sheep and goats

I have raised goats for a few years now and owned a sheep for a couple of months. Here is what I have learned about sheep. They are not like goats. Not this one, anyway. Goats don't really show emotion. They show fear occasionally but that is it. One of my goats, Esau, is very curious. He will come up to me and want to get right in the middle of whatever I am doing. Kami, is shy. She will stand off and watch me. However, if I have something she might want to eat she will come very close.

Then there is Phillippe the sheep. He is shy, too but he will come close to me hoping I have a treat. He loves peppermint horse treats! He has not been happy with me since Saturday and he vocally lets me know it whenever he sees me. He also likes to stamp his foot when he is not happy. I didn't know this about sheep. I had a years worth of hay delivered on Saturday. The hay man and a helper loaded it into the barn. I didn't realize it at the time but they covered up the trash can that I keep the bags of dog food, loose minerals and treats in. So, since Saturday Philippe hasn't gotten a treat. Thankfully the trash can is close to the door so now that it has stopped raining I can work on getting it out of that barn.

My hay barn is one of those vinyl ones from Lowes. It has double doors, two windows, skylights and vents. It is around 10 feet by 12 feet. This has worked very well for the hay and whatever else I need to keep in there. Only having two goats, one sheep and a dog I don't really need much more. Still a proper barn would be nice sometimes. Now that the coyotes are coming around, one came last night, it would be nice to have something to lock them into at night.

Remember on Saturday's post that I said  I might have a black eye. Yep, I sure do! And it is looking worse every day. Here is what it looked like last night. The red area is even bigger today! Thankfully it doesn't hurt unless I touch it.

It has been a learning experience owning a sheep. Now I know I need to have better control of him when trying to get him on a stand! I a glad I bought him and I am looking forward to working with his wool.

I bought a new toy this week. Last year I tried carding my Nigora wool but I wasn't happy with it. I then tried using hand cards and still I didn't like how it was looking. This year my friend Tina wanted to try out her wool combs on it. They worked beautifully! So, I bought a pair. They are hand made by Benjamin Green Studios. They are beautiful as well as functional. I am hoping to get Kami's wool washed so I can take it to the arts center on Tuesday (Loomytunes blog) so Tina can tell me if I am using the combs properly.

Well, that is all I have for today. Now it is time to get busy and wash all that wool!

Linda