Hey! Where's my mom?

Have you seen my mom?




Okay, you look that way, I'll keep a lookout this way.

You keep watch too Teddy, our moms must be around somewhere.

It'll be okay buddy.

We FINALLY got the boys into the new ram pasture yesterday, away from their moms : (. I think I felt worse than any of my sheepies..... although, it actually went a lot better than I had anticipated. There was a little bit of calling back and forth ( more from the moms than from the lambs), and then everyone seemed to settle in by evening. Today it rained all day, so the ewes spent most of the day (quietly) in their barn, and the boys hung out in the new shelter that Gary built for them. So far the ewes udders are looking okay, I am not expecting any problems as most of the ewes have been pushing their lambs away from nursing the past week or so........I can't say that I blame them, if you have ever seen how hard those big lambs nurse lifting their mommies up off the ground (not to mention the horns) you know what I mean.

I hope things continue this well.....I guess we will see.

Tomorrow I am off to Abi's High Prairie Fiber studio to practice spinning and help her with some polymer clay projects, should be fun....for me anyway, it's a good thing that Abi is patient, I am NOT the world's most gifted spinning student!

They are all growing up!

The lambs are changing so fast now, as fast as my mind changes about who will stay and who will go. Here are some pictures of those that cooperated with the camera today. I will have more photos of the others when they decide to be more accommodating.

Remember Isabella, the first born ewe lamb? I am really happy with the way her fleece and conformation are looking. She will, of course, be staying.



















Ace, the clown. We are still watching his horns, he is looking now like he may have long scurs or aberrant horns. His fleece is wonderful, conformation is very nice, plus, he is pretty darn cute.



















Here is Apollo, not the most flattering picture, but he is growing to be a very nice ram. Apollo will be staying, I really want to see how he matures.

Sandpiper is going to be for sale after weaning....which we will be doing next week. I am NOT looking forward to weaning. Sandpiper is a great little ram. He looks like he will have nice horns, he has good conformation and an outstanding temperament. I would love to keep him, but SOMEBODY has to go.

Last but not least. Sage's twins are really growing too. I have not changed my mind about these two, they are definitely staying here. They just get more impressive every day. You may have noticed that they STILL do not have names. Hmmmmm is anyone noticing a pattern with me??

I promise, I will work on names tomorrow, after I go and machete my way through my garden. We have had perfect growing conditions for most of my vegetable plants (and weeds) so they are getting out of hand. Perhaps I will photograph my pumpkin vines that are beginning to look like The Little Shop of Horrors!

Lamb updates

.....and they finally have names! I can't believe how these guys have changed in just a month and a half. This is Crosswinds Apollo, Trillium's lamb. I am really tempted to keep him. He has great fleece, conformation, and I love his spots. So far his horns are looking good. He also has a very nice temperament, friendly, but respectful.

Apollo is very flashy and has some really nice spotting.

Isn't this a cute little fluke tail?



Next is Crosswinds Flying Ace, Daisy's lamb.

Ace is also a really nice ram lamb with good conformation. He is very similar to his sire, who I am going to continue to use, so I really won't have a place for Acey here as a breeding ram. Ace will be for sale.

Crosswinds Sandpiper. Piper is a black krunet, he wasn't cooperating for photos so you can't see the white spots on his head very well. He has good conformation, is a very nice boy and so far looks like his horns will be good, he has more of a double coated fleece. Piper will also be for sale.

Crosswinds Don Diego, he is Sandpiper's twin. This little scurred ram lamb is unbelievably cute, unfortunately he will have to be sold as a wether....he is a bit cow hocked so he would not be good for breeding, but he will make someone a nice fiber pet or ram companion.


Crosswinds Theodore.

Teddy is another one of the boys that I am undecided about. His dam "Willow" is one of my favorite ewes. He looks as though he will have Willow's wonderful fleece, good conformation and tiny little fluke tail. He looks like he is a "half poll" he started with flat horn buds that eventually grew to less than 1/4 inch and then one fell off yesterday. I will have to watch him and check with the "polled Shetland people" for a better idea of what he would be classified as.

Crosswinds Isabella
Bella will be staying here. She is a VERY friendly girl (I don't think we spoiled her or anything)and she has really soft single coated fleece and good conformation.

These are ,of course, the new babies......no, they don't have names yet, but they are both scrumptious!

Finally!

Remember Sage and her voluptuous belly? After all of the months of anticipation, she finally decided on Monday morning to deliver two spectacular lambs, quietly, unassisted, in between my frequent visits to the barn to check on her. That's my Sage!





......And yes, she had a ewe lamb! This little girl does not yet have a name. She is a lovely solid dark moorit (brown) color, she is quite petite and feminine and she looks like she will have nice fleece and good conformation. Needless to say she will be staying here.



And of course, there had to be a ram in there too (#6 ram of 8 lambs born)! This guy is a keeper though, he is completely unrelated to any of my other ewes since Sage was bred when I bought her. He also carries a relatively rare color pattern called Gulmoget. He also looks like he will have very nice conformation.

