March 25th, 2025

Sheep-Watch

I’m switching gears for today’s blog because my mind won’t stop racing about my sheep—my pregnant sheep, my training sheep, and everything that’s going to happen with them this year. I keep thinking about my plans moving forward.

Right now, I have four pregnant ewes—the first one is due in just 16 days (at the time of this posting). I also have six training sheep and two rams who will be around year-round but aren’t used to electric fencing.

Pregnant ewes in the maternity ward munching on hay on March 10th, 2025

I’m keeping a close watch on my pregnant ewes in the barn while moving the training sheep into their first field rotation. Since there isn’t enough grass yet, I’m supplementing with hay bales to avoid overgrazing and damaging the pasture. This will allow the paddock to rest, hopefully reseed, and grow before May.

In May, I plan to move the field sheep to their next grazing rotation, giving their current pasture—where they’ve been since late March—a chance to recover. The ewes and lambs will be introduced to the paddock (which will, hopefully, have fresh grass by then) and transitioned slowly to prevent overeating disease. They’ll likely stay there for about a week—maybe. Once they’re done with the paddock, I’ll start moving them around the barn with my dogs before taking them to the Christmas Tree pasture for the summer, where they’ll eat, grow, and recover.

I’m keeping my training sheep close this spring and summer so I can continue working with them before eventually adding the lambs into the rotation. The training sheep will be bred this fall to Gomer and possibly Kevin.

Happy Shepherding!

Addi and her dogs