Lambing Countdown Kick Off

 

Two months to go until lambs start arriving....if Gunpowder performed his job properly, that is!

In a little over a month, depending on the weather, sheep shearing day will be here.  I'm excited about the fleeces (I've only had a few peeks here and there about what is going on under those coats), and about starting Udder Check 2014. (Hmm, maybe I shouldn't lay in the pasture this year to look at udders--Macadamia will probably crawl all over me.)

Pistachio is bored already.

Until then, things will be pretty boring.  (Let's hope there's nothing worth blogging about when we clean out the storage room in the barn!) I did a "Meet the Flock" series of posts last year, and this year I'd thought I'd do a "Meet the Mommies" themed lambing countdown.   In no particular order:

8 Weeks to Go: Elvira!

No peanuts?  I'll just nibble on your coat.

If you've been reading the blog for awhile, you know Elvira.    She's an almost three year-old black gulmoget.  Elvira is a sweetie, but even though she enjoys peanuts and under-the-chin scratches, she is shy and a bit jumpy.

Last year's lamb: Peanut!

Last year, she was the second ewe to lamb.  She lambed during the day (way to go, Elvira!).  On Good Friday, she gave birth to a single ewe lamb, the lovely Peanut.  Peanut is 99.5% white.  She looks nothing like her mother; instead, she's a spitting image of her grandma Sandy.

Peanut all grown up.

Any guesses for Elvira this year? 

Crazy Boys in the Snow

This week's snow made me think that our back pasture has become a ward for insane male animals.  In the front field, the ewes and the hens stayed in the barn.  Pistachio thought about coming out into the weather but decided against it.

Colonel Brandon and Barack O'Llama did venture out.  (Barack was in one of his overly friendly moods which means that all of the pictures of him are of the inside of his nostrils.)

In the back field, Sally came out for a chaperoned visit with one of her relations...

... then she headed back into the shelter.

The boy sheep were acting a bit wacky.  Our sheep are always a bit frisky when it's cold, but Gunpowder took it to a whole new level.  Pecan and Almond played with him, but Snowball and Sally were not particularly interested.

They ate snow out of their grain feeder (and off the Mule and pretty much everywhere else). 

Pecan had a bit of a snow goatee. 

Even though Gunpowder is going to be a papa in a couple a months, he still is a lamb.

Dust Baths

Dust baths are quite the popular sport around here.  The chickens love them, the llamas love them, and Sally has even attempted a dust bath or two. Barack O'Llama finished his weekend perimeter check with a refreshing dust bath, and for the first time, I managed to get some pictures.

Stage 1: Rolling

Stage 2: Rolling a bit more, to get the particularly itchy spots.

Stage 3: Sitting up and looking around.

Step 4: Finishing with a good shake.

 There's also an optional Stage 5: running to your humans and sharing some of your dust with them.

Sheep Coats and Pine Needles

The girls (and their fleeces) are really growing, so we had to change more sheep coats this weekend.  Elsie, Theresa, Acorn, and Macadamia all went up a size.  It was even more challenging this week.  Elsie is never fun to catch, and Theresa had a bit of a freak out.  Macadamia is a completely different story.

Macadamia: the only sheep who enjoys snuggles.

After lunch, we went back out to make sure Theresa had recovered from her sheepy nervous breakdown.  She had.  One of the boys wanted to check the fence perimeter, so we did.  I had a feeling someone was following us....

"Perimeter check?  Good idea!" Barack O'Llama.

Colonel Brandon eventually caught up with us, too.

Barack O'Llama politely asked for some pine needles, and we couldn't resist.

It took a bit of teamwork...

...but Barack thinks it was totally worth it.

Barack O'Llama finished with a refreshing dust bath.  Pictures of that will come tomorrow(ish)!

Sleepy Acres now has a Facebook page.  Be sure to come on over and like us! 

Danger and Destruction

Eek!  There's a shark in the pasture!

 Don't worry, the shark is no match for Macadamia.  In fact, she really likes to chew on its fin.

 Snowball, excellent guard that he is, checked out the shark when it approached his pasture.

