The End of February is here

It is the end of February and the snow has blanket Absent Jack Acres.

Our flock of Navajos are loving the cold and they voluntarily lay out in the open, covered with snow and chewing their cuds like happy little campers. I wish I could get a photo of them in their leisure mode but as soon as I walk outside the front door they get up to see if there are goodies on the way.

Our yearly ram Faust shows the best contrast of the snow to his brown/black fleece. I so look forward to him covering the flock this next time around and I feel he will bring added dimension to the group.

He has an amazing wool with no crimp at all, a quality that shows off the hair in hair sheep.

As a yearling you can clearly see that the crown of horns he has is going to be very interesting, I am thrilled that his 2 primary horns are fairly balanced and not twisted off in odd directions and shape.

This profile photo shows off his very gentle and pretty face. We are proud of how he is maturing and how sweet his disposition is.

He is so curious and seemingly very smart. This ram is not like any other sheep we have ever owned. Thanks to a great start with a very nice family in Iowa with kids that hung out in the barn all the time.

This also makes him dangerous to appoint as he is not afraid to make physical contact. Too much handling can confuse any hoof stock into thinking humans are equal and what the hoof stock sees as play could mean a hospital visit to you or an unskilled visitor. So a word of caution is always in order. Don't over humanise your hoof stock, they are not dogs so don't expect them to train out like a dog.

Keep in tune for updates and know that you will have the opportunity to have lambs by Faust in your pasture next year.

Trouble with our Web Site & server

Sorry to those of you that have contacted me about not accessing our web site. It appears that there are issues world wide and some servers have black listed access to webs, where the site is served through.

From our side of th issue I have not been able to update anything or post current photos and information. Please be patient as we are hoping that this issue will be resolved and the information I have to share will be added soon.

Thank you from the team at Absent Jack Acres

Yearling Bulls are Growing

Last year we bought a replacement bull that we named Lakota. He is a white yealing highland bull and we are hoping for some very nice calves colorful calves from him over the next few years. It will be next year before he is big enough to do the job but he is growing fast and appears to be a bit larger then Fozzy was at this age.

Fuzzbuttons; son of Fozzy & Eck is growing nicely as well. I feel that he and his sister would fit into a minitures breeding program perfectly as they are very small and seem not to be growing up or out much.

Highland cattle do come i a minture breed but not naturally, they are bred down by crossing them with Dexters and other man made mini's then back to the highland to get the long hair. Not something we are intereste in pursuing due to the long time that it takes to create them from scratch.

Our big challenge now is to find a home for Fozzy which has proven to be a more daunting task then I had expected. Not a huge market in Nebraska for Highland cattle let alone a mature bull. We sure don't need three bulls ontheproperty but that is where we are right now and something needs to change very soon.

Spring is Coming

Once again we set on the edge of spring; tired of battling the bone chilling cold of winter and watching the girls all getting wider with their babies inside.

This season will be; once again a good one. I just know it. Our efforts to bring the first flock of Navajo ewes back from such poor conditions has really paid off in their outer condition. They have nice long shiny wool, heavy bodies with bright eyes and bouncing strides. They look exceptionally good.

The Iowa flock was looking good to start with and they have become a beautiful addition to the place for sure and we are anxious to see what the lambs will be like from Joe & Shaker.

Shearing day has not be scheduled yet; we are hoping to have them sheared just before lambing next month so a call to Mr. Littlefield is in order to set the date and from there we will have raw wool to sell. I plan to try my hand at cleaning and preparing the wool for pining and felting this year. Not sure that I will do any good at it but I need to learn how some time and it may as well be now.

To all of you that read my notes; Thank You.