While the state of Wisconsin is often associated with cheese, the girl’s t-shirt reminds us that it isn’t all about cheese. Last Friday was the National Targhee Sheep Show & Sale bringing ranchers and flock owners from multiple states for the show.
Sheep Not Cheese
This evening was the sheep show at my county fair and it was a hot day so hats and shades were common apparel, just maybe not common for a critter with a wool coat. This ‘cool’ sheep was at the National Targhee Show last Friday.
Sheep with Style
I think it is time to haul out the wool sweaters if the predicted high for today is in the low 40s and dropping to 24 tonight. Hopefully autumn can hang on a little longer before the cold of winter arrives.
Wheelbarrow Ride
On a sunny October day, a flock of sheep are grazing on the green grass before it freezes as the colors of fall marches towards the white of winter. And like many families, there is a ‘black sheep’ in the flock which sticks out among the rest of the group. Black sheep in the past were used as marker sheep, often one black per hundred head, to give the sheepherder a quick estimate count if all the sheep were present and not lost.
Black Sheep in the Flock
An English proverb describes typical March weather as “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” And it looks like March went out like a lamb this year as I was able to open the windows since it warmed to 62 this afternoon. That was preferable to having a snow storm when March goes out like a lion instead.
March Out Like A Lamb
Normally I wouldn’t post a picture this poor quality as it was scanned in from an old 35mm slide, but today is my father’s funeral, who was known as one of the state sheep specialists and raised sheep most of his life, including his Targhee ewes in this picture.
Final Sunset for a Shepherd
The cloudy and drizzly day didn’t provide the sunlight to reflect off the changing leaves but the sheep (plus a llama and goat) were more interested in green grass than orange leaves, at least until I interrupted their grazing. And they have their winter coats on already as they also probably figure winter is coming early (although the goat might need a knitted wool sweater).
Sheep Ignoring the Colors
I might have to borrow these wool coats after feeling the frigid temperatures today. I am not ready for winter yet!
Warm Wool Coats
Scientists in Scotland announced the July 1996 birth of the world’s first successfully cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, on February 22, 1997. Even though Dolly was not the first animal to be cloned, she gained attention in the media because she was the first to be cloned from an adult cell.
I always figured if they were going to clone a sheep, they could have picked a nicer looking breed of sheep than a Finn Dorset or one of the rare Scottish breeds, like the Boreray as it is the most endangered breed of sheep in the United Kingdom.
Cloning is even less profitable than normal ranching since it took 277 attempts to get Dolly but researchers have tried cloning extinct animals and may open doors for saving endangered and newly extinct species by resurrecting them from frozen tissue.
I just hope that doesn’t mean any Tyrannosaurus rex will show up in my backyard since I have enough trouble with the bears destroying my bird feeders!
Grazing Sheep
The weather did an abrupt swing yesterday afternoon and with the blowing snow and wind chill down to 4 today, the sheep around the countryside are making good use of their wool coat although they might need a scarf for the nose and ears.
Wool Coats
