Love is in the air

The (saintly) Josep the vet says that the big day for Spring romance in the sheep population is March 19^th, by coincidence, Saint Joseph’s Day.

Spring romance is not like Autumn romance; the latter is part of a sheep’s natural cycle of sexual activity during shortening days and an anoestrous (no fertility) season during long (summer) days. The day length measuring device is melatonin, secreted during the night from the pineal gland, a tiny lump in the brain just behind the thalamus.

Here is the oestrous cycle in ewes in Montana (a long way from here, but it gives you the idea)

 Source: http://animalrangeextension.montana.edu/articles/sheep/Flock%20Handbook/Reproduction.htm

And here is a readable paper on this topic: http://repbiol.pan.olsztyn.pl/docs/pdfs/repbiol_vol2_num3_page267.pdf 

But my youthful sheep are happy that love is in the air. And Phoenix the ram seems to want to make an early start. (If you are of a nervous disposition, please avert your eyes now):

I've got an itch I just can't scratch

Phoenix is such a huge woolly beast: it’s not so much making love on the sofa as making love with the sofa.