Now that's a sheep of a different color!

First, you should know that my sheep are still alive after the 'tree-eating incident', we have reconciled and I haven't sent them off to market....yet!
We finally got some rain here last week. The temperatures are still above normal, but they are somewhat less oppressive than they have been. I guess 90 (ish) degrees feels more tolerable after you have been living with 100 (ish) degrees for a while. Even the animals seem much more comfortable and the pastures look as though they will turn green once again.

I have been evaluating ram lambs, as well as taking a closer look at the ewe lambs that I am keeping. I need  to make some decisions about which ones I will take to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival to show, and which of the ram lambs I need to sell. I have found a few surprises in my little lambies...good surprises, mostly.
I have a lot of sheep in my flock that carry modified color genetics, so I expect some surprises in color variation from time to time, but this year I have some crazy colors going on. The sire to most of these lambs was Firth of Fifth Avyt, who has a lot of modified genetics in his pedigree as well.

Remember these guys? Apollo and Thor.

I noticed some fleece changes in these boys when I was evaluating Thor ( black flecket) to send him to his new home at OK Acres last month. I don't have any 'grown-up' pictures of Thor, but I did take some fleece pics before he left.

 When I parted the white spots on his fleece, I was surprised to find streaks of modified black underneath. Very strange.

I then checked his twin, Apollo, to see what was lurking under his white spots and found similar changes, although in moorit tones.

Under the moorit spots ( moorit = brown for my non-sheepie readers), I found light mioget...that's not unusual, but.......

 ........under the white spots are variations of modified moorit.

This is what a sample of the white spots look like. White tips with shades of modified moorit in the middle and then back to white at the skin...it's like fleece Candy Corn...only non-edible....weird!

Now I was curious as to what some of the other lambs' fleeces were looking like.

Remember this guy? This is Pegasus, he was born with very straight fleece that looked like dog hair.

Well....not any more!

This is a sample of his fleece.

AND...it's a little hard to see in this picture, but he is modified as well, he will be Shaela. He only has a very small white spot on his chest, so I can't tell if he has the same color changes as the other lambs under the white. But his black is definitely changing.

Even his ears are kind of funky!

This is Athena, she was the last lamb born this year, so she is quite a bit smaller than some of the others.

So far there isn't much change under her moorit spots, but as I mentioned, she is younger by almost a month, and her fleece hasn't grown as much as the others yet.

But, there is a lot going on under her white spots! 

I am certain that her fleece will change at the skin like the boys have, but it will be fun to see what it does.

So far those are the lambs with obvious changes, and those are all 'keepers'.

I have been watching this guy ( Helios) and he hasn't changed much. He looks slightly lighter at the skin, but there is not enough change in him yet to definitively say that he is modified. He is also out of Avyt. Helios is on my 'For Sale' page on this blog.

OK, so all you color genetics fanatics, what's the deal with the on again, off again color situation??

Side note; there are no ag genes at work here.

Discuss amongst yourselves...but hurry, I have to figure out what to register these babies as. 

I will check some of the other lambs this week.

Discuss.

More lambieliciousness

I realised today that it has been three weeks since my last blog post, so I guess it's time to do an update on the lambies -  they have changed so much since then.
I promised my cousin Steve that my next blog post will be about something other than my woolly friends...so I lied...that's OK, Steve's wife appreciates my sheepies. So today we are going heavy on the sheep photos. First I will show my 'keeper' ewes.
This is Luna's ewe lamb, she was the last lambie born this year. I am using a Mythology theme for names this year, so this little girl is Crosswinds Athena. She is amazing, and will be staying here.

This is Ashumet's black ewe lamb, Lucina (Lucy). I wasn't planning on keep any solid color lambs, but how could I resist this little girl, and that fleece?

Cassie's daughter, Bellona (Bella). This girl has been a show-off from day one. Pretty girl, with nice, single coated fleece.

Now, the rest of the crew...or at least some of them.

Crosswinds Thor. (sold)

 Amazing fleece. No britch wool. Fine, crimpy softy soft soft....did I mention that he is soft?

 Thor is scurred and one of his little scurs fell off the other day, so half his head is neekked.
 He is going to make some lovely lambs : ). For those non-sheepie readers, my friend Juliann has a wonderful website that explains polled/scurred/half-polled genetics if you are not familiar with the terminology.

Thor's twin brother, Apollo. ( reserved pending scur growth)

He's a fancy boy too!

Below is Loki, he has some of the nicest fleece of any of the lambs. Loki is a half-poll as well. Loki is one of Lilly's triplets so he has matured a bit slower than some of the other rams, but he is coming along nicely. At this stage, my only complaint about him is that he could use some width, but I think that might come as he matures.

The longish looking end of his tail is just baby hair, he actually has a nice tail.

OK, I guess I need to post fewer pictures of each lamb or we are never going to be done here.....

Holly's katmoget ram, Atlas, with Loki. If I can't find a nice, fine-fleeced, spotted ram to use this fall I may use Atlas on a few girls if his horns continue to look good. He would be for sale later in the fall in that case. Atlas carries spots.

Gunnar is Willow's boy. He is ag (grey) with full horns and very fine fleece. He has a tiny little tail like his dam. Gunnar carries spots. He is on hold right now, may be for sale.

Zeus is a really nice, solid-sided gulmoget boy. He looks like he will have full horns, but his sire is a half- poll so I am not sure yet. Gorgeous conformation, nice fleece. I may use him on a couple of my gully girls this fall before I sell him.....if he has full horns. He carries spots.

These are Lovey's boys, Neptune and Helios. Both of these boys will be for sale. Carry spots.

Helios looks to have full horns. His fleece and conformation are gorgeous.

Neptune is a tank. Big. Wide. Tank. Nice fleece and conformation. I am not sure if he has slow growing horns or if they are aberrant.

                    "MOooooooooo!"

This little guy ( below) is Crosswinds Pegasus, I am still waiting to see what his fleece is going to do before I offer him for sale.. You may remember that he was born with very straight "dog hair". It looks like there is crimpy fleece coming in underneath-finally. I should know in a few weeks.

This is Daisy's ram lamb. He will be going to an unregistered pet flock.

OMG, I forgot I had so many sheep.....with the exception of my 'keeper girls', this blog post only included most of the ram lambs! This could take forever! Sorry, Steve, I will have to have a another separate post about the ewe lambs.
I will try to get my "for sale" page on this blog updated.
For some reason, blogger comments seem to not be working. The only way I have been able to leave comments is by using the "anonymous" button in the comment section.

Tah- DAaah!

 Luna finally delivered...and boy did she ever deliver! I got my wildly spotted, ewe lamb that looks like she will have very fine fleece, just like I ordered. Thanks, Luna! I'll have some better pictures once she is all dried off and she is outside, but for now she is snuggled inside the barn bonding with her mama...and me ; ).

I don't have spring microns back yet, but Luna's fall micron was:

AFD. 24.0 / SD 6.2 / CV 26.0 / CEM 13.8 / <15 3.3/ CF 86.1/ SF 24.5.

Avyt, the lamb's sire, had a November micron of::

AFD.24.5 / SD 4.0 / CV 16.3 / CEM 6.9 / CF 94.1% / SF 22.9.

Perfect little Shetland tail too!

Now that lambing is officially completed, I will start putting together my 'For Sale' list....and get some rest! Oh, yeah, and think of names....

Official count 11 rams, 10 ewes.