[shepherdsquared]

Changed my URL at long last! Used to be shepherdannie, now shepherdsquared!

[calmdowndrinksometea]

Just read through a dog breeder's website bc I was astounded by the fact that I came across several job postings from them on Indeed and I honestly am kinda skeptical of a dog breeder that could feasibly afford to pay multiple people up to $17/hr and like.... Idk what to make of this place bc uh, some highlights:

1. They're breeding multiple types of doodles bc of course

2. They currently have TWENTY SEVEN breeding females listed on the website along with an additional 14 puppies that will be used for breeding as adults

3. I looked at their pricing page and apparently they can afford to hire a full team of people bc they charge $5500-$6500 per puppy depending on breed PLUS a $500 deposit PLUS an additional fee of $1000-$2500 for different tiers from 1st to 4th pick of a litter

4. The deposit and POL premium are non-refundable BTW

[shepherdsquared]

Reblogging to put in on my dog/farm blog too bc this is insane to me

Their website goes on to say how they're like the most ethical breeder in their area and has a whole page warning abt puppy mills and it's like THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE!!!

[shepherdsquared]

I like never post on this blog anymore, but FINALLY after desperately wanting one for like 7 years, I adopted a beagle last week! This is Ransom and he's almost 8 years old!

[shepherdsquared]

Ooh I forgot to mention that we took Stella and Eustace to a Trunk or Treat at my church! I didn't get any pictures while we were there unfortunately but it was a lot of fun! Instead y'all can get pics of them in the car and getting ready to go lolol

[shepherdsquared]

Totally forgot to post on this blog that we have a flock guardian now! This is Ophelia and there is a possibility that she's pregnant! I'm thinking about taking her to get an ultrasound or something done if it's not too expensive to see for certain

[shepherdsquared]

This boy weighs 130 pounds now and is getting some pretty nice horns!! He's still a huge sweetheart and I am dreading the day he grows up and gets his adult personality

[shepherdsquared]

Aksjdksk I can't help but think some of the people commenting on that "Banning cows" post that's going around have never actually met real cows. "Oh yes, we should definitely ban cows bc blah blah the environment blah blah *quotes incorrect information* also the only thing that would happen with banning cows is we just wouldn't forcibly breed them and they'd be free to live their lives and that way there wouldn't be so many of them"

Do... Do they realize that if cows were left to their own devices they'd have probably exactly the number of calves they already do and would probably actually breed even more times in their life? Cows go into heat and they keep going into heat until they get pregnant, that's how animals work. And whenever they're in heat they'll do everything they can to get pregnant. The only difference would be that they wouldn't have the special care they get now to ensure they have safe, healthy pregnancies and their calves have the best chances they can get to thrive.

[shepherdsquared]

Top 10 dog breeds I want in the future that I haven't had before:

1. Beagle

2. Borzoi

3. Great Pyrenees

4. Standard Poodle

5. English Cocker Spaniel? (Maybe...haven't decided whether or not they have too many health problems)

6. Beauceron

7. Redbone Coonhound

8. Rough or Smooth Collie

9. English or Irish Setter, honestly haven't decided between the two

10. Greyhound

[justslowdown]

hi! i am looking into getting sheep or goats in the future and, if you don't mind me asking, do you had hardy breed suggestions?

Hopefully some other ppl will chime in but yes!

Depends on if you want wool or hair sheep. Hair sheep are generally tougher and easier to care for. Some lines of Katahdin and St Croix are pretty much bulletproof lol. We don't have them so idk much more than that

For wool sheep, if you're in Florida or a neighboring state, Florida cracker sheep are INCREDIBLE. The parasite resistance and climate adaptations are off the charts. I've heard of similar breeds like Gulf Coast but no firsthand experience

I LOVE love Soay sheep and want to breed more purebreds in addition to the mixes. Never had to trim or treat a single Soay hoof, they've thrived on really shitty pasture, they're small, easy lambers. Love em. They didn't cope great with FL climate which is understandable, almost no sheep do, but they're doing well in GA now

http://www.windridgefarm.us/soaysheep.htm

Any of my followers have recs? There's tons I've missed I'm sure! @tsrabbits I don't know anything about Painted desert but I've heard them and Navajo churro are hardy ass mf'ers too

[justslowdown]

OH I MISSED THE GOAT PART

Goats tend towards overbred and in need of a lot of care. Kiko are the one that comes to mind if you want a lower maintenance breed. I'm not really a goat person so I'm sure other folks have more to list!

[shepherdsquared]

I can't say much about wool breeds, but my family does hair sheep and Boer goats. About half of our sheep are Katahdins and the other have are Painted Desert, except for one Easy Care lamb (1/2 Romanov, 1/4 Katahdin, and 1/4 White Dorper) and what we think is a Barbados Blackbelly ewe.

