Sam and his horns

This may very well be considered part two, as a follow up to Sam’s horn dilemma. My internal panic, frantic and general unrest is resolving. After two days of bleeding and oozing, Sam’s right horn has finally coagulated. Finally. I did end up talking to the vet, and turns out that they occasionally make a farm visit for goats and sheep who knock their horns off, and need assistance with the continued bleeding. But not Sam. At least for now, he’s healing himself. It was nice to know there was help if I were to have needed it. As I went to the barn tonight to check Sam, I noticed he's began bleeding a tiny bit again, but not like it was. He has the trajectory of his front right leg to reach up and take his hard ole dirty hoof, and scratch that exact area on his head. This healing process will take time. I must say, that reading about what others have done in regards to this type of situation has been interesting. I never knew that rams and goats even knocked their horns off, intentionally. And to top that off, my dogs all argue over who gets to chew on that silly horn. I didn't end up calling Jerry, The Sheep Shearer, although I seriously considered it. He's a good resource of everything sheep. I'll keep that in my back pocket for now.
So now that I know Sam will live (again) and not die a slow bleeding death, I've recently taken note of my ewes. I've heard tales of September being noted as a time of which to watch for your ewes to go into heat. What are signs of this? Actions like raising their tails, shaking their booty (their milkshake brings all the rams to the yard), and general acceptance of the ram in their close proximity. What I've also learned is that if your ram runs with your flock year round, then nature will take it's natural course and there is no set target date for breeding. In addition to this, sheep are photosensitive meaning that reproductive activity is affected by the length of daylight. Ewes all go into heat and are capable of breeding during these seasons of "heat", which could be based on their breed or environment, or many other factors. So only time will tell if - and when - we may have lambs in our future.
The amount of daylight and how it affects animals is intriguing to me. Chickens lay eggs based on several factors, with the main one being the amount of daylight in a given day. The more daylight, the more eggs they lay. A cloudy day will yield less eggs that day. And now, I learn the sheep's reproductive process is affected by the amount of daylight. That's just a teeny-tiny example of how daylight affects life in general. But the fact I can see it's impact on a daily basis, on a farm, never ceases to amaze me.
Back to Belle and Eve, my two sweet ewes. I noticed this past weekend that Eve's teets/nipples are becoming enlarged, at least more so than usual. Yet, Belle's nipples are about the same. They both have begun to be more tolerant of Sam as well. It's very simple actions that show their intentions. I can't say for sure yet, as the growth of a pregnant ewe is greatest the last 1 1/2 month. They go from looking like big girls to looking lopsided, as if they have a small basketball attached to their sides. I've watched way too many YouTubes with people who try to tell you how to tell if your ewe is pregnant. All I take away from them is a fondness for seeing other people who love their sheep like I do. I don't seem to get any real data. These people make it more like a "feeling" that this ewe, or that ewe, is pregnant. Until the last month or two - then you can tell. I'd like to know now. Is there no pregnancy test stick they can tinkle on to tell me. Or is there? I may need to check on that.
For now, my prediction is Eve is pregnant and Belle is not. Only time will tell in order for me to confirm this. Gestation for sheep is 5 months, so by Christmas, we will know for sure by the way they look. I'm not sure whose more excited, me or David. We look forward to the opportunity to have more sheep, grow our flock and enjoy the beauty of those precious lambs.

Any name suggestions?
Cyndi