Now that lambing is over and everyone is safe and healthy, I can breathe a sigh of relief....for the moment. On to phase two. Unfortunately, I can't keep all of the boys..so now I will have to do my final evaluations and decide which ones will be leaving Crosswinds and go on to sire their own flocks. I already have a pretty good idea of who will be staying, I just need to make sure that my selections are not based on my emotions, only what will be best for the boys in the long run, and whether or not they will fit in to our breeding program.

I have been very lax in posting lately (as some of my friends have pointed out). I will add some current photos of the other lambs soon. It is unbelievable how much they have grown since I last posted, especially seeing them next to the "new" babies.

Ram...what else??

Trillium delivered our # 5 ram lamb Tuesday morning (I don't know why I specified "ram" at this point I think that we are all just safe to assume that any lambs that are born here are going to be rams). Trillium was just starting labor when I went out to take care of morning chores, and she had a very quick delivery without any problems. I saw the little white feet coming, then the little brown nose...then.......oh boy...more boy parts. Don't get me wrong, it's great that I have some beautiful ram lambs, I was just hoping to have a few ewes to keep after my first Shetland lambing season.

Here he is, a nice moorit smirslet flecket and will probably have his sire's nice fleece.

We are still waiting for Sage to lamb, poor girl, I remind her everyday that she is my last hope for ewe lambs...no pressure ;0.

Sunshine!

Today was a beautiful sunny day. All of the lambs got a chance to get out into the pasture and try out those new little legs.
This is Lovey with her boys.



...and of course Daisy's boy.



Lilly and her little GIRL.


Willow's little cutie.

"Thistle Keep Sage Brush Vole" and

"Sheepy Hollow Red Trillium" are still waiting for their lambs.

Trillium is due around the 30th. Sage isn't due for a while yet...........Hmmmm, not sure what she has in there!

Anyone need a ram?

Wow, you little buggers are everywhere!

Lovey finally delivered this morning, and although it was a rainy raw day, she at least had the courtesy to wait until 6 a.m. when I was already out there doing chores.

So, added to my collection are this cute little black krunet, looks just like mom, and this lovely black and white smirslet flecket.........BOTH RAMS!! For those keeping track that is 4 for the boys team and 1 for the girls.....I only have 2 more ewes to go and one is surely only having a single.

The next due date is approximately April 30th-ish......Think pink!

Hey, White Chicken, did you see?
They had another one of those fuzzy things.
Ugh! Gross.


Hey you guys, be quiet!
I kind of like their fleece.

This is #3, I know, I know, still no names. He is Willow's ram lamb born on Sunday morning. Right now his markings are very striking, but he will most likely be grey like his dam. His fleece looks to be more of a dense double coat like his mom's also.

BTW have you ever tried to photgraph a 4 day old lamb? Lots of extreme nose close ups, I move back, he comes closer, I move back............and repeat. What did we do before digital cameras??

Busy weekend!

After the arrival early Friday morning of Daisy's ram lamb, it looked like I would get a bit of a break before anyone else went into labor, after all I did keep track on the calendar when each ewe's estimated delivery date would be....at least the girls that I caught romancing Rocky last fall. The trouble seems to be that the girls did not read the calendar, and apparently, there was more romance going on than I ever observed.

This little cutie is Crosswinds #2 lamb....yeah, I know we need to think of some names. Her dam is Sommarang Dolly "Lilly". Lilly belongs to my sister who lives in town, so Lilly stays here with us. Baby # 2 is a moorit yuglet flecket ( dark brown spots and eye patches) with her daddy's crimpy soft fleece. She arrived at 1:30 yesterday afternoon. I thought, GREAT, beautiful warm day, delivery in the daylight, perfect! It was a relatively easy delivery for a first time mom and she did a great job. Wonderful, everyone is done for a couple days...according to my calendar....until, doing my evening check on everyone. Hmmmm, uh oh, why does Willow look all "poochy" in her nether region? For you non-sheepy folk "nether region" is not technical sheepy term....I digress. At 4 a.m. this morning Willow presented me with a very handsome ram lamb, who's picture this blog is not letting me post for some reason. I will post some pictures later. According to my calendar, I should be able to get some sleep tonight .

Daisy delivers!

Hey girls, have you heard the news?
Daisy had her baby!





This is Sommarang Daisy one of our friendliest ewes, anxiously awaiting her new arrival. She was bred to Bluff Country Rock Star our moorit/flecket ram, he also has a great temperament and GORGEOUS fleece.





And.................................




Here is Crosswinds lamb #1
This is our black and white yuglet/flecket ram lamb. He was born around 3:30 this morning, luckily uneventfully, and I am happy to report that mother and baby are happy and healthy. I will post more pictures later, after this very tired shepherd gets some rest and gets a better idea of how to use this blog.....arghhhh!