Sheep Shots

Before my chip ran out of room last night, I took some early evening shots of the sheep.

The lambs are growing, growing, growing. They have turned out to be: 1 musket, 2 moorit w/silver (fawn-like), and 1 moorit. All of the ram lambs have retained beautiful body structure from their sire, Conway.

The musket boy has ended up as my top pic for a herd sire; he has Brownie's fabulous lock structure (soft and curly), Conway's wool length (approx. 4 - 5 inches), and a beatiful and wide horn spread. The moorit would make a lovely sire as well, with his long, primitive coat and dark coloring. Both of them are respectful, even standoffish -- which is very helpful in a ram.

The two fawn-like boys are to be wethered at the vet's very soon. Both of them are super friendly and have gorgeous wool, but their horns are too close together on their heads for my liking. Not to mention, their friendly personalities will make them excellent fiber pets. Except for one wether, they are still for sale.

Please let me know if you're interested in taking home one of these handsome fellows! I can send more photos of wool close-ups, etc. Enjoy!

Growing Lambs

Time goes by so quickly, like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger and bigger and bigger...

Such is the case with our four beautiful ram lambs, born less than two months ago. I have to make decisions on whether any of them are sire quality. This is a hard thing for a new shepardess. However, decide I must! They will all be for sale soon, and it's been such a ram lamb season for most of the shepardesses out there this year. I have to ask myself, "Am I ready to house extra ram(s) for the winter if they are not sold?" Most likely not.

From what I've read, looked at, listened to and learned so far, I think our lambs this year have very nice structure. Their sire, Fairlight Conway, has awesome body structure that he's passed on to all of them. Their wool varies in crimp, length (intermediate and primitive), color (as they mature), and genetics. They are all moorit right now, but one is an Ag musket, who will turn Brownie's lovely oatmeal color. They all carry spotting genetics. Their horns look different from each other, and I'm having a hard time guessing who's horns will turn and clear appropriately. Overall, there are one or two that stand out with the most "ramly" presence.

I've put myself on a deadline to make my final decisions this weekend. Anyone checking out this blog, please feel free to give me your input. For now though, I'm just posting some recent pics to show them off. Regardless whether they are better ram or wether material, they're still lambs and still awfully cute, sweet and fun to hang out with! So without further ado, here are the twin ram lambs from Miss Fairlight Pixie and Miss Fairlight Brownie, sired by Mr. Fairlight Conway.

L to R: Pixie's lamb #1, Brownie's lambs #1 & #2 (musket), Pixie,

(in front, on knees) Pixie's lamb #2

L to R: Brownie's lambs #1 & #2 (musket), Brownie

Brownie's lamb #2 (musket)

Brownie's lamb #1

 

Brownie's lamb #1

 

Pixie's lamb #2

 

L to R: Pixie's lamb #2 & #1, Brownie's lambs #1 & #2 (musket)

Shearing Day

It was a beautiful day for shearing. Danny was here and gone in a flash... it doesn't take long for a professional shearer to clean up 5 sheep, like 15 minutes total of actual buzz time.

Of course everyone always looks so small, especially our little wether, Marty. He's always been tiny, but now he looks like a newborn lamb. Unfortunately for him, the other 2 boys have been picking on him ever since they were sheared. The ewes were done first and released, being pregnant and all. Marty was next, and I have to wonder if there's a spot on his side that smells like the ewes. He kept sniffing there (see the pic), then the guys were sniffing there, getting excited, then chasing and ramming him. Poor little guy. At least they're not penned up, so he has an acre to run will nilly to avoid any real damage. Night is upon us, so I'm sure everyone will settle down to sleep here soon. Still, I hate to see my poor sweetie being picked on.

The fleeces are now bagged, waiting to be skirted. Here's a quick pic taken while they were cooling down. I couldn't skirt right away because I had to make dinner for the family. Cleaning those messy fleeces will be a chore for another day.

Here's a couple shots of the girls post shearing. I was able to get a really good look at their udders when the shearer was working. Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes. We clipped, vaccinated, dewormed them about 3 weeks ago, prepping for lambing. Since then their udders have filled in and look like water balloons. Those babies should be here verra soon!

The pic isn't the clearest, still having to use the video camera for still shots. However, can you see Brownie's udders? Woo hoo... I'm looking forward to seeing their lambs. That just might be my next post! Happy Sunday to all!

Beautiful Spring Day

"She's not looking... quick, give her a sniff!"

Oh, what a day. There's a constant breeze, the sun is shining, and it's about 70 degrees right now. The sheep are grazing, and panting a bit too... shearer will be here this weekend. The chickens are cackling with pride as each egg is layed, and the guineas are alerting the farm with their all too pleasant "buck-whee, buck-whee.... chee, chee, chee..." every time a car drives by or a butterfly sails across the yard, seriously. Even with the guineas calling, it's still just a pleasant and beautiful day. I'll share some pics taken from our video camera (we have two digital cameras that went on the blitz at the same time, go figure).

Marty gettin' his scratch on... "ahhhhh"

"Green Acres is the place to be, bock, bock!"

"I'm too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hu-urts..."

Such cute little wethers. "Pet me, pet me..."

"We love it when she gives us trimmed tree branches to munch on..."

"Hey Brownie, when should we tell the food lady that we're just pretending to be pregnant so we can keep getting extra treats?" ... Seriously girls, when are those lambs gonna drop?

The End!