These are the lucky lambs, even though they may not agree 🙂  In most jacob flocks they would be considered culls and they will never be used for breeding here, but they serve a very important purpose…

they are used for herding lessons. 

They would normally be headed to the freezer this fall (some may still end up there) but for now they are earning their keep.  Kate helped me dog break them and they are working out great for lessons.  Dog broke sheep are accustomed to being worked by dogs and are a must have for teaching beginning dogs.  The sheep tend to stay next to the person and your focus can be on the dog and not the sheep.  Jacob sheep aren’t usually used but they have worked well for us and it gives these guys a job.  

There are a lot of criteria that a jacob sheep has to meet to be registered, plus I have certain flock goals, which means we have a lot of lambs that aren’t sold as breeding stock.  They have to have the right coloring, correct structure, good horns, nice fleece, and an acceptable temperament.    

This guy is missing black around his one eye and his horns on the left have issues.

This girl is a little dark in color and her side horns aren’t as strong as I would like.

This boys major draw back is that he is a 2-horn.  There isn’t a very big market for 2-horn jacob rams, everybody likes the impressive 4-horns.  So unless there is something really special about the 2-horn boys, I wether them.  This guy’s horns took a funny dip when I wethered him and it makes him look a little silly.

Here is another one with silly horns.  I think she actually has 6-horns with the top ones fused together.  She is also missing the black around her right eye.

This girl was originally sold as breeding stock, but her horns started tipping forward.  I wasn’t sure how bad they would end up being, so I replaced her with another lamb.  I’ll wait to see how she looks as a yearling.

The rest are mainly 2-horn boys.  In addition to being used for herding lessons they will also provide some really nice fleeces.

This is Teia – a blue merle australian shepherd – owned by Tammy.  She is just over a year old and is learning how to be a sheep dog.

She has a great sense of humor…

that I don’t think the sheep appreciate 🙂