We are a small family farm that specializes in local honey and pastured lamb & goat kid meat. We practice sustainable agriculture and rotational grazing.
Our farm is nestled between the apple orchards of Adams County, PA and has been in our family for over 50 years.
Shepherds play a big role in the Christmas Story. The gospel writers of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had human guardians in mind. As did the English hymn writers who penned “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night.”
Around here, we rely on the Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs to watch the flock at night. We have six of them: Remi, Rita, Rocky, Rosie, Ringo, and Rebel. My mom began naming her Great Pyrenees with two syllable “R” names and we have kept up the tradition.
The dogs are all brother/sister pairs. Each pair is about four years apart, giving us a robust guardian force. We train new puppies on basic commands of sit, come, down, etc, and basic socialization. The older dogs train the younger dogs on how to do their jobs.
The dogs work in pairs. One dog will stay back with the flock while the other will attack the predator. We don’t train them to do this; it is their instinct.
They practice the same formation to protect their humans, too. The dogs are strongly bonded to certain humans. For example the four older dogs are very protective of the kids. The younger two dogs are very protective of me.
The Great Pyrenees are working dogs that hail from the mountains of Spain and France. They have a kind, relaxed personality, unless they perceive a threat to their livestock or humans. They protect their flock from hawks who want to swoop in and carry off a new-born lamb. The dogs are constantly monitoring the ground for threats from predators, like coyotes, too. When they are not working, they nap and play with each other.
The humans, dogs, and beasts of the field wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
Every fall the odor of sexual desire assaults the nose, rubs off on clothes, and cloys to the skin. The barnyard blushes with lusty pursuit.
The ladies get sheared to fully expose their “naughty bits.” Rams get sheared and their hooves trimmed. Everyone has gotten extra grain and good pasture two weeks prior.
Then, the rams get taken to their harem of ladies. The well-seasoned farmer knows to have a short lead on the halter. Otherwise, they will be dragged to the mating space by an overenthusiastic ram.
The group stays together for five or six weeks. The ladies cycle twice and the farmer hopes nature took its course.
There are pregnancy tests for sheep. Blood can be drawn and then sent to a lab. The vet can do ultrasounds. Blood tests have proved to be incorrect/inconclusive and the vet is expensive. Instead, waiting the five-month gestation period is the game plan.
The ram uncooperatively is removed. He needs to be lured to the farmer with a bucket of feed and the promise of staying with his ladies. The halter is hidden in the back pocket, to increase the element of surprise. Head in the feed bucket, the farmer grabs the ram’s collar, slips on the halter, and drags the ram back to his “bros.”
The ewes are unbothered by the ram’s removal and go on munching hay.