Sunny Days and Boone-Dogues

When I went out to count sheep at mid-day, Boone came with me. He is doing much better about staying away from the fence and behaving himself. He looked so pretty against the green grass, that I thought I'd try and get a nice posed shot of him. Right. Well, anyway, most of these are in motion, but he was having a good time, so I reckon that is all that matters. Enjoy Boone enjoying himself!

Could Duckie Have Been Hinting?

Remember this picture? I posted it awhile back titled "Duckie the Sheep Impersonates Cow". Now however, I wonder. Was Duckie giving me a subliminal hint about her soon to be born lamb? Was I just clueless?


Nah.... surely she was just having some snowy day fun........

When Good Sheep Have Had Enough.....

The following pictures aren't pretty. But when a sheep has had enough, even a good sheep, will pout. Dramatically. When the last of the lambs were born during the night, which were Duckie and her twins, I helped with the first lamb. It was the black smirslet ram, so I was doing quite a bit of ooh-ing and aah-ing over him. Just like I had 14 times before. I guess Gracie had had it up to her sheepie ears with all the attention going to the cute little babies. I mean, hey she is cute too, and she is sweet, and nice and only sometimes gets rude if there are crackers involved. So into the barn she stomped. Straight past Duckie, the new lamb and me. Up to the corner of the barn she went, and flounced down with a heavy sigh---with her backside pointedly positioned in my direction. I think that pretty much says it all.

Gracie Pouts

Sorry Gracie, I'll try and give you more of the attention you need and crave. Oh, and cookies too.

Have a good week!

Lambing Is Finished! Hallelujah!

So lambing has been going on, in fits and a starts here at the farm since March 8th, when Blackberry Winter got things rolling, with Hope hot on her heels. Then things stalled out and the next lambs didn't make their appearance until March 24. After that things got hectic with five ewes lambing with a week. I thought Luna would be the last to go on April 12th. She went a few days early and lambed on April 10th. That left Duckie, whose lambing time was a mystery. I really thought she would go early on. But no, she just kept getting larger, and larger and more miserable looking. Every night I was sure she was acting fishy, but no, she was just uncomfortable. I was beginning to think she was just going to never lamb. Then last night when I got home from work, she was hanging out by herself and her sides were caved in. Ah ha I thought, finally! Of course it wasn't as easy as that. First she had to look secretive and sly, then she had to nest and dig around for an hour or two. Finally at around 10:00 she seemed to be going into labor, with water bags appearing. I finally went in to the house, as my relentless spying seemed to be making her uneasy. Around about 11:00 she started hollering and carrying on, and I ended up going out to see if things were going as normal. They were, and soon this little guy (yes--another ram!) was on the ground. This is Duckie's first lambing, but she was an instant mom. I've never seen a lamb quite this vigorous---it seemed he literally hit the ground running. I got them settled in a lambing jug, and watched awhile. Duckie was starting to pass the afterbirth, so I went on back to bed.

At around 2:00 a.m. I decided to take one last trip out to the barn and make sure all was well. There was Duckie, working on yet another lamb! This time a little solid ewe lamb. It was a bit weird because she passed an afterbirth, then had the second lamb--almost three hours later! The lamb was pretty slow acting, and I think it might have been because it took so long to deliver her. She just couldn't get the idea of where to nurse. I was starting to despair, when finally she got it. After that, I went back to bed, again.... So lambing is finally done here, and I'm so thrilled. It's been a little exhausting!
I am thrilled all to pieces to get this little smirslet boy. (Only thing better would have been if he was a she!) His mother is a plain black ewe, out of a plain black ewe and an Ag grey flecket. I had hoped she possessed some spotting genetics, as it frequently crops up in this line. I guess the girls just thought they would save all the spots for the last. These twins are out of Locksfield Griffen & Fairlight Duckie.

Duckie seems to have taken to motherhood, well, like a Duck to water. I was sure she was going to have twins because she was so large, but then after the first lamb was born, all signs pointed to him being the only one. I'm really happy she twinned.

So here are the statistics (to the best of my fading and exhausted mind):

16 lambs born--7 ram lambs & 9 ewe lambs

2 Ag grey rams

1 musket ewe

1 Moorit ewe

2 Moorit rams

1 Ag grey ewe

3 black ewes

1 black ewe with brown pheo type markings

1 black smirslet ram

1 black krunet ram

1 moorit yuglet ram

2 white crossbred ewes

It's a nice looking bunch this year, and I'm quite pleased. Many of them will be available to new homes.

That's it for now.

Definitely Not Gettin' Tired of This!

