~Above is a picture of one of the first Jacob rams I kept here on Cedar Pond. Cedar Pond's Abel,( only a few months old when this picture was taken ) on the left, was a triplet son of my first and oldest Jacob sheep ewe, Maple Creek Joy.Joy died of old age when she was 17 years old. Did you know sheep could live that long ?I had Joy here at Cedar pond for 15 years of her life and still have some of her great-grandchildren. Anyway, look closely at Abel. For some reason, this ram was always decked out in greenery. I used this picture one year as my Christmas card photo. " Deck the horns with boughs of blackberry, baa ,baa ,baa ,baa ,baa....
~Here is Abel, several years older, again decked in greenery!~
~And again! I don't have any other rams who will walk around for days wearing their boughs of fir, blackberry, etc. For one thing, any sheep wearing greenery immediately finds flock mates walking alongside them , munching on the greenery until it is gone. So Abel needed to keep clear of snacking sheep to keep his finery.Note Abel's horns. My daughter-in-law Breezy called it the "Elvis thing going on with his horns".
~This is another ram I purchased from Swallow Lane Jacobs when he was only 5 months old. He grew very large horns very fast. I named him Swallow Lane Torque, and I named him Torque, meaning "a necklace, amulet, or collar, worn especially by ancient Gauls, Britons, and Germans, twisted collar" Funk & Wagnalls. I think a collar of horn qualifies as a torque. However, the many men who viewed Torque at the Puyallup Fair thought his name represented 'torque' in other ways.
~Cedar Pond's Thistle, a son of Torque, was killed by his brother.....~
~Cedar Pond's Goth. This is Goth at only 4 or 5 months old.~
~This is Goth now. He is the father of........~
~Cedar Pond's Vandal! This is Vandal at only 7 months of age. He looks very much like his grandpa Torque.~
~Goth says: " I am still THE ram on Cedar Pond!"
"Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and offered him up for a burnt offering in place of his son." Genesis 22:13
12 comments:
Amazing pictures this morning Kathy. I did not know rams could live that long - interesting.
Hope you are having a good day.
The variety in horns is fascinating - I agree Abel's greenery garlands is unusual - goats also tend to munch off their friends! Interesting sheep with so much variety in their horns and spottedness.
Abel and his love of the greenery garland is quite the character! Love it! And didn't know these guys lived so long!
I laughed when I saw the pictures of Abel and his "bling." Every creature has a personality. :)
That's so funny. Goth's (supposed-to-be-a-wether-but-oops-he-slipped-his-band-and-now-he-has-"one") son out of Briar, Thorne, is ALWAYS draped in greenery of some kind or another.
(And, yes, thanks, Kathy, our little trio worked it out after the shearing "Who are you?" problems.) ~ Cora
Those horns are amazing! Beautiful sheep! Abel and his love of greenery is cute, maybe he was trying to impress (bribe) the female sheep with his edible fashions?
isn't it funny the thing animals do.
LAMBALANCH time at Cedar Pond; thanks for the photos. Your Jacobs have the most amazing head gear I've ever seen on Jacobs.
All the horns and the greenery. These animals are so majestic looking. How do you not watch them all day? I would.
Mildred, rams live long if they are not too destructive, or self-destructive. Torque is at the taxidermist. He became downright dangerous to me, the other sheep, property, and other people. His magnificent rack will grace a high wall in our home.
LindaSue,I think I might begin photographing many Jacob horns. The variety really is amazing.
Shellmo, Abel is still alive and living somewhere else. He is still a pretty good-natured ram. Wish I could have kept him but he is related to all my sheep....and rams just want to do 3 things, eat, breed and RAM!
Wilson Clan, bling....I like that term for Abel.Maybe it is the 'Elvis thing'.
Draft Cross Fool, well you know, your Goth is related to Abel too !Send me a picture and I will post it! I miss Briar....
Shiloh Prairie, Abel might have been trying to impress the gals, but he wasn't sharing his greenery!He did like hanging out with the gals though and was pretty good natured.Hmmm....
Anna Colleen ( I do love your name, so Irish)You probably have 10 times more funny stories and I look forward to your tales of Terriers and Tabbies!
Thistle Cove Farm, the horns of Jacob sheep are amazing and so varied. This year lamb and horn crop promises to be very interesting too.
Noble Pig, I have been known to waste vast amounts of time just gazing at my sheep. Especially this time of year with lambs. Lambs are among the most precious and cute animals in the world...I think!
This was so interestng! I just love to see all the beautiful rams. I particularly enjoyed seeing pictures of Abel with his remarkable sense of style!
Great pictures, Kathy. Every time I see a picture of Goth on your blog, I kind of shudder. He just looks so scary to me with those big horns. This is probably a stupid question, but do their horns ever grow back up against their throat or skin? I just wondered because of the way some of them curl so much. Do you ever have to cut or file them down or off?
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