Growing Old ,disgracefully!

[DesertDobes]

Now back to Callie. Callie I have four dogs who would like to join you for dinner? What time please? (Although you will have to show them the ropes - they are city slickers after all but do very well with bones!).

My imagination is running amok here

they are small enough to be inside their dinner!

URK. Mind, you, they would think they were in heaven :p

lol, alien style,

[grumpette]

Instantly brings this episode to mind

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/dogsinelk.html#dogs

There is just something about dogs and timing :laugh:

[_PL_]

Instantly brings this episode to mind

http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/dogsinelk.html#dogs

There is just something about dogs and timing :laugh:

:eek: ooooooh my god :rofl:

[persephone]

Grumpette , YES!!! I can imagine westiemum's gang .....

[westiemum]

Ah yessss!! Grumpette thats hysterical!!! It brings back memories of Sarah just after I got her rolling around in fox poo at McLaren Vale immediately after her second clip!!! Joy!!

And yes I could see them too Perse - and of course partaking of a Perse bath afterwards!!!!

Edited April 27, 2013 by westiemum

[Kirislin]

the old girl looks good for a teenager.

You've reminded me of something I want to know about sheep. When you said yours dont get sold, do you mean they're wool sheep?

I never quite understand where our meat lamb comes from. I thought all the sheep I see are for wool because they usually get shorn. I dont recall ever seeing meat sheep in the paddock, or would I not be able to tell the difference. Or are the sheep I see getting shorn still sold off for meat after a year or so?

[grumpette]

the old girl looks good for a teenager.

You've reminded me of something I want to know about sheep. When you said yours dont get sold, do you mean they're wool sheep?

I never quite understand where our meat lamb comes from. I thought all the sheep I see are for wool because they usually get shorn. I dont recall ever seeing meat sheep in the paddock, or would I not be able to tell the difference. Or are the sheep I see getting shorn still sold off for meat after a year or so?

There are breeds of sheep that are bred for meat because they have heavy muscling and are lean, like Texel sheep, and there are sheep that are bred for mainly wool, like Merinos. Then there are crosses, like Border Leicester X Merino sheep that produce good quality carcases as well as fine quality wool. However, young Merinos can also become spring lamb, usually the males.

So as you can see sheep are very similar to cows, some breeds are dairy cows and others are beef cattle.

[Kirislin]

the old girl looks good for a teenager.

You've reminded me of something I want to know about sheep. When you said yours dont get sold, do you mean they're wool sheep?

I never quite understand where our meat lamb comes from. I thought all the sheep I see are for wool because they usually get shorn. I dont recall ever seeing meat sheep in the paddock, or would I not be able to tell the difference. Or are the sheep I see getting shorn still sold off for meat after a year or so?

There are breeds of sheep that are bred for meat because they have heavy muscling and are lean, like Texel sheep, and there are sheep that are bred for mainly wool, like Merinos. Then there are crosses, like Border Leicester X Merino sheep that produce good quality carcases as well as fine quality wool. However, young Merinos can also become spring lamb, usually the males.

So as you can see sheep are very similar to cows, some breeds are dairy cows and others are beef cattle.

I'm much more familiar with telling beef and dairy cows apart, I know they use some dairy/beef cross breds to breed beef cows with because they have plenty of milk for the calves, but the sheep I see mostly look the same, they grow long wool and get shorn, usually in the colder part of the year, another thing which confuses me, why dont they shear them in Spring so they're cool for Summer?

[persephone]

Kirislin .. a lot of lamb/mutton these days come from Dorper sheep ..which shed their wool ..grow fast and need very little care . We prefer mutton from our merinos to the dorper, or English Crossbreeds .... and we have only sold sheep once or twice in many ,many years .... they are born here, and they die here ..they know every inch of their home ... :)(obviously folks in it for business need to sell their oldies, and non breeders ... we only have around 150 these days .. so don't need to bother )

re: shearing ..often lambs are born winter/spring ..and sometimes really wooly mums mean lambs may have trouble finding the udder, Sheep can get sunburnt/or get over heated without their wool 'insulation' in summer

also.. ewes which are growing wool again are much more inclined to snuggle with lambs /stay with a mob to keep warm ..so less 'mis mothering' may occur.

That's the reasons for this part of teh world, anyhow :)

Edited April 27, 2013 by persephone

[DesertDobes]

My cousins have meat sheep with no wool, they have hair instead. I think they are called Damara? They look like goats.

[persephone]

Damara? They look like goats.

Theyre weird creatures, aren't they ? :)

[Kirislin]

Kirislin .. a lot of lamb/mutton these days come from Dorper sheep ..which shed their wool ..grow fast and need very little care . We prefer mutton from our merinos to the dorper, or English Crossbreeds .... and we have only sold sheep once or twice in many ,many years .... they are born here, and they die here ..they know every inch of their home ... :)(obviously folks in it for business need to sell their oldies, and non breeders ... we only have around 150 these days .. so don't need to bother )

re: shearing ..often lambs are born winter/spring ..and sometimes really wooly mums mean lambs may have trouble finding the udder, Sheep can get sunburnt/or get over heated without their wool 'insulation' in summer

also.. ewes which are growing wool again are much more inclined to snuggle with lambs /stay with a mob to keep warm ..so less 'mis mothering' may occur.

That's the reasons for this part of teh world, anyhow :)

I've only ever seen these sheep in hobby farms, usually less than 10 in a flock. So would that mean the big flocks of sheep I see are wool sheep, and then what happens to wool sheep when they got too old?

[LisaCC]

Hmm, plenty of Dorper and Dorper x flocks around here.

[LisaCC]

Perse growing old doesn't mean you have to leave all the eating and rolling in disgusting things to the young pups!

[Dame Aussie]

Nom nom nom. Good girl Caillie :)

[perrin]

Dorper can also have a white head so it's possible to drive past a paddock of dorper and not notice. What what sets them apart is their body shape and coat.

[HazyWal]

In DD's defence I know she would not be having a go at Persephone but the image may have been upsetting, to be honest I didn't comment on the sheep belly up being eaten by Callie because it made me feel a bit ordinary as well Each to their own and not everyone grows up on the land.

[westiemum]

I had dorper lamb at McLaren Vale late last year and thought it tasted funny... almost 'off' (it wasn't). Is it an acquired taste or was the piece I had just poorer quality?

[westiemum]

In DD's defence I know she would not be having a go at Persephone but the image may have been upsetting, to be honest I didn't comment on the sheep belly up being eaten by Callie because it made me feel a bit ordinary as well Each to their own and not everyone grows up on the land.

Don't worry SM - we love DD - no defence required.

[Chequeredblackdog]

Damara? They look like goats.

Theyre weird creatures, aren't they ? :)

Oi! We're not weird! :p