bruise instead of a broken knee!

Rather than to shout or be mean, we just stay clear of the guy, except for feeding time, and then the occasional treat.

And I found that he LOVES York Peppermint Patties!!!  Haha….  And well, so do I!

So when I think of it, a time or two a week, we share a treat.  He gets half of a small one and I get the other half.  He wags his tail and I pet him under the chin and we have a few moments of happy sheepie contentment as he chews and savors his little treat.

I’m probably sure its not the super best thing for him, but hey, it’s a wee bit, once or twice a week and he’s a big full sized ram.  Hasn’t killed him, probably won’t.  But I do like how he is for awhile after.   Sweeeeeeeeet and happy!!!

Yummm……   After all, chocolate is good for ya!

Soon, buddy, soon…  just another week or so and you’ll get allllll the time you want with the ladies!  And they will get allllll the time they want with you!  You, stud muffin, you…

In case you were wondering…. “flushing” sheep means that for about two weeks prior to introducing them for fall mating, you feed extra grain rations.  The theory is, that sheep feed this extra rich helping of feed will sense a bountiful fall and will be extra fertile.  You will see more twinning and even triples and quads from your flocks if you flush prior to allowing them their mating time.  Sheep normally cycle in 19 days, so after you flush, you need to keep your ram with your ewes for a good 6 weeks so insure that all the ewes will cycle at least twice during their exposure time with the ram.  Ewes gestation time is 5 months.  So…  if our ewes are covered sometime from November onward, we should see lambs as early as the first of March, into April.  Which is much better than February!!!  At least around here!