Sheep - Mainly Merinos

The Moosey sheep are wool producers only - they are shorn once a year, and never, ever destined for the dinner table. The flock is mainly merino, and they spend some quality sheep-time in the small paddock behind the pond.

Merino Sheep - 2009

Mainly merino - odd sheep do come and go, however. Take pet lamb Fred, a rescued lamb - he was obviously a meaty variety of sheep, looking at his weight and his coarse fleece. I'm he's contributed to someone's carpet, probably made in China. His fleece is huge after shearing!

Romneys Too

In the early days several Romney ewes were found cruising down the road in the early days. We brought into the front paddock, no-one claimed them, and so they stayed with the other sheep.

romney and merino sheep - 1998

Here are two of the earliest ewes - they both seem mesmerised by the photographer. The Romney on the left was a great mother and always had twins.

Merino Sheep and Lambs - 2010

Outdoor Sheep

The Moosey flock stays at around twenty in number. The sheep are always outdoors, and we have enough feed throughout the winter. There's always emergency hay to feed out, just in case we get snow.

They have the perfect sheltering spot underneath huge pine trees to get out of the cold wind and rain. It's a favourite place to be in the hot spring days pre-shearing, too.

The Apprentice Ram

Our own merino ram, Charles, is getting a bit old now, so this year (2010) a strongly growing boy lamb has been given the honour of becoming - ahem - the Apprentice! Oh dear.

I'm enjoying watching his curly horns growing. They'll eventually need to be trimmed, otherwise he'll get stuck in the drafting yards. Poor ram!