More lambs A set of triplets!!

Thoroughly enjoying lambing  Its like live Christmas presents,  I have yet to be present for a birth  Its like they wait till I am not there....Lambs up dry and have nursed---ewes cleaned  The ewe looks at me--"all done  no big deal"  It which I think "OK  let's see what you had (ram or ewe)"

Third ewe presented me with twins,,,no wait there is a lamb in the hay storage part of the barn too  Yarrow had triplets,,,two boys and a ewe lamb that wandered off.......all good sized,,,,,all the same size...out of Tinker belle's ram Butte,,,,,,,I have a theme going this year.....lambs are brown (all sugar lipped  Ag gene) with wild white markings on their heads- like you drizzled white paint at random--..Yarrow rejected "Rosebud" I tried to get Rosebud to smell like her brothers,,,no way  Yarrow attacked the 'stranger' That's OK  Rosebud was away from the group exploring too long.......Yarrow is a good mom,   so Rosebud will be our bottle lamb.....in the laundry room in a pet carrier and took to a bottle right a way.....cries every couple hours for more.. I have two fresh goats and have plenty of milk

Rosebud   Look at her face!

3 ewes...7 lambs.....2 rams 5 ewes!   Tinkerbelle, Pal, Maybeline, Bella to lamb very very soon

Jerry

More Lambs!

Last night Poppy looked like she might be starting labor, arching her tail and sniffing the straw, so I put her in a maternity pen. Not really expecting her to lamb as she has the latest service date....... This morning she had twin ewe lambs...Nice sized, licked clean and nursing! Really thick crimpy lamb's wool Polly was put in with the spotted ram later, but it looks like these are by the modified morrit ram "Butte" I have yet to witness a Shetland lambing......not for lack of observation nor perseverance.....they just like to lamb alone.

Poppy's twins    Wild white head markings!
Daisy

 Petunia

Better picture's of Nugget's ewe lambs  Day 3   Eyes not red..its the camera flash in the barn
Gem

Jewel

Flock of 7 ewes, 2 have lambed both with twin ewe lambs! The others to lamb by Saturday. All 4 lambs are sugar lipped so they will be musket like their dams. Starting with 4 ewe lambs, is Mother Nature telling me to expand my flock?  Oh and then there is the new sheep coming --3 open yearling 3/4 BFL ewes, brown Finn ram by April 4. And after the Kandioyhi Fair  a Katmoget marked 1/2 Black Welsh 1/2 NC Cheviot  ram lamb and maybe a white (covering black)  Welsh/NCC ewe lamb.....Got the room  More the merrier!


Jerry

The pieces are coming together!

I saw an ad for February born three way cross ram lambs. I called. The flock has been selected for fine fleece, stout broad stock, multiple births lambing at 225% and milky ewes. I chose a moorit badger faced/katmoget marked ram lamb. "Kathmandu" is 3/8 Black Welsh Mountain 3/8 NCC Cheviot 1/4 Shetland. Has a definite Cheviot look. Stout, stocky, wide and well built. He will be shown at the Kandiyohi County Fair--so will be  halter broke, tame and easy to handle. We will pick him up the second week of August.  There maybe a ewe lamb or two coming also--seller has to decide who can go. He will tame them down as well. Just the way I like them.



Jerry

LAMBS ARE HERE!!

Yesterday morning I went out to do chores, there was Nugget with lambs! Two nice ewe lambs, licked clean, dry and tummies full. Both are morrit, Nugget is musket so they may turn musket later. As the first ones they are getting a lot of attention. We got 8 inches of snow overnight, so no nice "on green grass" pictures. Just dim pictures taken in the bright barn as the lambs lay sleeping off a tummy full of milk.
Presenting Nugget, Jewel and Gem.

 The lambs' sire  Butte  He is a stout built bigger ram with fine single coat fleece that falls in ringlets.  Pictured at 4 months, last August, and yes on green grass!

