Keeper lambs

It has occurred to me that I have posted about all the lambs that went to new homes, but I completely neglected to post about the lambies that are staying here, so this is a post dedicated to my "keeper" girls.

First we have Crosswinds Natale Holly (Sommarang Edrea x UTS Red Lion). Holly is a beautiful fawn katmoget (Light color on the body, darker legs, belly, chest and face). This little girl is absolutely gorgeous with amazing fleece.

Lamb photo of Holly.

Holly at 6 months.

Her fleece is....well........

GASP!

I Know, right?

Delicious

Ironically, when I showed her at Jefferson, the judge didn't like her because of her fleece...he said that it wouldn't yield as much weight as the heavier, coarser fleeced sheep....??? That is OK, I paid to hear that judge's opinion, on that day....I.......hmmm....moving on...

Next we have Crosswinds Menemsha ( Crosswinds Cassiopeia x UTS Red Lion) as a baby.

Menemsha is a lovely mioget ewe with the most buttery soft fleece.

The second picture shows the mioget coloring better...I can't wait until I can see it spun up next spring! I wish you could feel this stuff!

Crosswinds Mountain Laurel (Sommarang Dolly x Sommarang Gilroy) as a lamb.

Laurel is a very pretty girl as well with nice conformation.

Her fleece is wonderful as well. It is a bit longer staple length than the first two girls, but still very soft and crimpy. Her sire microned at 20.7 last fall, I will micron him again this spring to see what his spring micron looks like. I will be repeating this breeding, so hopefully I will have more nicely fleeced spotties in the spring : ).

Laurel is just an adorable lap sheep.

Lastly we have Crosswinds Ashumet ( Sheltering Pines Mirabile Visu x Sommarang Gilroy). I will repeat this breeding as well.

Ashley is a beautiful black gulmoget ( dark body, light legs, belly, and chest with light 'eye flashes'). Unfortunately she is a bit camera shy and I could never get a good picture of her.

Her fleece is quite yummy as well. It is much denser than the other girls, a bit less fine (going by feel alone), but still really, really, awesome and crimpy.

So there you have it, the 2010 keeper lambs.....I can't wait to see what my 2011 lambs are going to look like......I think I am going to need more land..

The last ewe lamb leaves.

Today the last one of this year's ewe lambs-well, that is to say, the last one that I am not hoarding for myself-went to her new home. Gary and I loaded up the truck this morning with my ewe lamb, Bayberry, and three lambs from Sommarang Farm that also needed a ride in the same direction. Sorry for the foggy photo, Bayberry decided to kiss the lense right before I took the picture.

It is always hard to see the lambs go, but it is especially hard when they are as sweet and friendly as Bayberry is, and even harder when they are the last of the 'for sale' lambs to leave. The longer they spend at the farm the more I get attached. Bayberry was sold as a pet because she initially had a very slight underbite which is an automatic 'no register', her tail is also longer than I like to see in my Shetlands, but that was a moot point with the bite issue. Of course, by weaning time I had already promised  her to a great 'pet only' home, aaaand her bite straightened out, it also became apparent that she is modified and will have beautiful shaela (dark steel grey) fleece.

So with sheep loaded in the truck, we set out for Des Moines....yes, another trip across Interstate 80...at least this time of year the corn is changing color...which makes the trip much more scenic.

It was going to be 87 degrees today with higher humidity, so even though we were leaving early in the morning, and we had the screens open on the topper of the truck for ventilation for the lambs, I was still worried about them being too warm, so we opened the little window between the cab of the truck and the back where the sheep were riding. The window is not big enough for the sheep to try to squeeze through, but it is big enough to let a little air flow from the cab stream back.....not cold air mind you, I have no air-conditioning in my truck so it was whatever temperature the wind provided. We were sweating like pigs up front, but I am pretty sure the lambies were comfy.

And, as if I didn't feel bad enough taking Bayberry away, THESE are the looks that I got every time I glanced over my shoulder to see how Bayberry and friends were doing in the back-

For the most part the lambs lay quietly for the ride with the exception of an occasional "BAAaaaa" from Bayberry, unfortunately she inherited her mama's baa which sounds a bit like someone losing their lunch. We made one stop East of Des Moines to deliver the Sommarang Farm ewe lamb to Deb, who has a small, but growing, flock of Shetlands, and then continued on to the West side of Des Moines with the rest of our charges where we met two of the nicest young women, Meg and Hannah. Hannah is Bayberry's new owner, and apparently Bayberry knew that because she instantly bonded with Hannah.

