Coats Off, Coats On

 I've been meaning to do a "meet the flock" post, but certain ladies do not like their pictures taken.  (Ahem, Hazel.  You don't look fat.  Okay, you do, but it's okay for a sheep.  Especially a woolly, pregnant sheep.)

While I wait for the others to stand (somewhat) still and look pretty, here's Elvira:

Elvira.

She's a black gulmoget (it's a Shetland thing, describing her markings) and she's gorgeous.  She's pretty friendly, too.  She has mixed feelings about people singing Oak Ridge Boys songs to her.

Elvira eating a peanut from Henry's hand.

Here's the whole flock without their coats:

Calico, Theresa, Elvira, Elsie, Hazel, Henrietta, & Sandy

We took off their coats to help the llamas bond to the sheep.  Barack O'Llama is doing good with the bonding thing, so we decided to put their coats back on today.  We managed to coat three sheep before feeling bad for them and giving up.  (And none of the sheep fell on her face and then was trampled by six sheep.  That was me.  Hazel even got stuck on my back, and Scott had to help her off.  I'm really glad that we chose a small breed of sheep!)

Barack O'Llama watching over his sheepy friends.

While I'm at it, I might as well explain why we put the coats on the sheep in the first place.  It's not to keep them warm.  (They have several pounds of wool on them, so a tiny layer of nylon is not going to make much of a difference.)  It's to keep their wool clean.  Otherwise, it will look like this:

Henrietta is trying out a hay bale costume for Halloween.

...and cleaning it before spinning and knitting it will not be fun.

It snowed here today (gasp!).  Barack O'Llama and the sheep seemed to enjoy it.  Perhaps it reminded them of their ancestral homelands?

The whole gang running to greet me.