Last fall the ewes all bred in one tight group, so more lambs any day,,,,,,,,,


Jerry

Fleece Sales

At 5 AM on Thursday February 17th I advertised my 2011 fleeces. By 8 AM 3 were sold. The shearer arrived at 10AM,,,,,8 ewes took know time at all. He sheared the belly wool separate. My ewes were not jacketed, very little VM as I designed a hay bunk that they can't pull out large pieces of hay. I skirted them carefully and placed each one in its marked (liquor store) box--- hey the box is sturdy and the perfect size. The next couple days I picked through each fleece on the kitchen island. Discarded the chaf filled neck wool, pulled out the few timothy heads inn the fleece. By then all were sold. Buyers sent their money by PayPal and I shipped them off.

I received several positive comments Here's one

Jerry,
Maybeline's fleece arrived yesterday, and it's lovely.  Thank you.  It's as fine as some of the ones I've gotten in the Shetland Islands.  I just wish the locks were slightly longer as I like to spin from the lock, but still I can't wait to spin it.
Cheers,
Katherine



Long locks are to come. I have purchased tame friendly sheep from Teri Drimel A 3 yr old moorit pure Finn ram originally From Gail and three 3/4 BLF yearling ewes originally from (Psalm 23) The Finn ram on my Shetlands will give me long locks on my ewe lambs and the BLF ewes have lovely fleece.
Jerry

babies! No not lambs yet!

I always try to be there for the births But my Alpine doe Shilo snuck her babies into the world. She had twins, a bigger buck kid- dead with the sac over his nose and the cutest doe kid. Shilo is a good mom  Lambs are due any day.............
  Why does a pen with fresh straw always come out looking dirty on a picture? dang it
So here is Shilo and Shine

 

Lamb Watch

I was going to wait to post till the lambs and kids came.......I have service dates on everyone....in 2 weeks they all should be in. All have Big tummies. I stand there with my camera and the ewes all walk up for a cracker, very tame but it makes photographing them a challenge!
Here's  Maybeline, Palisade, Tinkerbelle

 Yarrow

 Bella

 Nugget

 Poppy

 The prize however goes to 4 yr old Anna  She was big last year and had triplets. This year trips or maybe quads.....I just want an easy birth and healthy kids

And just to prove that Spring did finally arrive, a shot from the mailbox

Till later
Jerry

New doe in Milk

 I purchased my two milking does from Kelly. My two does are dry will kid by the end of March. Kelly called with a proposition. She said they had a 3 yr old doe "Chloe" who gave birth to a beautiful doeling. Unfortunately at day 3 they found the doeling dead in the kid warming box. She asked if I wanted to have Chloe and milk her till my two does came in. I said Sure- fresh goat milk....yes! We got Chloe home Tuesday afternoon. She is tame stands well and is very easy to milk. A very nice doe indeed.
After my does kid, Kelly is buying back the kids and will use Chloe's milk to feed them This works for me as I feeding a group of bottle kids would use up too much of my goat milk supply.

Jerry

Lamb Watch 2011

Lambing is 3 weeks away I am impatiently watching my matron ewes lumber about with their big tummies. The shearer said  "you do a great job of feeding and caring for your sheep. They are in perfect condition for lambing". They appear to all be carrying twins. Old Palisade looked at me last night as if to say " Am I done yet?"  She is moving slower and with care these days. The others are taking it all in stride. It should be a colorful crop. I have a lot of Ag- the greying gene-- in my ewes. My biggest ewes- Yarrow, Nugget, Bella, Maybeline, Palisade and Tinker are bred to Butte, a modified moorit ram lamb out of my Tinkerbelle. Poppy is bred to Brewster. Tinkerbelle is a huge yearling ewe (+100 pounds) In the picture Tinker is 16 months old and Butte is 4 months weighed in at 75 pounds. Look at his growth, square blocky frame and beautiful single coated thick fleece. When we sheared Tinker, her fleece was super soft and very abundant. Beautiful fleece and size are a winning combination in my spinner flock.
Waiting to hear newborn cries.........Jerry