Posted on 03/21/2020 4:57:27 AM PDT by C19fan
Ever since he was a black-faced babe in arms, Eddie has embraced all that family life offers at Whitehall Farm in Dumfries and Galloway. What better than a game of chase with the dogs? Or a kick-about in the yard with Evie, nine, and Bertie, six? Or perhaps a bracing walk to meet them from school, followed by a snooze in front of the Aga? As a youngster, he loved a cuddle on the sofa while glued to an impressively eclectic range of TV shows — children’s programmes, Love Island and occasionally, when he fancied more intellectual stimulation, Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. Not that Eddie followed every nuance of her political coverage. Of course not: he’s a sheep.
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This is a heck of a lot better than a virus thread........Loved watching the babies run around
PING!
Proposed pets for those with working needles?
I’ve wanted to get sheep out here on the farm, but Beau, having actually RAISED sheep while growing up, says they’re just looking for an excuse to die. He says he’s saving me from further heartbreak, but that I can buy all the yarn I want, no questions asked. ;)
On one of our first dates, he took me to a local farm that raises, sheers, processes, dyes and spins wool. I learned to work a spindle and a spinning wheel and got to see and feel all sorts of wool from right off the sheep to finished product. It was an amazing day. One for the Heart Lock Box. :)
If pigs had usable wool, they would be the most perfect animal, ever!
Take A Break - Ping! :)
Diana, you managed to manufacture the first smile on this face this morning :-) Thanks!
So they want me to drop my ad blocker to read their article....FO UK Daily Mail!
“...says they’re just looking for an excuse to die.”
He nailed it! They are the stupid-ist animal alive! Yes, cute, but you may as well chain em up, well no, then they’ll choke themselves if a bird flies over, fence them in a small enclosure, well no, then they’ll panic into a corner and smother one another, etc. Yes, a woolly hog would be perfect!
Well, having raised sheep, I can tell you that he is correct. They have not been selectively bred for intelligence.
But if you build yourself a spinner’s flock of wethers (castrated males) of various wool breeds you might not do too badly.
That’s a great idea! I’ll suggest that. I REALLY want a milk cow, but again, Beau has raised them in the past and assures me that I don’t, LOL!
We are going to go into our own beef production though, and he would like some goats for cleaning up the steep hillsides and wooded paths in the pasture.
Angora goats, maybe? Hmmmm.....
Mohair billy goats are the worst smelling animal on the planet. I had a friend that had some and they are skanky cranky critters. Of course hers weren’t dehorned or castrated. They were serious thugs.
OTH, I really like the Pygora (pygmy/angora cross) and have spun their fleeces. They may be the perfect backyard animal, small, adorable and with lovely fiber.
I used to work with a goat dairy farmer. We had to send him HOME from time to time he smelled so bad. Blech! I don’t like ‘goat’ anything, really, other than goat milk soaps.
Thanks for the tip on the breed. I don’t think he cares what we get as long as they’ll graze. If we’re going to have animals, they should do double duty!
I honestly can’t remember any goat smelling as bad as those mohair/angora billies.
The pygoras I’ve met were all well bathed and brushed show animals or pets. They are so small most kids can control them to bathe them.
I’ve almost talked myself into one now, lol. Because it’s not like I have pounds and pounds of fiber in the rafters (crossing fingers behind back).
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