Locksfield Griffin x Fairlight Luna

Last night I went up to check the last two preggie ewes around 2:00 a.m. They had been acting suspicious, which is nothing new, since they have been toying with me for weeks now. At 2:00 a.m. all was quiet, Duckie looked a little restless, but Luna was piled up with the others, chewing cud. At around 3:00 a.m. I hear sheep baa-ing and some grunting noises. I had been hearing phantom baas all night, so I wasn't too keen on even going out there again. But I did. When I got to the barn, Duckie was standing there looking at me, no lambs... sigh. But wait--there was a little clearing around Luna. I moved the flashlight over the other sheep and literally gasped at what I saw. Fairlight Farm's first spotted lamb! Wow. Perfect marked looking little thing. Even if he is a he. :-) Yep, it's a ram, but I'm still thrilled all to pieces. After years of working towards this, the genetics are now in place. Luna is a Minwawe Redford x Locksfield Willow daughter and was a smashing little wildly marked moorit flecket as a lamb. She has since faded out to a oatmeal musket. Locksfield Griffin is a black smirslet/sokket. I had a trio of Redford girls this year, but two of them, bred to Sheltering Pines Jerome didn't take, so this was the only ewe to lamb that would show what was 'hidden'.

Yes, I took a zillion pictures and you will probably get to see them all! ha At first I thought he was black, but in the pictures I took last night, you could see a brown cast. This morning when I went out, he is a definite moorit. Whether he will be musket I don't know yet. He looks pretty dark, I'll check him over good later and see if there are any Ag signs. So is he yuglet or smirslet?

Whew..... lamb 14 now on the ground. And one more ewe to go.

Gettin' Tired of This.......

Just when the ground even starts to think about drying up a little, more rain falls. Not just normal rains either. Usually three to four inches at a time. I've taken to wearing my 'high water pants', especially when slopping out to the barn in the middle of the night to check on those two ewes who are still holding out.


Not Gettin' Tired of This........

Redbud's burst out overnight

Lovely Lemon Balm in the planters by the steps. Weeding them is a pleasure when your hands come away lemon scented!

Evening Primrose & Spearmint vie for growing room by the steps.


A sight to warm a Shepherd's heart. New growth on the lower pasture.

Spring is upon us at last. Twelve or more inches of rain over the last several weeks has filled ponds and wells, and given the grass more water than it needs to produce this kind of lushness. Now for a few warm sunny days, and there will be no more need for hay.

Disclaimer

Just a quick note on the four previous posts. They are a bit behind the times, but I thought you might enjoy them in the sequence of their birth.

As I mentioned before I've got some kind of virus thing going on here, going into the second week of it, and it's interfering with me getting anything but chores and necessary stuff done. What fun is that?

So I apologize for the rather spastic photos. I could only crouch down for so long while they refused to cooperate. I hope to get more photos soon. Better ones.

Still two more ewes to go. Duckie and Luna. Duckie has looked ready to go for about a week, and has been lying to me about it off and on for at least that long. Luna isn't due until the 12th, but I imagine she'll go sometime next week. The stalls are filled up to the brim at night and there are 13 little lambs running lamb races. So far there are 5 boys and 8 girls.

Lots of nice looking tails and rear structure on these babies. Going to be some terrific fleeces too, I think. A good assortment of color to. Most of these little ones will be for sale, so let me know if you are interested! Final decisions will be made later.

I still have a shearing day post to get up and hope to do that soon! Bear with me, as I am still here, just moving slow.

Have a great weekend.

Monday Lambs

Here he is---almost full grown already!

Showing off his little head markings for me.

Little Birdie is the latest to lamb. She is a little thing, and her lamb is a huge single ram lamb. She had it between barn checks at 9:30 p.m and 1:00 a.m. She seems to be very sore, but is eating and attentive. "Kelly" is a little bruiser and is very solemn and still--until he wants momma then he demands her attention!

I'm really proud of this little ewe. She is a great first time mom and from the very first was proud and defensive of her little one. She keeps a very close eye on him and goes around pawing everybody out of the way so 'his highness' can walk through. This is a very nice put together little ramling.

Sheltering Pines Jerome (Moorit Flecket) and Fairlight Birdie (Black) produced this strapping little fellow, and he is the only Jerome baby that will be born here this year. He is black and has some nice krunet type markings on the top of his head and ears. He also has a little zig of white on his face. Not sure what sort of fleece type he will have, as I'm a bit bleary eyed at the moment.

I've been sick with some kind of virus for quite a few days now, and it sure has made lambing season more difficult.

Only two more ewes to go! Duckie will be 'whenever', but she looks very close, and Luna won't be until around the 12th. I'll be really glad when its all done!