RamRam

My other farm, in Leicestershire.

The Border Leicester breed hails from the English countryside. Leicestershire ("Lestershur") has had sheep of excellent wool quality for all of written history, but the Border Leicester breed came about in the first half of the 1800's as an improved form of the breed. They came over to the US thereafter. The 1920 US Census lists 767 purebred Border Leicesters in the country.

A wooly Dolores, with Cesar behind.

 They are sweet little sheep, good mothers, with excellent wool for the handspinner.

A ball of yarn from Border Leicester wool. Spun by me last winter.

Cesar is our ram. He is a beautiful specimen of Border Leicesterhood.He rams stuff. It is a compulsion for him, not necessarily a decision. He is easily distracted from his charge, easily placated with a scratching (which gets his tail wiggling furiously) and comes when he's called...if you step aside you can call it "coming" instead of "charging". But, if you aren't paying attention, or, not nimble of foot, Cesar is 200 lbs of hard head at full tilt. He doesn't need to get too far away  to make it count either. One step back, and you'll be smarting and sporting a bruise. Three steps, and, well, I hope you have wings. All this makes cleaning his pen difficult. he wants to be with you, attached to your legs, pushing constantly, and fussing at the pitchfork or shovel (anything novel is potentially hazardous and must be rammed). You must scratch him to keep him sedated. Cleaning a pen with a 200 lb ram leaning on you, whilst scratching him and wielding a fork/shovel is tricky business. This evening, my Huz did this hazardous duty! Good On Ya! ( A bit of Britain, in honor).

Cesar, demonstrating capacity for thought, as he makes the wise decision to not ram Oslo.