Jack the lad has been with the ewes for 14 days now and so far has mated with four out of the nine of them. A sheep comes into season every 17 days and as such that means we have just THREE days left before we might possibly start to wonder as to why those remaining five (all Shetlands) are not succumbing to Jack’s charms!!! The photo shows him taking a vague interest in Bressay back on the 23rd but as yet we have no red bum!!!
We are not ‘that’ worried yet, Shetlands (in keeping with other hill breeds) are known for starting their seasons a little later, maybe not until mid October, so we need to go through another full 17-day cycle before we get too panicky!!! Skerry is the only Shetland that Jack has so far mated with and that was not until the 20th.
What all this does mean already though, is that our lambing is going to be fairly drawn out with kidding definitely taking place in the middle of it!!! Thank goodness we have the barn as well as all our lovely field shelters!!!