Evening Walk with Moses

Moses was born in April of last year.  He is polled, which means that he naturally does not have horns.  He was a bit timid as a lamb and has grown to be a mellow  yearling.  His voice has dropped and his blatting sounds like a rams now.  He is really lovely.

Moses follows me around in the pasture, mostly to my right.   He is the first to follow me to the pasture up the road and walks close by my side on the way back to the barn.  I call him, and he comes.  He is one of the few sheep that comes to his name.  With Cory gone, I am his alpha, his leader.

Tonight we did a pasture walk, the sheep and I.  There are several flowering shrubs and saplings.  Pulling the branches down gives the sheep a nice treat.  Moses likes maple and the new shoots from spruce.  Most of the flock roamed around and snacked on grasses and new shoots. Moses and I went searching for flowering shrubs.  Maybe a bit more then a hour, Moses and I moused around.  There were stumps and boulders to rest on and a chance to scratch Moses under his neck.  Mostly he just put his head down against my leg or my arm and stood there.

I like the way the sheep smell, clean and woolly and now with a bit of pine.  A ram has a stronger sent then a ewe.  Moses is getting a bit rammy as he gets into adulthood.  It generally takes a good 2-3 years for a Vermont style merino to mature.  They can sire as early as 9 months, but take a while to get full growth.

Moses has turned into a really nice mellow ram.  I have been talking with a potential buyer and it is bitter sweet to be selling him in the next few months.  Keeping him would be for emotional reasons and not business reasons.  It seems that the best ones go.  I will enjoy him am much as I can while he is here.