Most people know of the horses at Hanaeleh, but we are also home to other animals as well! Two of our more gregarious residents are Phillip and Magellan, both Babydoll sheep. They are both bottle fed sheep from the Mission Viejo Agriculture Program, and were born in spring, 2012.
Phillip and Magellan are both wethers, which is a male neutured sheep. They are very sweet, and wander around Hanaeleh, eating grass and weeds. Indeed, they are mother nature’s weed whackers! Because sheep do not climb as goats do, Babydoll sheep are used in wineries and orchards as they do not climb and harm the fruit. They also do not eat random things like goats do, but concentrate only on the plants, although they are very interested in the horses’ grain. Unfortunately, the horse grain contains elements of copper, which is not good for sheep in high doses, so we have to either hide the grain or put the sheep in their pens when the horses are fed!
We have been teaching both Phillip and Magellan to come for dinner. If they are hungry, they come very quickly when called! When they aren’t so hungry, or have found a nice patch of grass to eat, somehow their hearing doesn’t work so well.
We will have the Mission Viejo FFA come out in May to shear their coats so they will be nice and cool for the summer. When you are down at Hanaeleh, be sure to say hi to our resident sheepies!
Magellan (left) and Phillip (right) last year when they arrived at Hanaeleh.
D’Artagnan likes to pick the wool off of the coats of the sheep.
The sheep eat Orchard hay twice a day, and a small handful of grain once a day, besides all of the grass they get on the property.
Ken B. built a pen for the sheep so they would be safe from the wildlife. Here it is partially completed.
The horses often wonder why the sheep get their own studio apartment.
There is plenty of grass for both sheep and horse alike.