We raise Jacob sheep for various purposes; follow us on Instagram and feel free to message us here for more information. Right next to, “are those sheep or goats?” the truth is, neither of us really know why sheep. I (Bethany) know that before we got married my husband decided to rescue a few ewes and a ram from flooding down in Houston. Before he could get started with his breeding program howeve
r, the ram was discovered to be ill and died on the same August day that Conor proposed, and so began our tumultuous journey with Jacob sheep and marriage! A few weeks after acquiring our first nine ewes we drove three hours away to pick up two more and a second ram. I was still trying to figure out when Conor had decided to buy sheep and become a shepherd and whether or not I wanted to marry a shepherd but I never did get an answer to that first part. Well into wedding planning during our three month engagement we began our first breeding cycle, as well as building our house! Both breeding and the wedding went well and while the house wasn’t done yet things seemed to be going according to plan as we headed into our first spring of lambing season in 2018. Unfortunately for us life doesn't let us do anything the easy way and we ended up losing a ewe to childbirth complications and starting our first lamb season with a bottle baby. I was working outside the home full-time, so Conor was left to tend little Rocket Man and build our house on top of watching out for the rest of our expectant mothers. Our first year of marriage and shepherding was coming with some unexpected challenges but we did our best to persevere! We finished our first lambing season with eleven healthy and happy lambs and had our house at least livable by July of 2018. Sadly we suffered the unexpected loss of our second ram that summer as well to a cause that remains unknown. Still, God provides, considering that nine of those eleven lambs were males! We spent the remainder of our first year of marriage finishing our house and settling into a new routine as I quit my full-time job and began to work part-time. We began our second breeding cycle in the fall of 2018 with great anticipation and were pleasantly surprised to gain twelve little lambs with seven of them being ewes. Yes spring of 2019 was off to brilliant start and we were thrilled! The summer however would bring us much heartache with the loss of ultimately two lambs and a ram, one of which was our first loss to a predator. We were beginning to become accustomed to the ways of ranch life. We fought day and night for several weeks to strengthen and protect one little ram who is now flourishing beautifully at almost a year old. Towards the end of the summer however things brightened up a bit with the involvement in an upcoming tv series. We found ourselves with five of our rams of various ages on the set of the Chosen and having a blast! Our sheep getting to help make an authentic background for a show about the life of Jesus Christ? We were absolutely thrilled and enjoyed every moment of it! As 2019 began to draw to a close we geared up for our third year of breeding and dealt with more than one unexpected turn of events. It turns out when you have eight rams in one pasture and one in the adjoining pasture, they tend to fight through the fencing. Now we are currently in the middle of our third lambing season in 2020, just buckled in and ready to ride. For now the question still remains, why sheep? I can tell you that at the moment a better question would be why not? When you work daily with an animal that the Bible often compares God’s people to it isn't hard to see the similarities. You wouldn’t think that you could learn something from an animal that is often considered to be dumb, but they might just surprise you. There are many lessons to be learned from a few sheep and a small ranch, just ask us and we’ll tell you! Matthew 9:36 “When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