 There might not be danger in Snowball's pasture, but there's a bit of destruction.  Rams are notorious for destruction, and Gunpowder's is not so bad really.  

 On a more cheery note, a picture of Henrietta and Elsie.  It's even funnier if you know that Henrietta is a year older than Elsie.

Upsizing

Hazel, Elvira, Cashew, and Filly all went up a coat size this weekend.  I had a photographer taking pictures of the event, but they all look something like this:

He also took a three minute video while counting out loud the entire time.  That's the problem with 6 year-old photographers.

Filly's coat already looks a little snug.

Perhaps she is going to be enormous like her mother.  Hazel (on the far right) is already looking like a beached whale when she lays down.  Is it a lamb bump already?  A lot of fleece?  Or evidence of hitting the hay a bit too hard?  She looked even more huge when in coat changing position.  Shame there's not a picture of that...or how gorgeous her fleece looks under her coat!

I haven't seen Cashew in the feeder since we changed her coat.  Perhaps it's because her coat is hay camouflage?

Elvira was sure to thank the photographer for not taking any unflattering pictures of her while she was getting changed.

Sheepiversary

It's been one year since we brought home our original ewes--Calico, Sandy, Hazel, Henrietta, Elvira, Elsie, and Theresa.  They've had a busy year: birthing lambs, meeting new friends, and being courted by a youthful ram.  We humans have had a busy year, too.  We've had a lot to learn, from inserting ear tags to transporting sheep to castrating rams.

It makes a girl want to take a nap.

 All together (well, not including Theresa since she was still a baby at the time), the ewes birthed 6 ewes and 2 rams (who are now wethers). 

"How did you survive without me?" Macadamia

They met lots of new chickens, some llamas, and four new sheepy friends. The new girls--Tiffany, Tricot, and Czadas--are fitting right in.

"Everyone else is wearing their hay so I will too," Tricot

They also met Gunpowder.  Sometimes they think he's annoying; at other times, they love him. 

One happy ram: Gunpowder*

* Gunpowder is no longer wearing his harness.  This is an old picture.  It's hard to get a good picture of him.  Even though he's sweet and gentle, one does not want to sit on the ground in front him.  He is a ram, after all.

Naughty Sheep, Cold Sheep

First, the naughty sheep.  Can you guess who?  Acorn and Cashew of course!  They've decided the best way to get food is to climb into the feeder.

"I'm supposed to eat lambs?" Hazel.

At least they share well with each other.

 Looks like it's time to Acorn- and Cashew- proof the feeder again.  A lot of our farm work is Acorn- and Cashew- proofing. 

What trouble (and two white sheep) looks like.

The ewes have a new tank de-icer.  (Just in time for it to get even colder.)

Elvira out for a drink with her friends.

It's so cold that the most of the gates were frozen shut this morning.  The ewes were locked in the barn for a few minutes.  At the time they really wanted out....

"Set us free!" Tiffany, Elsie, & Hazel

 ...but now, everyone seems to want to be inside.  There's not a sheep, llama, chicken, or Sally to be seen anywhere....except for one.  Any guesses?

Hint: it's not Tiffany.

It's Pecan.  He's laying outside of the shelter.  I'm not sure if it's his giant fleece that's keeping his warm or if he's just a little...well.  I grabbed the camera and started out to get a picture of him.  Then I remembered that it's quite cold out there.

It's Cold!

The cold weather is not fun for the humans around here.  However, the llamas and the sheep (especially the sheep!) seem to enjoy it.

Barack O'Llama slept at least part of the night outside.  The non-frosty spot on the ground is where he slept.  It's remarkable how little of a llama comes into contact with the ground when they kush.*   (Snowball, by the way, has been doing all of his kushing in the shelter.)

With a llama for scale.

Barack did, of course, return to the barn for feeding time.

Big llama, tiny "llama."

The sheep are frisky.  Most of them are acting like they are lambs again--hopping, sproinging, running.  Some of them are getting into even more trouble than usual.

Acorn: somewhere she's not supposed to be.

All that wool is keeping Cashew & Hazel warm.

Calico & family: looking for trouble...or peanuts.

*Kush is the what the llama way of sitting is called.  It looks like this:

Snowball