The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Beeducked on April 06, 2014, 03:21:29 pm
-
30 years ago My Grandad was the person who taught me my love of sheep with his little flock of Jacobs. I have decided in his memory to follow his tradition of naming the lambs alphabetically i.e. this year all beginning with A, next year B.
As a child I had just assumed that was just how he did it but recently heard someone else say that's what they did. Is it a common system or tradition or was this a coincidence?
-
The breeder of our Soay did the same.
-
we do this with our calfs and kids. it helps you to remember how old they are too, especially if they are sold on and new owners discuss them with you.
-
All breed registrations for dogs registered wth the french kennel club must start with the letter of the year of their birth I forget which letter it is this year. I prefer to stick to themes.
-
The Ryeland Flock Book has a different letter for each year and all tups registered from that year must have a name starting with that letter. This year it is U.
Ewes don't have registered names but we choose names for our ewes using the "official" letter; so 2007 born ewes are Juno, Jura and Jinx; 2009 are Lyra and Lucy; 2010 is Niamh; 2011 are Poppy, Pixie and Penny and 2012 are Smudge, Stella and Sweetpea. 2013 are Tilly, Tilda, Teazle, Treacle, Trixie, Tansy and Twinkle.
We're finding U a little challenging, so have decided to "cheat" and use V as well, since V isn't used by the flock book.
-
Rosemary, I am quite enjoying the U challenge this year. So far we have Una, Uri, Unwin and Ulrika. I have 2 more left to lamb and still some names on the list so I should be ok.
-
The Zwartbles SA does that too. This year our letter is B. So far we have: Buttercup, Bluebell and Busby :)
-
Ooh, better check that there isn't an official letter for Castlemilks!
-
Actually thinking about it there can't be as I was given the choice of 2 registered ram lambs from last year and they were called Sebastian and Horiatio.
-
Lots of breeders do it - some have even started back at the beginning with Aa......
We don't because our sheep seem to tell me their names somehow so they get what they get. Sometimes I have themes, such as sailing ships, Scottish lochs, significant women in politics. Last year for the ewes it was volcanoes :roflanim: It keeps our registration secretary on her toes :D
-
I think if I got all the way round to Z I would just go to A again and assume by that time I could tell the difference between a shearling and a 26 year old sheep! :-J That and I can think of a few names beginning with Aa but none Bb! ;D Bbrenda or Bbrian. It would be like have sheep with stutters! ;D
-
we started off so well. having spent many hours naming our original 4 ewes a few years ago- Polly, Florence, Penny and Shaun we decided each year that we would adopt a system where ewe lambs were named in a way that connected them to their mother. for some reason I can no longer remember we started by using the second letter of mum's name. hence Florence has produced, Lucy and Lexie , Shaun has had hazel, Penny has had Ellie and so on. however the system went bandy when Polly had a tiddler and we kept calling her Pip. since then Pip has had Ivy and then this year we got bored and decided to rhyme. so penny has just popped out Jenny Polly's had Molly etc. thank god we don't have hundreds cos we'd be lost. the boys are so much easier as they end up with a name that is more about physical attributes. over the years we've had clumpy, biggest boy, curly horns, runty, bullhead, bullheads brother although our fave is probably pip;s ram lamb this year who we call squeak.
-
Our Llanwenogs also have a register letter .... also U this year. Rosemary check out some Indian names... there are some great ones starting with u. 8)
-
I follow the alphabet with my goats, but the lambs get a name starting with the same letter as their dam - both girls and (only ever one)boy.
So Titch (she came with that name at the grand old age of 11) had a Tinkerbell (Tinks for short) before she had to be culled , Tinks then had first Tilly, then Titus (who was sold for meat as his horns were skew-with) . Tilly's first lamb was Tiree... and on it goes. I guess I will eventually run out of T's...
My goat kids all have "proper" quite old-fashioned names... Arabella, Amanda, Beatrix, Cornelia, Cassandra, Dixie, daphne, Debbie, Daisymay and Daisybelle, and this year we are on E - so have Eliza, Edith, Evelyn, Esme and Estelle so far. My girls absolutely love naming the animals - but I have a veto!
-
The Rough Fell tups have a 'letter' each year. So I was used to that system and used a letter each year for the pedigree names when I got my Shetlands. So the little ones just being born are Cs.