We have had to deworm a few of the Katahdins bc their we've pretty much had a drought this summer and so their preferred pasture is... pretty sparse to be generous. We've had less problems since fencing a new area with tall grass. Haven't had any issues with any of the other sheep, but I will say temperament is a very important factor into what breed you get. The Painted Desert sheep and the Barbados are generally healthier and do better on less pasture, but they're really flighty and we actually lost them for a few days after we bought them when they jumped a fence. In fact, we originally bought two Barbados ewes and one of them is still living at a creek nearby with the neighbor's cows bc we never were able to catch her. The Katahdins are a lot more easy going and actually go out in temporary pastures with just one wire set up. Even our 3 year old ram is super laid back and gentle with people, though that might change once he goes in with the ewes next month.

Basically for sheep, at least with hair sheep it seems like the more wild-type breeds with a lot of Mouflon influence are the hardiest, but they're typically a lot more wild in temperament as well. I will say that ALL of the breeds we have have been pretty resistant to adverse weather so far, other than a couple older ewes who have slowed down a bit in the summer heat. They actually seem to like being out in the rain and it almost didn't bother them at all when it dropped down to 40 degrees today when it's been in the 90s for the past month or two.

All of the breeds we have are also known for high reproductive rates with hardy lambs as well! Hair lambs tend to do better in general in colder weather than wool lambs.

As for the goats, I can't say too much health wise on Boers bc the oldest ones we have are only 6 months old, so they shouldn't be needing hoof trims or anything like that yet anyway. But they are super sweet. I don't know that I'd recommend them if you're looking for a fast growing breed unless you have a lot of like trees and bushes for them or are planning on feeding a bunch of grain bc ours have not been growing like at all on just pasture with some hedge trees.

I have heard good things about Kiko/Boer crosses though!

[shepherdsquared]

Maverick is obsessed with the rams. They're pretty indifferent.

[scoutsmoocrew]

Saw a peta ad that was like “sheep farmers have lambs born in the winter and that renders the lambs too weak to defend themselves from predators” and like... do lambs usually defend themselves from predators...

[adhd-hippie]

Okay so the real issue here isn’t whether lambs CAN defend themselves as newborns but will lambs be strong enough by the time winter comes to defend itself.  A newborn lamb is unable to defend itself.  A lamb who’s 6 to 9 months old is capable of butting a predator, running away, etc.  Lambs born in winter will be far easier pickings for starving winter predators than an older lamb born in the spring.

Sheep and goats naturally have their lambing season during the spring meaning that their progeny will be strong enough to make it through the winter.  Farmers force sheep (through artificial insemination) to have lambs all year round.

Vegans just want animals to be left alone to do whatever it is they’d naturally do.  We don’t think it’s okay to force any animals to have babies just so that we can eat those babies, or steal their wool.  And yes, I do realize that sheep have to be sheared to stay healthy, but the reason they must be sheared is because we’ve bred them to carry more wool than is natural. 

Just like we’ve bred chickens to get so fat they can’t walk.

I’m not saying EVERYTHING needs to be done the natural way, I’m just saying animals shouldn’t be forced to have babies outside of their natural cycle.

[scoutsmoocrew]

Mmm artificial insemination is extremely uncommon and difficult in sheep lol. And as short day cyclers the most “natural” time for breeding in sheep is fall, meaning they’d calve in late winter.

And no PETA was saying lambs die because they’re born in winter. Not that they won’t be strong enough by when winter comes

[shepherdsquared]

As a sheep farmer, I'd like to add that even a 6 to 9 month old lamb doesn't have any way of protecting itself from predators besides running away, which tiny lambs can do as well, they're just not as observant or coordinated. Young lambs also have their mothers keeping watch over them. The only sheep that really have any chance of protecting themselves are mature rams who have enough body mass for it. It also helps if they're horned.

Can also second that about breeding sheep. AI is really only done in rare circumstances with really valuable animals bc it's frickin expensive and super difficult. As for their natural breeding habits... My ram is currently wearing a no-mating harness to ensure that we don't get lambs until spring, since if it was left up to them they'd all be lambing at the start of January (most hair sheep like I have at least have a longer breeding season than most wool sheep, starting in late summer all the way through winter occasionally)

[shepherdsquared]

We've been finding sheep poop with worms for a couple weeks now and I think we finally found the culprit

It was Willoughby the whole time!

[shepherdsquared]

I officially made an Instagram for the farm!

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

[calmdowndrinksometea]

In case anyone was forgetting that this used to be a dogblr lol

[shepherdsquared]

Lol accidentally posted this to my main, which has most certainly never been a dogblr

[shepherdsquared]

Willoughby has real horns, I think!

[shepherdsquared]

Boy Facebook is just wonderful for dog related stuff... Someone posted on a livestock group I'm in that they're looking for a stud to breed to a few Australian cattle dogs they have in about a year, which would be fine except two of the three are like 12 week old puppies so they'd be just over a year old when being bred!

[shepherdsquared]

The bottle lambs, Guinevere/Gwen (blue tag) and Stella (pink tag). First pic is about 1 1/2 weeks ago when we got them, second pic is today. If it tells you anything about how small they are, I was finally able to weigh them today and Gwen is 5 lbs at 2 weeks old and Stella is 7 lbs at 1 week 5 days old.