Meg got the two gorgeous, friendly wethers. It seems as though Meg was camera shy because I only got a couple of pictures of her. Here we are loading up her vehicle with sheepies.....we look like we were all talking at the same time...maybe we were trying to distract the on-lookers at the rest stop.....as my husband so helpfully stood there and took pictures-thanks Honey!

The sheep eventually got loaded and the girls were ready to go.

Yeah, Bayberry is not making me feel guilty at all.

Here are some baby pics of Bayberry.

Not sure why, but she looks very surprised or worried in this baby photo.

Farewell Bayberry, we will miss you.

Skunk Sheep goes home.

Last Sunday it was time to send another lambie off to it's new home. Circe, formerly known as Skunk Sheep, went to live in Decorah, Iowa with a very nice family who already have a Crosswinds ram. I am going to miss her silly antics. I am not, however, going to miss her sneaking up and trying to jump on my shoulders when I am sitting on the ground.

Here are some of her baby pictures.

Always leading the lamb races.

                              

And as she grew......

Now she has grown into a lovely young ewe.

Good bye Circe! Thank-you Janna, Jim and Connor for giving her a great home.

I have one last ewe lamb that will be leaving sometime soon, so I will update you on her and the 4 ewe lambs that are staying here.....if I can ever get them all to stand still for pictures.

Oh nuts!

It's time for another lamb update...OK, it's past time, but I have been really busy with market and my garden that has decided to go rouge on me (that is a later blog post) as well as trying to find a home for the wayward kitty so it has been difficult to find the time to blog. By the way, with the help of my dear friend Jean, we have found a fabulous home for the kitty, and, for once, it isn't OUR home. BONUS!

Today's update is all about Brewster. I am sure you will remember Brewster, the little super-hero ram lamb that looked like he was wearing a cape and mask.

As I watched him grow, I wondered if he was going to grow into a breeding quality ram. His horns were slow-growing and came in much later than the other boys.

But, then they finally made their appearance and became nice, wide-set, beautiful horns.

His birth-coat was quite crimpy, but as he started to grow, it seemed to be losing some of it's original softness and crimp, which sometimes happens, so I waited, and kept checking. Eventually, close to the skin there was evidence that the crimp was returning, and by weaning time there was beautiful crimp and luster.

I kept and eye on his tail, which looked pretty good right from birth, and now is just about perfect.

His conformation is nice and square with a wide rear and straight legs.

Overall he has turned out to be a stunning ram. Real super-hero potential in this one. Almost everything you could ask for in a ram.......

Except........ There is only one coin in the purse.....one  pearl in the oyster....OK, enough of the euphemisms....The poor guy has only one testicle.....that we can find. What difference does that make, my non-sheepie friends might ask? Well, this my friends, means that he cannot be registered.

Since I was unable to locate the offending man-part (not for lack of trying....in fact, I was beginning to worry that the neighbors would call the authorities to report some crazy woman feeling up a little rammy in the pasture every time they drove past) I took him into my vet to see if he could find the missing orb. Nope. Nada. Nothing. The vet felt confident that it was in there somewhere, but where? This leaves the masked man(ish) in quite a predicament. I had hoped that we could still wether (castrate) him and send him to a pet home, but after checking on prices for surgery to 'go in' and find the hidden treasure-$100, that is not really an option. We could have the one visible testicle removed, which would "likely" render him infertile since the remaining testicle would be up in the body cavity and his body heat "should" kill off any reproductive cells (yes, folks that's why they usually hang down so low), however, the ram hormones would still be firmly in place and he would still have a ram's attitude...not a good pet. There is also a higher risk of the remaining testicle turning cancerous. So, what to do with the Caped Crusader? I know that lots of my friends would send him off to market, which works for them, but I think you know by now that I am not prepared to do that. Perhaps if someone has an unregistered spinner's flock they could use a spotted-somewhat less of a ram..... Poor Brewster.