Mules mules everywhere

We've just become the proud owners of 40 of our own sheep, all mules.  In the interests of educating myself, I turned to the dictionary – and who knew there were so many uses for such a humble word?  A mule can be a backless shoe or slipper, a stubborn person, a spinning machine, or any hybrid animal.  Aussies use 'mules' as a verb, to mean surgical removal of folds of skin on a sheep's butt to reduce blowfly strike (ugg).  And a more conventional mule is the sterile offspring of a male donkey and female horse.  Meanwhile, the offspring of a female donkey and male horse is actually called a hinny (I'm making no comment on why it is that northern folk call their wives and girlfriends hinny, other than I assume it is derived from honey rather than something more equine!)

Our girls are Exmoor Horn x Blue-faced Leicester crosses, so are pure white, quite smiley, and have sticky-up ears (that's not the technical term I am told).  Here they are with their friends: Blackface x Blue-faced Leicester 'Scotch mules' (spotty faces) and Suffolk crosses (Suffolks crossed with a mule, and they have the black faces – you think you're confused!)

So, another month to go and we'll have these lovely ladies knocked up – and as the rams are of several breeds or crosses, the lambs are going to be a real mix of things.  Hybrid vigour.  In the meantime, Sonny is having a great time 'herding' them…the quotes will remain until he and Ian M have gone on their dog training course.