In the last entry, I mentioned the boys’ lambs, so here are some pictures.
We have been raising lambs for 4 years for the 4-h livestock program. I think that it’s been very beneficial for the development of character and diligence. I love to see my children growing out of the selfishness of babyhood and developing the skills of caring for something besides their own wants and needs. I have seen them becoming more consciously thoughtful. They also learn a lot about investing and money management, much much more than I ever did in public school.
It’s David’s first year. He’s still learning and struggling to train his lamb for the show ring. It is a difficult job. They both will have to enter the ring without any sort of halter and show their lambs using nothing but their hands. Andrew has a real knack for it after training three others. SO, the rest of this month will be the most important days in training. Then, off to market they go. It’s bitter-sweet for us to see them go. They are such a hassle, but we do love them so. We feel proud to be offering such good healthy clean meat to whomever will be the buyer.
The Lambs have just been sheered and in a post coming soon I’ll show you what we do with all that wool.
What a great experience for your boys.
Do I sound too much like a city girl if I ask was it hard to get the lamb into that unitard?? I really want to know.
Comment by smallnotebook — April 2, 2008 @ 8:32 pm |
LOL! Unitard! They are called tubes. Not too difficult. We put the whole thing over the head, tail end frist, so that it’s gathered up on her neck. Pull up the front legs, knee first, followed by the ankle and then hoof. Spread the bulk of the tube down the body and then lift in the hind legs, imagine lifting a hoses hooves for shoeing…. have you seen that before?
Too funny that you ask though. She did kick me, so I made Andrew do it. She knows he’s the boss anyway.
Comment by berrymomma — April 6, 2008 @ 3:41 pm |