Where do you put the quarter in this thing???

Looks like a carousel ride to me!

Right on Schedule

The Katahdins were due to start lambing today, and these arrived right on schedule. We had a single red ewe lamb this morning, and these twin rams were born just about the time I got home from work. There are 40 Kat ewes that will lamb in the next 2 weeks. These are hairsheep. They get thick, short underwool in the winter, which sheds out to a sleek coarse hair coat in the summer. They are shedding now, and so look raggedy. We notice a lot of birds nests lined with the shed wool.

Sheep Thrills

This morning, Collette was in the barn bawling while I was feeding the rabbits. Now, sheep don't always appear to be that smart. Often, a ewe will be walking around, calling for her lamb while its trotting along behind her, trying to keep up. However, she was still raising .....cain.....when I was ready to leave, so I went and checked on her. Sure enough, the little black guy was nowhere to be seen. So I headed out to the paddock to look for him. Up and down the stream, making sure he had not fallen in and drowned. (please, oh please don't let that be it) Check all the electronet to make sure he is not caught in it. Meanwhile, Collette is trailing behind me, bellowing BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaa every 3 seconds. Then we check behind every rock, tuft of grass. No black lamb. I looked at Collette - "are you sure he's not in the barn?" We went to look again, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa. Sure enough, I hear a tiny "baaaa?" in return as I entered the barn. He was in the center room, having crawled behind a wooden gate and then could not back out. I unchained the gate, fished him out, and put him down for mama. Silence. Blessed silence. Nothing but the sound of smacking lips as he had breakfast. Collette looked up at me, smug and serene, as if to say "Look, I found him".

Miramar and Trieste

Here are my two red Satin Angora does, Miramar and Trieste. They are sisters - can you tell the difference? The only way I can tell is that Miramar has a bigger head. Well, and their ear numbers. Miramar is also friendlier, the result of raising a litter and getting lots of attention because of it.
Miramar has one leg. I'd like to show and finish her championship once her litter is weaned. Trieste has 2 legs, and I hope to finish her title in the next couple weeks. She does too, since she had her mouth stuffed full of wool this morning, a sure sign she'd also like to raise a litter.

I'm waiting on one ewe to lamb (Bliss) so what do I do? Right, take the camera to the barn with me. Naturally, no new lambs. Bliss is out at the far end of the pasture, stuffing herself with succulent grass washed clean by rains that have been falling steadily for about 36 hours. There are brief breaks in the showers, with beautiful sunshine and spots of blue sky. The sun is out right now, but the sky to the west is grey and threatening.
This is the tiny stream that runs out of the ravines north of the house, through the two paddocks served by the old sheep barn, under the road through this culvert, along the side of the main barn, and into the main creek. I love the sound of the water. We get turtles in this little pool, which are fun to feed cat food in the evening.

Miramar and her litter

Miramar's litter is getting big now. There are 2 chocolate does, and I can't seem to get the 4 chocolate agoutis sexed - they keep movng around too much to keep track. :^)

Look what I got!

I'm beginning to figure out the game the sheep are playing this year. All I need to do to get a ewe to lamb is leave the camera at the house when I check the barn. And just yesterday, I told my boss I had given up hoping for a black lamb this year, and see what I got today?Shoulda' said that earlier in the game! This is Collette, with her new son. The sire is Lockerbie, making him 25% Titus, 12.5% Jamie, 6.25% Ebony Boy, 1% Laird.