Our friend , Bill Kersey , had retirement plans that included raising sheep . He researched breeds extensively and traveled to out-of-state farms before deciding that Finnsheep were for him . He purchased a small herd and moved them to his farm just outside Peterstown in Monroe County . Then he had to retire from the sheep business because of a foot ailment that limited his time with the animals . Rather than sell them at the market , he let me have four pregnant ewes , an unrelated ram and a wether ( a castrated male sheep ) to keep the ram company .
Sheep farming was new to us . We ’ d never even heard of Finnsheep . While we didn ’ t expect them to be terribly difficult , we were not prepared for how much fun these sheep can be .
Finnsheep are a little smaller than other breeds , very docile , and generally excellent , nurturing mothers . Adding to the ease of care , they are naturally polled ( no horns ) and have short tails , so no tail docking . Multiple births are common . In two lambing seasons , we ’ ve never had a birth of just one lamb .
Our first delivery was on a sunny Sunday afternoon . Big Mama had four babies . That was when we first realized that sheep have only two teats . The third and fourth lambs have to be pretty aggressive to win a place at the dinner table . Also , if a lamb can ’ t stand up to nurse , mom walks away . It doesn ’ t seem very compassionate , but it is the way of sheep and Mother Nature . After four months of bottle-feeding three rejected lambs who grew up not knowing how to be sheep , we figured out that Mother Nature knows best .
We took the bottle babies to school one day that first year , diaper bag , bottles and all , and kindergarten students enjoyed feeding them and rubbing their new fleeces . True to the old saying , “ Gentle as a lamb ,” they lay in the arms of older students who let the 5-year-olds hold the bottle to feed the young sheep .
This breed forages well and doesn ’ t limit their diet to grass . Ours eat leaves in the woods and brush about as well as goats .
Finnsheep come in five main colors : white , grey , brown , black , and fawn . Although some experts say that black sheep always have black sheep , our Queenie had two black , a brown , and a white lamb in the same litter this spring . Last year she had three girls black at birth who grew up with white fleeces and black legs and heads . The genetics are fascinating .
Observing the personalities in the sheep field is quite captivating as well , certainly better entertainment than on TV . While Queenie , who is the leader , was in “ confinement ” waiting for delivery , another sheep , Crazy Aunt Champagne , became the chosen leader . She seemed to really relish the job . When Queenie brought her lambs back to the field , the others remembered that she was really the leader and followed her . Crazy Aunt Champagne pouted and sulked for a week .
The sheep clearly have friends and regularly eat with them in the field . It is easy to imagine that the girls are chatting about the kids and where to eat dinner as they graze . On the other hand , the sheep have some less than pleasant interactions . They even butt heads on occasion to make some unknown point . We
West Virginia Farm Bureau News 17