Then again, I have two pet lambs (don't ask ::)) and they are Lester (Leicester x mule) and Tex (texel x mule) :D
-
Again I use the alphabet, also trying to keep to herbs or at least plants, this year D - Dandelion? Damson? Daffodil? Daphne? hope the babes will let me know which they like before registration time :) .
We don't because our sheep seem to tell me their names somehow so they get what they get. :D
most beasties I leave until a name comes to me, The cat came with a name, but I kept thinking of a completely different name when I looked at him (Desmond!) and he answered to it, so that's what he's called, did he tell me thats what he wanted?
-
if theyre mollies or bring themselves forward out of the flock, they tend to get named, girls definately, boys, loosely. theres a good few Mollies that are still very friendly, but my real faves are Polly Molly, Eve, Seren and Mrs Bond. and i love this years lot, they are Posy, Dinky, Tank Girl, Possum, and the two Lads x
-
Out of interest, the Household Cavalry use the letter by year system for naming their horses, too.
-
Bionic, if you're stuck on "U" you could name one Ursula after me! :sheep:
-
I bet Lester has a nice fleece ;) :spin: :knit:
-
Bionic, if you're stuck on "U" you could name one Ursula after me! :sheep:
[/quote
We are all done now but Ursula was the next name on my list ;D
-
With the goats we go by letters - this year f so Frost, flint, flash, fallon, falcon, foxie, frank and faith, I enjoy collecting a list of names throughout the year and seeing what suits them.
With the sheep we go off ewes name but a couple of exceptions as Marcia (renamed Dolly) had a wee Snowball and one of my x's had what looks like a Grey castlemilk called Mouse. All good fun and make sense to me!!
-
We have absolutely no system whatsoever, not for lambs nor calves, and I reuse names, sometimes within one year. For animals we buy in we usually try to make a connection with where we got them - so Sparkle and Parky from Park House, Wiggy from Wigton, Woolla from Wooler, Irish from a dealer named Ireland (and her son was Paddy.) But then the next Park House heifer has huge stand-out ears, so she's Radar :)
For a 'keeper' I do often look for an excruciating pun, but sometimes a name just seems to fit.
Pet had Petal, Petal has had Florry (Flora didn't suit her.)
The Bazadaise bullock was Barry (because people call Barrys 'Baz'.)
My favourite was the second Jersey; on being asked how many I could have, BH said, "Two's plenty." So I named her Plenty :). Then he seemed to be happy for me to have as many more as I wanted... ;) I should've named the third one Thora (2's plenty, 3's a herd :roflanim:) but I didn't like the name so she's Katy, after my mum.
Pet lambs at the mo are BumSpot, Squint (had entropion), Alice, Gremlin and Rex. In previous years we've had Deisel, Stinky Mouth, Snotter, Blinder, Violet Elizabeth (boy! could that lamb scream!), several Georges, Once they're speaned and out there growing I mostly forget who is which.
Oh - in cattle, people seem to name each calf the sire plus the dam, so a calf out of Petal by Bradley would be Bradley Petal. If she had a calf to Rambo it would be Rambo Petal. (And if her mother did too, one of them would be Rambo Petals or Rambo's Petal or Rambo Petal II.)
I like naming things... :D
-
Oh - in cattle, people seem to name each calf the sire plus the dam, so a calf out of Petal by Bradley would be Bradley Petal. If she had a calf to Rambo it would be Rambo Petal. (And if her mother did too, one of them would be Rambo Petals or Rambo's Petal or Rambo Petal II.)
I like naming things... :D
Wouldn't that be a bit confusing if you liked the cross (same M+F) and repeated it a few times? It's a system I've thought about but not kept enough for it to matter yet :)
-
It would be confusing, yes! But I suspect, from looking at pedigrees, that dairy cattle folk tend to use each bull once only on a given group of cows/heifers. However since they keep all good daughters, you still get the problem - Hillie's mother and grandmother were still in the herd when I bought her, all called Scent.
-
I believe the mounted police force's horses are also named by letters per year.
Our names for this year (ZSA dictated it had to be B): Buttercup, Busby, Bluebell, Bramble, Briar Rose and finally...Batman!
To be honest, we may only keep two of the ewe lambs and the rest will go for meat next year so we could have called them anything we liked!