Sheepish

Thanks for waiting. Now we can get on to talking about the sheep.

The same weekend we acquired kune kune pigs we also bought two ewes, one with a set of twins, and one with a single lamb, from a neighbour who farms Wiltshire sheep. The Wiltshire breed shed their wool in spring which makes them a good choice for amateurs like us who don’t want to have a clue how to shear.

Two of the lambs are wethers (that’s farmer-speak for neutered boys), who, when they reach about a year old, are destined for the freezer. In autumn we plan to send the girls for some sexy-time with our neighbour’s ram, and if all goes well we could be raising farmlet-born lambs by next spring.

Wiltshire sheep looking pretty in the Bottom Paddock

For obvious reasons I’m going to keep the Forbearing Husband well away from the cute little lambies. Fortunately for our culinary hopes, our sheep show no signs whatsoever of wanting to interact with us, so perhaps the Forbearing Husband and I really will manage to eat those lads. If not Stephen and Deborah will just have to find it in them to mop up any excess meat. I’ve already decided that if I can’t bring myself to eat our home reared animals I’m going to embrace vegetarianism.

All in all it’s feeling rather pastoral around here.