Everyone Else

The boys

Snowball

Hazel

Barack O'Llama & his sheep

Sequoia, Beryl, & Marble

Elvira

Spruce...

...and Spruce again.

Marble

2014's lambs are a little bit on the shy side.  (Except for Peat, of course!)  We've had some major progress from somewhere I didn't expect it: Marble!  

Now to get Quartz to warm up a little....

Peat

Wild Sheep Attack

A lot of my recent posts have mentioned that Myrtle is in a field with the calm sheep.  I've also mentioned the "wild" ewes (along with Peat, Spruce, and Aspen) are the other field.  Here's a little sample of what the wild sheep do:

Tiffany

Sequoia, Tiffany, and Elvira

Molly

Peat, Sequoia, Tiffany, and Molly

Maggie & Sequoia out in front

Molly (again)

Sequoia, Opal, Tiffany, Elvira

In case you are wondering, we were FAMACHA testing eyelids.  Basically, you pull down an eyelid and see what color it is.  It checks for anemia caused by internal parasites, especially barber pole worm (Haemonchus contortus).  If the eyelids are rosy red, there's no anemia.  Light pink or white?  It's time to get out the wormer (and hope the parasites aren't resistant). It's another crucial part of keeping sheep.

For contrast, we also paid a visit to the calm sheep:

Quartz (look hard enough, you will see Pistachio under the coop)

Hazel

Not where they are supposed to be

 We woke up yesterday morning to find some visitors in the backyard.

They did leave peacefully, however, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

Well, except to Barack O'Llama.  He was a tad worked up.  I'm not sure if he was upset because the cows were somewhere they weren't supposed to be or if he was jealous that they were eating the branches he'd been eyeing.

It's a really, really long drop from where Florida is walking to the ground.  (She's not supposed to be in the backyard, not to mention the deck, but we gave up trying to control her comings and goings a long time ago.)

He's exactly where he's supposed to be, but Snowball gets a honorable mention for being so dirty!

Wild Hooves

We trimmed hooves and inserted ear tags as necessary for the "wild ewes" over the weekend.  They're not really wild, in fact, a few of them are a little too friendly.  Sequoia, for example, thinks she's helping to trim Peat's hooves.  (And yes, Peat is a wether.  He did not enjoy living with the rest of the boys and let us know it.)

But no one else is quite as friendly as Peat.  If only his half-sisters (the rocks: Opal, Marble, Molly, and Beryl)  would be so friendly and calm... 

Opal is getting there.

But Marble has a long way to go. 

A lot of hooves, and a few ears

Myrtle's Pasture (a.k.a. the calmer sheep) had their hooves trimmed over the weekend.  We're doing them in groups because there are a lot of hooves.  We also are inserting ear tags in the sheep who need them...and it looks like Almond is going to need his horns trimmed again. 

The youngsters were calm.  Some of the older ewes thought we were playing football and tried their best not to be caught.

Myrtle nibbles on the ear tag box.

Pawlonia hangs out after getting her pedi and new earring.

Theresa and Mimosa insist they deserve a snack.

Myrtle and Sycamore

Pawlonia's ear tag! (and Mimosa)

This coming weekend:

The wilder sheep (pictured with their dirty llama)