SPECKLES

Yep, I name my sheep...well, most of them anyway. This is a picture of the infamous Speckles. Speckles and his buddy, Freckles. In the background, is Palomino AKA devil ears. By the way, what breed of sheep has those short ears? If you know, please educate me. Some big hat asked me if they had been frozen off. Doubtful since he has a buddy with the same shaped ears and I don't think they would be that uniform looking.

I like Speckles because he will turn and face a dog. I haven't had him try to run my dogs down yet, but he is a bit notorious for that in his previous behavior. Thankfully, he is small in stature. The dog learns if he/she moves in closer, Speckles will turn and continue on his way. That makes Speckles a good sheep for my dogs.

We are in the midst of "sheep cleaning".....kind of like spring house cleaning. I'm keeping Speckles and Freckles and another wool sheep while picking up 5 lambs in a few weeks. I hate Barbs, but the price was right. I'm getting 1 wool/Barb cross and 4 Barb lambs. I'm sure this will change the behavior of Speckles. Especially since I am getting rid of 4 of Speckle's buddies.

I don't have any place to work my dogs on our property, but my dogs can put them away in the barn at night and do some small flanks, etc. until winter comes and then it's back to the desert in the stock trailer to work on my days off. Photos to follow when the lambs come. :0)