Hello homesteaders - Elizabeth and Malcolm here with more about Bethany Homestead
Let’s talk about the decision to add animals to our sanctuary. We began with 2 goats, chickens, then cows, and are currently raising Katahdin sheep. We purchased 2 black Angus steers, but ultimately decided those were beyond what we could physically handle – they are HUGE! Pretty smelly creatures too, so we sold the cows and decided that sheep were more appropriate for our age and capabilities. Our goats lived their lives out on the homestead, and we decided not to replace them.
We are now in our third year with Katahdin sheep, and it’s been wonderful during spring lambing time watching the new lambs mature. They truly do frolic in the pasture! We started with 6 pregnant ewes and now have 15 ewes and 2 rams. We are looking forward to the coming springtime and hoping for more lambs!
When raising any farm animal, you must deal with the joys as well as some grief or sorrow. Our first spring season after getting the ewes was bitterly cold, and lambing started earlier than we expected. We lost 2 lambs due to our inexperience and have worked hard to prevent that from happening again with our choice of breeding schedules. We also provide annual immunization by vaccinating (sort of equivalent to our flu shots), and that has decreased our odds of losing animals due to disease.
Our oldest ram we named after Arnold Schwarzenegger, and we call him Arnie. Arnie was a single birth, and sheep usually are prone to multiple births. He was larger and more impressive than any of the other male lambs that were born during our first lambing season.
Our second ram was born the following spring and is named Houdini. He is our escape artist and can breach any of the solar-powered electric fences on our property. He never wanders away, instead he walks along the fence perimeter and finally finds another place where he chooses to get back inside the paddock. Initially, we tried to catch him and encourage him back into the paddock via one of the gates, but we eventually realized that he would just go back in on his own.
Sheep are very social creatures and prefer to exist in company with other sheep. As our flock has grown, the time and work involved has continued to increase. We are contemplating reducing the flock after our next lambing season. We might reduce our flock by selling some of the ewes, but we currently plan to continue raising sheep since we enjoy them so much.
Elizabeth and Malcolm
Bethany Homestead
